[Movie Review] Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the much-awaited sequel to Black Panther (2018) and the 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Directed by Ryan Coogler who also directed the first Black Panther film, the film stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Tenoch Huerta, Martin Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Angela Bassett. In the film, the leaders of Wakanda fight to protect their nation in the wake of King T’Challa’s death.

Following the sudden death of Chadwick Boseman from colon cancer, the lead actor playing the role of Black Panther/ King T’Challa in the first film, Marvel opted to write out King T’Challa from the sequel versus recasting for someone else to play the role. This was a respectful and sound decision because it would be very hard for an actor to fill the shoes of Boseman, after his titular performance.

Someone else from the original cast from the first film will step up to play the role of Black Panther. It is quite predictable actually, so I was surprised the film dragged the reveal till after the second half.

The artistic direction for Wakanda Forever is as beautifully executed as the film movie. The costumes were gorgeous, the set designs were stunning and the music tracks were arrestingly catchy. The attention to detail was not just reserved for Wakanda, but for the Talokans as well, an ancient civilization of underwater dwelling people who were the main antagonists in the film.

My only complaint is that the film feels a tad too long. The storytelling is not as fast-paced as the first and definitely much slower than most Marvel movies, with some backstories for character development allowed to drag out for longer than perhaps necessary.

If you patiently sit through the first half of the movie, it will get many times more exciting from there and the later half of the movie is where the bulk of the actions and excitement kicks in.

Kudos to all the cast for their superb performance and acting chops. I could not pick out one person who did not seem to be born the respective role he or she was playing, delivering it to the very best from beginning to end.

Overall, this is one of the better Marvel movies in recent years that is fun to watch and quite the adventure. My son definitely enjoyed it to the core.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now showing in Singapore cinemas. Go catch it!