Breaking Down 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'
Read our reviews and listen to our discussion of one of the year's biggest releases
The anticipation could have hardly been any higher for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. While the Marvel sequel crushed at the box office last weekend with over $180 million, how did it measure up to 2018’s Black Panther? We’re breaking down all things Wakanda Forever in this week’s newsletter, just like we did with Nope this summer. You can find our non-spoiler reviews below, and you can listen to our Spotify Live discussion (with spoilers!) with special guest Kenny Ashton of The CineBoiz Podcast! Read, listen, and let us know what you thought of Wakanda Forever.
DYLA Reviews Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (no spoilers)
Drew: This sequel could’ve gone sideways in different hands. Considering the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever could’ve felt too saccharine, manipulative, even exploitative. Fortunately, writer-director Ryan Coogler is an expert storyteller on a grand stage. While this sequel doesn’t quite capture the magic of the first Black Panther, it does work wonders on an emotional level, telling a compelling new story while beautifully honoring Boseman’s T’Challa.
T’Challa’s sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) moves into the center of the frame in this film, but she is supported by several extraordinary performances from the likes of Angela Bassett, Winston Duke, and Tenoch Huera, who plays new villain Namor. In fact, Wakanda Forever is bursting at the seams with characters and storylines, often to its detriment, but it wouldn’t be the first Marvel movie to be guilty of that. In the end, however, this big-budget sequel delivers a weighty and moving tribute to Boseman and his iconic character. - 4 / 5 Apples
Billy: Wakanda Forever might be the movie that gets me to stop watching trailers. I say this in jest, but what is an all time trailer turned into a middling Marvel project. Director Ryan Coogler is the highlight for this universe. He is nothing short of great with his direction in the sequel and the performances are consistently the best the increasingly played out MCU has to offer. Our story is the problem here and the drawn out runtime restricts the full heights the emotion could have reached.
This world without Chadwick Boseman leaves a massive hole in all of Hollywood, but especially the Black Panther franchise. Letitia Wright as Shuri and Angela Bassett Queen Ramonda are thrust into the center of the franchise they weren’t supposed to be and they carry the story with no problem. Queen Ramonda opens the movie with the example that Shuri is striving for. Bassett makes it so clear that Wakanda will not falter despite the loss of T’Challa. Shuri is not quite ready for the role that requires more leadership. An understandable amount of confusion and developing rage starts to form following T’Chala’s death and our new antagonist Namor (Tenoch Huerta with a star-making performance), leader of the Talokan people, is heightening the tension in the now more unstable Wakanda.
Wakanda Forever is a mixed bag with the structure of a great entry into the MCU, but ultimately our story ends in a place that left me desiring more. Coogler, the tributes to Chadwick, and the performances keep us engaged throughout the run time. The MCU machine bogs this down. Cheapening the full extent of the emotion we could have felt. - 3 / 5 Apples
Links
Apple decided to go ahead with Will Smith’s first movie post-Slap. The slavery drama Emancipation is out on Apple TV+ on December 9. Don’t count on him winning the Oscar for this one.
Margot Robbie got a major Vanity Fair profile this week as she starts to promote her new movie Babylon from director Damien Chazelle.
Brendan Fraser talked to GQ about his most famous roles as he gears up for an Oscar run for his upcoming film The Whale.