Forever hoping this will be the way forward
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (M, 161 mins)
Directed by Ryan Coogler Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett ★★★★
Iwas reading someone’s piece on the ‘‘golden age’’ of Hollywood musicals a few weeks ago, and how it became tough to make any big-budget film that wasn’t a musical.
The damn things were such proven money-makers, studios wouldn’t gamble big on much else. There were plenty of other films being made, but the musical was the king-hell beast of the era.
We are in a similar position today. For the past couple of decades, the superhero movie has been the only blockbuster in town. Not many movies have had people queueing around the block recently that didn’t feature spandex and spaceships.
But – and here’s the point, I promise – after their ‘‘golden age’’, musicals got smaller and more interesting. Rock, funk and nonEuropean music arrived. Black, Asian and Latinx cast members appeared in leading roles – and the tradition-respecting ethos of the musical was overturned, by Hair, Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar and everything that followed. Which is where we’re at with the whole superhero thing right now.
Marvel’s own golden age has passed. Steve Rogers and Tony Stark have left the building. And they were the yin and the yang keeping that story arc alive. Marvel without Iron Man and Cap’ is The Flintstones without Fred and Wilma. Bedrock is never going to be the same. Get over it.
Which has led to a few standalone efforts – Thor: Love and Thunder was likeably funny, Multiverse of Madness was agreeably odd and Spider-Man: No Way Home was superb fan service at least – but nothing felt like the beginning of a series.
But with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and last year’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, maybe a new Marvel age is coming into view. And it’s a lot less conservative, white or likely to be wearing a short-backand-sides than the last one.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens as it only could, with a stunning acknowledgement of the passing of Chadwick Boseman, who played the role from 2016 until his death in 2020.
The first scenes are so elegantly staged, the film immediately sets an almost impossible standard for itself. And, to be fair, it struggles at times, even though the engine of the film is grief and the imperfect ways in which we react to it.
The plot of Wakanda Forever is thin. The film functions as an origin myth for a new Black Panther and needs a challenge to test our hero’s mettle. The villain here is a character we have been waiting for, but rethought as Aztec, not Atlantean. He’s effective enough. Although I don’t think you can put tiny fluttering wings on anyone’s heels without them looking slightly ridiculous.
The purpose of Wakanda Forever is the world-building and character-establishing. By the end we have a clear idea of who we will see again – and also a cohesive vision of Wakanda in the modern world and who her allies and opponents might be. There’s a surprising amount of postAvengers geopolitics happening, but it’s lightly worn and well explained.
Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke and Angela Bassett all return. Bassett in particular, burns down the screen and an award nomination seems very possible. Dominique Thorne and Michaela Coel (yay!) are great, among the newbies.
As always with Marvel – particularly these films – the design, costuming and choreography are all stunning. The music, by Ludwig Goransson and many collaborators, is the first Marvel score I’ve been tempted to buy.
Everything Marvel has made since Avengers: Endgame, has its haters – and that’s fine. But I reckon Wakanda Forever and others are showing us a way forward.
They’re putting new sounds in the mix, looking outside North America and Europe for ideas and settings and bringing us stories from all over this brilliant planet. I’m actually looking forward to what comes next.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now in cinemas nationwide.