Black Panther Wakanda Forever Review: Not Even Ryan Coogler Can Save Marvel’s Phase Four

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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — out now in cinemas — already had the big task of following its universally beloved 2018 predecessor, which I dubbed the king of Marvel movies.

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But then in 2020, after the death of Chadwick Boseman, the franchise was forced into an impossible corner. What do you do with a sequel when the actor who plays your lead character is gone?

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Returning director Ryan Coogler, who almost quit filmmaking after the tragedy, has attempted to infuse the loss of his friend and colleague, and his feelings associated with it into Wakanda Forever.

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But although the second Black Panther movie is cast in the shadow of grief, it's sadly not too poignant. (Maybe Coogler is just too overwhelmed. You could sense that in his voice during the film's press tour.)

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Instead, the newest chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is at times more a meditation on the cycles of violence.

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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spends more of its time on. This is primarily thanks to the introduction of Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), the flying king of a new underwater civilisation called Talokan.

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With Atlantis having already come into play in the 2018 DC film Aquaman, Coogler and his co-writer Joe Robert Cole have shifted Namor's comic book origins in a Mayan direction, with a history tied to Spanish colonisation.

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[{"selector":"#anim-74c92e12-0ed7-4b87-8e65-1b2d650e282c [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate(-15.320425184637962%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"forwards"}] [{"selector":"#anim-1212c063-55ec-4482-8517-2e39f6bbbda6","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(110.32449%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-b278f5c9-83f9-4ae7-9669-dc3e6ea38fbd","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-9c483224-3cf5-43a1-8aaa-5666b5072f54","keyframes":{"transform":["scale(0.15)","scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"forwards"}] But the world of Talokan feels weirdly muted — you can't help but compare it to Aquaman 's richer and more vibrant Atlantis. Image credit > Unsplash Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

[{"selector":"#anim-8558698d-556d-4d30-95f7-0a0f7217f8dc [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate(10.684642971344298%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"forwards"}] [{"selector":"#anim-c96a7113-78e5-46b7-903a-fd20c2ea8b1c","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(105.36193%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-607fe0b3-aa74-4c98-a61a-e21349eba8b5","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-3133e658-4a22-4671-868e-f07633c4f4a7","keyframes":{"transform":["scale(0.15)","scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"forwards"}] It never invokes the same sense of awe that you got with Wakanda's Afrofuturism in the original Black Panther Image credit > Unsplash Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

[{"selector":"#anim-1a449610-3ddd-4b23-90c1-16040459a406 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate(-11.959459512415606%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"forwards"}] [{"selector":"#anim-424a54f7-ebb1-4bf1-ad6c-ae8354ed15a9","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(107.79945%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-6dcdac6a-b9fd-44e7-bfd2-a3f108f6affb","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-ffc63c21-f503-48de-ac0f-f2e5e77c04fe","keyframes":{"transform":["scale(0.15)","scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"forwards"}] An even bigger problem for Wakanda Forever is that it's disjointed. (Maybe that's because there are three credited editors: Michael P. Shawver, Kelley Dixon, and Jennifer Lame.) Image credit > Unsplash Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

[{"selector":"#anim-22c2f01c-0f1e-47eb-8b94-f02ce85cc0fc [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate(-3.552713678800501e-15%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"forwards"}] [{"selector":"#anim-297f592b-bdc6-4769-83e2-48fbb2cec1dd","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(105.49451%, 0px, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-5770a7bd-417c-4fd7-8613-aad696cc3bb0","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-68b2bd56-7833-48a6-93ba-15576fa650a0","keyframes":{"transform":["scale(0.15)","scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":600,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"forwards"}] It's also longer than it should be at 161 minutes, Coogler fails to impress with the few action sequences there are, and the occasionally incoherent narrative doesn't know how to bring its promising pieces together. Image credit > Unsplash Black Panther: Wakanda Forever