Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Director: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, José Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Martin Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael B. Jordan
Running Time: 161 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

It's usually a bad sign when a sequel gets released and you find yourself struggling to remember all that happened in the previous film. But in the case of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, that might not be be such a bad thing considering how much this revolves around starting over. While the original came out in 2018, it may as well have been decades ago given all the speculation surrounding how Marvel Studios and director/co-writer Ryan Coogler would push the the franchise forward after star Chadwick Boseman's tragic passing. Just the idea of continuing seemed crazy given how much that movie's success rested entirely on his shoulders. Of course, we always knew they'd just forge ahead and do it anyway. But if it's true that the superhero genre isn't dependent on actors or stars for success, this could stand as the toughest test yet.

Moving past the initial uproar of someone else potentially "replacing" Boseman, the key was always in not making it feel that way by honoring his legacy. It's a difficult line to walk, but luckily the franchise's overarching themes and tone do make this slightly less challenging. Marvel was never going to put the series on the shelf, but it's better to do it now while the responsibility of doing right by Boseman, his family and fans hang over them. So it comes as a relief that Coogler accomplishes this by crafting a story feels like a natural progression for the universe and its characters. Realizing the best approach is often the honest one, everything springs from that cataclysmic loss, resulting in one of the more un-Marvel like movies in their canon.

After failing to save her terminally ill brother King T'Challa from a mysterious illness with the heart shaped herb, Shuri (Letitia Wright) and all of Wakanda mourn him, including his mother, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett). A year later Wakanda is now facing pressure from other nations to share their vibranium, soon finding themselves under attack for the resource. But when the U.S. military utilize a vibranium detector to locate a potential supply underwater, they're violently thwarted by a group of blue-skinned, water breathing Talokans led by Namor (José Tenoch Huerta Mejía). 

With the CIA inaccurately blaming Wakanda for the attack, Ramonda and Shuri are paid a visit by Namor who demands they bring him the scientist responsible for building the detector or he'll attack their nation. But once Shuri and Okoye (Danai Gurira) confront the scientist, an MIT student named Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), chaos ensues. With Namor holding Wakanda responsible for the vibranium battle and determined to wage war on the surface world to protect Talokan, Shuri's faced with a choice: join him or suffer the consequences.

A prologue covering the death and funeral of T'Challa makes abundantly clear the challenge Wakandans will face without their king. It's only logical the story would now shift to his sister Shuri, and whatever controversy surrounded Letitia Wright's continued involvement with the franchise, she delivers as the film's centerpiece. If increasing her character's importance was the right call from a narrative standpoint, nearly all of Wakanda's universe is also expanded here, allowing others to shine in ways they couldn't in the preceding entry. So while it's difficult for anything to compete with the personal stakes of T'Challa vs. Killmonger, this next chapter avoids direct comparisons, as Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Cole present a fresh set of obstacles, using elements from the original film as their blueprint. 

A commanding Angela Bassett is given a much bigger stage as Ramonda, conveying the character's pain of losing a son, protecting her only daughter and keeping Wakanda safe from outside forces. It's just unfortunate that the blue-skinned, indigenous, water breathing Talokans and colonization plot will likely draw endless Avatar comparisons because this story holds up pretty well on its own. Keeping the focus where it belongs, Shuri's torn between spirituality and science, this time with an angrier edge due to her brother's death. The eventual feud with Namor is more complex than expected since he's not exactly a one-dimensional villain, just as driven by the need to protect his people as Shuri, but utilizing dangerously aggressive, gatekeeping methods that lead to all out war. 

Lupita Nyong'o's stealthily skilled Nakia is in a far different place both literally and figuratively, with the actress given more to do this time around, reentering the fray with a renewed outlook and motivation following T'Challa's death. Dominque Thorne makes for a spunky sidekick as Riri, with the young genius from Chicago serving as a clever counterpart to Shuri while playing a vital role as the plot progresses. Martin Freeman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus have limited but functional roles as CIA operatives tied to the vibranium conflict, providing some fun interplay between some of the heavier action scenes.

With Namor believing a weakened Wakanda is ripe for the picking now that Black Panther is gone, someone else donning T'Challa's suit becomes as inevitable as the person who needs to do it. Coogler handles this as well as possible, leading to an ending that leaves enough on the table for future installments. The only caveat is that after a surprisingly enthralling two and a half hours, we still get a requisite CGI battle to close things out. But even that plays unusually well, thanks in no small part to the attachment we have to these characters. It's also one the rare times a Marvel mid-credits scene feels essential, serving this saga rather than potential cross-overs. That makes sense since the original film's biggest attribute was standing out from the pack. As a purposeful continuation that respectfully keeps the ball rolling, Wakanda Forever stays true to that, while also managing to navigate some emotionally difficult terrain.