It’s become almost fashionable for veteran filmmakers to sneer at superhero movies and blame them for everything, discounting them as inconsequential dreck responsible for ripping to shreds the very fabric of filmmaking.
Oakland-born director Ryan Coogler makes these detractors want to eat their criticism with an extra heaping of hot sauce. The emotional sequel to one of the biggest blockbusters ever — 2018’s “Black Panther” — contains more heart and soul than most films, big or small. Coogler’s Marvel production comes with an aching sense of loss and makes room in its storyline for the cycles of grief tied to the death of the Black Panther, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman, who played the role with such distinction in the first film, died of cancer in 2020).
A different sentiment and mood separates this comic-book movie from the usual Marvel fare as T’Challa’s brainy scientist sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) and her mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett in a Shakespearean performance that’s well deserving of awards consideration) struggles with a devastating loss while protecting their homeland.
They also face a new antagonist, the underwater upstart Namor (Tenoch Huerta, making a huge MCU splash) who’s hellbent on defending his Talocan community. While there are spectacular action sequences aplenty to be found in “Wakanda’s” epic running time (2 hours and 41 minutes!) the best aspects of “Wakanda Forever” are when the characters try to cope with the inexplicable tragedy.
Coogler and co-screenwriter Joe Robert Cole dole out more surprises and more shocking deaths, but it is the mourning process from which “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” draws its central power, along with its Black women characters who show strength, courage and their resolve to make the world a better place. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” avoids the mistakes most sequels make, creating a different atmosphere and tone, elevating the MCU to much higher, ambitious places.
Contact Randy Myers at [email protected]
‘BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER’
3½ stars out of 4
Rating: PG-13 (action and violent sequences, rude gesture)
Cast: Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Tenoch Huerta, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman
Director: Ryan Coogler
Running time: 2 hours, 41 minutes
When & where: Opens Nov. 10 in theaters nationwide
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