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Equal measures of grief, celebration in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever


Published : 11 Nov 2022 08:26 PM

Read Pinkvilla's review of the Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong'o and Tenoch Huerta starrer Black Panther: Wakanda Forever below. The film pays a heartbreaking tribute to Chadwick Boseman.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever begins with Wakanda grieving, as King T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) has passed away. Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and Shuri (Letitia Wright) are left vulnerable between processing the loss of their loved one and looking after a once powerful, now-turned-vulnerable Wakanda. When an equal threat arises in the form of Namor (Tenoch Huerta), King of Talokan, a mysterious underwater civilization, it's up to Shuri to carry forward her brother's legacy and protect her people.

What keeps the ship afloat in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, without its captain Chadwick Boseman, is the stellar ensemble performance, led by the supremely talented Letitia Wright and veteran acting enigma Angela Bassett. Tenoch Huerta is a welcome addition as is Talokan. It's also the well-balanced storytelling where grief never overshadows the "tradition meets modernity" thrills and frills accustomed to the Black Panther franchise. The MCU humour is spruced throughout, while character development also gets its time to shine. The final battle sequence is doused with the Marvel magic we know and love.

On the contrary, the 2 hours and 41 minutes duration might be felt heavily by the casual MCU fans, as it's not the typical run-of-the-mill superhero movie. There's also the predictability factor queued in the narrative, which may seem similar to the original, with significantly less to move forward. The overindulgent CGI will divide your thoughts on the movie further.

While Chadwick Boseman and King T'Challa have the wheels turning for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, those left behind both cinematically and in real life gift us a movie laced with emotions of a superhero order. You're left gutted and hopeful and it's in the silence, you find solace. And to that I say, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever excels.