[DISCUSSION] [REWATCH] Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

I rewatched this recently myself and I liked it a lot more the second time. It's still pretty flawed but it really shines in the first and second acts. Which isn't surprising considering the things that makes it shine are what made the original shine. That is wakanda itself. The world building. It's such an interesting setting. Namur and a hidden civilization is an awesome idea. World tension and renewed colonial intentions of the west needing to be resisted was awesome if under explored. Angela Bassett.

That said it had some problems. I still don't find Shuri to be a good lead character. She was better supporting. Riri Williams seemed unnecessary and superfluous. The third act was just janky and underwhelming. Special effects particularly hurt it. Most of all though they should have just recast T'Challa.

Angela Bassett was phenomenal. There was a lot of good in the movie. It's a shame they seemed to try to differentiate themselves so hard from Aquaman because the dark wasn't very cinematic.

Overall I thought it was a very mediocre post-Endgame movie with fun moments like The Marvels and Captain America: BNW. There are much worse and much better movies post-Endgame.

Looking at Riri Williams, it's weird, you could probably cut her from the film and not a lot would change.

You'd need to find a different reason to introduce Namor, but after that Riri just kinda hangs out.

She goes with Shuri to Talokan, but she's unconscious when she is taken there and just sits around until they leave.

She makes a cool suit for herself. She might have helped with the Midnight Angel armor, but it's clear Shuri did the bulk of the design. In either case, while cool, none of the armor created is key to the end battle.

Obviously Shuri is smart, so having her struggle and then Riri just show up and solve things would be cheap. Maybe they could have leaned more into Shuri being angry and that causing her to mess up or be less receptive to feedback.

Riri was also the only one able to build a vibranium detector. Maybe find a reason for her to swear she'll never build one again, stay behind but still have Shuri taken to Talokan, and then Riri builds another one. That both justifies Namor's distrust and Riri's importance.

For me, it did not live up to the first one. It did not help that the actress playing science geek shuri went full anti-vaxx during covid.

Story was meh, some interesting plot points but no connection to the MCU. One of the weaker marvel films, like Thor II or Iron Man 3

TBH I don't remember much about this one, but the sendoff to Chadwick Boseman was very well done, and captured the emotion we all felt of his loss.

I like the ending where they had the Landfill #2 moment with T'Challa's son. I suspect he'll be aged up the next time they want to use Black Panther.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0w9DUTcAI0o

I liked how Shuri's arc mirrored T'Challa's arc in Civil War. It was each of their first appearances as Black Panther, and they each struggled with vengeance in the face of a murdered parent.

Overall I thought it was a great movie. The plotting was so tight. The way all the elements tied together was just really well done.

• T'Challa's death being tied to the heart shaped herb, which then creates a tie between Wakanda and Talokan, as well as giving a plausible and satisfying workaround to the corner they wrote themselves into by destroying the herb in the first movie.
• Namor's motivation being tied to the conflict (and conclusion) of the first movie, specifically because of the presence of vibranium in Wakanda and Talokan, which creates another tie.
• And of course the heart shaped herb gets its power from the vibranium, so we again get to focus on a story that takes place with a consistent set of rules, because all the hand-waving is pretty much confined to that one thing.
• The only exception to that is Riri, but the arc reactor is well established in the universe, so that's not a big deal. Plus she also ties back to the conclusion of the first movie (Wakandan outreach), so it's not like she's coming out of nowhere.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that one of the pitfalls of superhero movies is that sometimes elements of the story can just pop up in a way that feels arbitrary and unsatisfying. Wakanda Forever deftly avoids this. All of the new stuff branches out organically from established elements from the first movie. Very tight writing.

I couldn't take Namor seriously with his little ankle wings. I know they're in the comics, but some things just don't work in live action.

Yep in my opinion it was the best movie of Phase 4, due in no small part to Namor being completely awesome as well as a fascinating character. Shuri's encounter with Killmonger on the Ancestral Plane was also very well done. Pretty much every aspect was good, except, as with the first one, some of the visual effects. The Midnite Angels looked cartoonish and the Ironheart suit lacked weight. Not all the visual effects were bad, though, and everything involving the Talokanil looked good. Especially that opening sequence. Gott DAYUM, that opening sequence was excellent.

No it wasn’t, imho, it was doghouse. And racist. Mexican culture bad mkay.