Black Panther: Wakanda Forever reviews
The film is the highly-anticipated sequel to the 2018 box-office hit ‘Black Panther’, which made US$1.35 billion in ticket sales and earned an Oscar nomination for best picture.
The movie is centred around the fictional country of Wakanda mourning the death of King T’Challa. The character was famously played by Chadwick Boseman, who died from colon cancer in 2020. While the Ryan Coogler-directed film is without its main man, it still paid tribute to him.
“’Wakanda Forever’ is outstanding. It handles loss, grief and revenge with a maturity and seriousness rarely seen in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe),” tweeted film critic Orlando Maldonado. “‘Black Panther’ continues to be their crown jewel. Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett and Tenoch Huerta all bring some of the best acting I’ve seen all year.”
CNET’s Sean Keane called the film a “triumph”. “It cleverly balances grief and hope, with plenty of visually-delightful moments,” Keane tweeted. “Tenoch Huerta is fascinating as Namor, and Dominique Thorne is super fun as Riri Williams. More like this please Marvel!”
Moviegoers were quick to point out the emotional aspects of the film honouring Boseman.
“‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ is as epic as Marvel sequels get. The story is hugely ambitious and thematically rewarding, with gut-wrenching twists and turns throughout,” tweeted Germain Lussier of Gizmodo. “You feel the length, but it’s fun, wildly beautiful, and has the best credits scene in Marvel history, no contest.”
“‘Wakanda Forever’ is bigger in scope and scale than ‘Black Panther,’ but its story is also one of Marvel’s most intimate and heartfelt,” tweeted Charles Pulliam of Verge. “It’s definitely a comic book movie, but it’s one that centres on grief and the grieving process rather than superheroics and spectacle.”
However, Forbes’ Scott Mendelson did have some critiques about the movie.
“‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ entertains, but spends way too much time setting up future MCU projects and coping with its non-fiction tragedy,” he observed on Twitter. “It also often feels like a mix-and-match of prior (frankly inferior) Marvel movies. Works best when it’s just allowed to be ‘Black Panther 2.”