Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

I will not even pretend that anyone had any plans for the "phases" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Iron Man made a ton of money, and so did some of the films after that, and Loki was a good villain.  At some point there was a push to incorporate elements of the actual comics, and it shook out that behind Loki was Thanos, and that made two nuanced bad guys.  Not every movie worked, and it's obvious the story was developed as it went along, but in the end sticking with the series was worth it.

Then came Phase Four.  Black Widow, which should have been part of phase two or three, finally showed up and did nothing for the character or the story.  The television series WandaVision, like Black Widow, served to tie up loose ends from Phase Three, but ultimately set up the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, while Loki got his own series dealing with multiverses as well.  The two truly good films in the current phase, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: No Way Home, both dealt with the same concepts.  

For the last few years now this concept has been hyped with no payoff at all.  Other than the above films the MCU has been on a decline, turning many of its heroes into clowns and preaching to the choir with tepid left-wing themes the creators know will throw certain parts of the internet into a frenzy.  Rather than move forward with any sort of story Disney and Marvel spent an entire series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, trying to troll the trolls and once again proving that no one at Disney cares about the characters or the comics themselves.  They're not even worried about pushing their political views; they just hope to keep this cash cow alive, and so far they have been successful.

So, that begs the question of what Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is doing here.  It is supposedly the conclusion of Phase Four, but once again ignores anything having to do with the multiverse or any new big villain threatening the Avengers.  Instead, although the world is one again in peril, for the most part the events that happen here involve Wakanda and a new, technologically advanced underwater society called Talokan, who like Wakanda owe their technology and culture to Vibranium.  

T'Challa is dying of an unknown illness and, despite the efforts of his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright), he is beyond saving.  With no male heir there is no new Black Panther, and Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) assumes the role of Wakanda's leader.  Like T'Challa and those before she refuses to share Vibranium with the world for fear of what they might do with it.  However, the United States manages to get its hands on a machine that can detect Vibranium, discovering a deposit in the Atlantic Ocean.  When the crew sent out to test its accuracy is attacked suspicion immediately falls on Wakanda.

Instead, it is a new, previously unknown underwater society descended from a Mayan tribe in the 16th century and led by a mutant named Namor (Tenoch Huerta).  Namor demands that Ramonda capture the American scientist that created the machine or Wakanda itself will be attacked, same if she reveals Talokan to the world.  The scientist turns out to be a 19-year-old MIT student named Riri (Dominique Thorne), and an attempt by Shuri and Okoye (Danai Gurira) to get to her safely to Wakanda leads to Shuri's capture by Namor.  A rescue by the exiled Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) results in an attack on Wakanda, leading Shuri to make an important decision on how to lead and defend her country and the rest of the surface world. 

Namor the Submariner is the oldest superhero from Marvel, predating the brand, and the decision to make him an antagonist did not go over well with a number of fans.  Even more controversial was how to handle Chandwick Boseman's death as, even though his friends may be correct in that his ego would have prevented him from saying he was the only person to play T'Challa, for all intents and purposes he was T'Challa and the role, outside of the comics, died with him.  As for the ultimate decision on who was to succeed him as the Black Panther I am sure there were some complaints of "wokeness", but it was also the only logical choice due to the facts known at the time Shuri makes the decision.

For as long as the movie is - and it could have easily cut the additional 41 minutes without compromising the plot or any of the characters - it holds together rather well.  There are some of the same clumsy attempts to make points about colonialism as there were in Black Panther.  Again, the United States has done some awful things in North America, including to the African population that was brought here involuntarily, but the U.S. never tried to colonize Africa the way Europe did.  However, it is nice to see one of the countries that were the worst instigators of colonization called out in a scene early on where they try to use mercenaries to seize Vibranium from a Wakandan outreach center.  

Although I think Letitia Wright is too slight for some of the action scenes she is asked to do, it is nice to see Shuri get evolved beyond a simple sidekick, even if it is under forced circumstances.  Tenoch Huerta, who gets an introducing credit despite the fact he has been in American movies before, breathes life into complex Namor, who I can only hope eventually evolves beyond his anger and, if so, doesn't get sidelined into the occasional cameo like a lot of Marvel characters.  He may not be true to the comics but he is a well-rounded character.  Talokan itself is also a nice balance to Wakanda, introducing another culture that was displaced by European colonization and slavery as the rival rather than it being Wakanda versus the Western world. 

Effects wise this is also much better in a lot of ways than Black Panther or, honestly, a lot of the recent MCU films.  Wakanda looks wonderful, even if the water-drumming to open the shield seems a bit over-the-top.  The flying ships look better, and it's nice to see director Ryan Coogler using practical sets and location filming much more this time around.  Still, during the attack on Wakanda Namor looks like an elastic blob of pixels, and the attack by Talokans on the Sea Level looks as bad as any mass wall-scaling CGI I've seen in the past.  I think the technology used by Talokan is creative and well-rendered, although the armies riding in on orcas and whales looks a bit too much like a video game.

The other bit of criticism I have heard about the movie is also valid, at least for a good portion of the first half.  For however hundreds of millions of dollars went into this movie, especially the set design, one would think that Coogler would make sure it is lighted.  There are portions of the film that are so dark it is difficult to figure out what is happening, and these are dramatic and character-building portions, not action scenes.  These are times when the audience should be learning about the societies nad seeing how they operate, not squinting to see what's going on.  This also has some of the usual modern problems with audio, in which it might be worth it to turn the closed captioning on sometimes just to figure out what's being said.  It's not the accents, and it's certainly not the actors mumbling, but in the end a horrible mix.

Despite its flaws, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever does what it should be expected to do, which is continue on from Black Panther and keep the series going despite Chadwick Boseman's death.  It succeeds, and as a story apart from that it also exceeds that of many of the recent MCU offerings.  What it doesn't do, however, is anything to bring closure to Phase Four of the MCU.  There is one mid-credits scene that reveals a new plot point specifically for future Black Panther films, but none of the usual end-credit scenes that hint at what's next for the MCU or even tenuously try to tie in the events to the bigger picture.  This really should have come out a movie or two previous, with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness closing things out, since that provides closure for Wanda and, if the big threat really is going to be from some other universe, at least hint sets that up for the next group of movies.  

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Time: 161 minutes

Starring: Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong'o, Dominique Thorne

Director: Ryan Coogler