With an overwhelmingly positive narrative behind Marvel's latest cinematic outing, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a great film. The previous review of Fortress sums up a lot of the feelings I've had since the film's release. After numerous hiccups and delays, the Black Panther movie sequel has arrived in theaters around the world. It was undoubtedly the most anticipated film of phase 4 of the Marvel universe.
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As is always the case with blockbusters in recent years, it's best to let audiences judge for themselves in what is becoming a pretty polarized scene when it comes to posting reviews. In some cases, some critics will completely destroy a film, without considering what was good about it or even what it was trying to accomplish. It just doesn't fit their vision of things, so it's a bad movie. However, a film can have both aspects true. It can be a really great experience for the viewer, while still leaving behind a pretty big hole in the plot, character arc and such.
Having watched the film three nights ago, I left the theater satisfied with my experience, as I'm sure many other viewers did. The event took place in nine different rooms and when I returned to the common area after the credits, there was quite a murmur. After reading a few of these discussions, it's easy to say that most viewers also had an enjoyable experience. And that same feeling was carried around the world.
There are a lot of subplots in the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever movie. However, the one that resonates the most among viewers is the tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman. Not only does the film deal with the loss of King T'Challa in its storyline, but it also pays homage to the actor himself. To put this into perspective, there are two scenes in the film in which director Ryan Coogler praises loss. From the outset, we are immersed in a grieving Wakanda, which, like many African cultures, deals with death in a rather unique way. This also translates into the film.
However, it's the second tribute that seems to have really caught the public's attention. At least, the audience in our room. In more than 30 years of cinema, I have never witnessed the silence that reigned in a room like this. It was palpable. Fans were left in the middle of enjoying the popcorn, digging through candy packets and such. Everything stopped completely. Even the person who had the nervous tic of clicking their feet on the ground experienced a moment of calm when everything stopped for a full minute. It was a respectful minute's silence often found in sports stadiums when requested before kick-off – but this time it was not requested, it was is done naturally.
It's moments like this that made Black Panther: Wakanda Forever so powerful. Even now, as I write this review, that same palpable feeling comes over me.
The other great aspect of the film lies in the two main protagonists. We first experience this through Queen Ramonda, who mourns the loss of her son, whereas just a few years ago she also mourned the loss of her husband, King T'Chaka. Angela Bassett is brilliant in this role, as she goes from a seemingly vulnerable mother to a powerful queen, who speaks at a conference in front of other world powers and lays the groundwork for all of Wakanda.
Second, there is the role of Shuri, played by Letitia Wright. What I liked about the character's arc is that it's not the roses and clouds stereotype of Marvel or Disney when she has to deal with the loss of her brother. She suffers and gives her all to her work, while rejecting traditional mourning customs. A vengeful princess who must find her own path and voice to deal with this loss. This makes the character much more endearing as a whole.
If you strip away all the other settings, CGI, character depictions and pageantry of the above, you're left with an excellent film. Many stereotypes and tropes were also abandoned, resulting in a more polished final product. If it weren't for the fact that this is, after all, a Marvel superhero movie, you'd expect to see big-budget explosions, fights, and the inevitable villain.
The villain, in this case, is Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta. But he's not a typical villain. On the contrary, his reasoning becomes more complicated as events progress, with the inhabitants of Talocan considering themselves the good guys. It reminds me of the famous scene from the show “That Mitchell and Webb Look”, which begs the question: “Are we the bad guys?” Yes. Yes you are.
And now for the biggest problem I have with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
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Warning: Spoilers ahead!
As Wakanda was finally revealed to the world for what it is, a superpower, I couldn't help but start thinking about the country in its entirety. To begin with, how big is Wakanda? How many citizens does its population have? What is the distribution of its army compared to its ordinary citizens?
These are the questions I tried to answer at the end of the first film, and these same questions are brought to the fore in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever without many viewers realizing it. When Queen Ramonda meets with the other members of the council at the conference about its policies, weapons, and role in the world's population at large, she clashes directly with countries like the United States and France. These two countries are the main opponents of Wakanda not sharing its technology, particularly its vibranium.
As we learn early on, Wakanda is not the only civilization to have discovered and harnessed the powers of vibranium, the world's most powerful resource. The United States is trying to drill and mine the vibranium it found on the ocean floor. They discovered this new source of the precious metal thanks to a very specific invention which triggers the main events of the film. After destroying the ship and crew attempting to mine the newly discovered vibranium, Namor sets out to find the person who invented the vibranium-finding machine.
At this time, Namor asks for help from Wakanda by speaking to Queen Ramonda while she is having a heart-to-heart with Shuri, alone near the shore. I may not be using the term “help” correctly in this case, because Namor is actually threatening the Queen and all of Wakanda to deliver the inventor or face their wrath. This seems a bit strong, but sets the tone for the relationship between the world's only two vibranium-producing civilizations.
This is where Namor says something along the lines of “don't test our might, my army has more fighters than Wakanda has blades of grass.” At this point, we, as viewers, are supposed to be impressed by this bit of dialogue. As if emerging from the abyss, not only do we now know about the new kingdom of Talocan, but we also know that it has a military presence that potentially numbers in the millions. Impressive, to say the least. But is it really?
It's a worrying reality that Wakanda must face if Namor's words are to be believed. To support this claim about the size of his army, we are given a bit of exposition in the form of a few images from the past, accompanied by narration from Namor himself. Sarcasm aside, this gives a good overview of the origins of civilization. I refer to Talocan as a civilization simply because I don't know if they have the same geographic affiliations that we surface dwellers are accustomed to having – if they have cities and capitals with diverse populations residing in each of them. From what I have gathered, it is a unique dwelling for its inhabitants.
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On top of that, we know that the civilization is some 500 years old. His underwater nation was inspired by the Tlālōcān of Aztec mythology. As such, many of its cultural aspects such as buildings, jewelry, paintings and others also draw inspiration from the former empire that is now Mexico. And, given this context, you can infer that its population would have thrived in the ocean, unhindered by wars, potential disease, and other problems of the surface world. As such, and returning to Namor's previous dialogue, we cannot rule out that its population easily expands to millions, if not tens of millions of people. His statement is therefore plausible.
Now, in contrast, we look at Wakanda. Based on Marvel databases, we expect the MCU's version to be pretty similar to a population of around 6 million. Then all the questions I had previously also come into play. How big is the Wakandan army and what is its military prowess? In short, not so much, in the end.
After all they said at the world conference that they can easily outmatch the US military, one wonders how. Yes, they have many more technological advances, but how many people are capable of flying their planes, riding their rhinos and elephants on border patrols, or taking on the Dora Milaje with their spears?
With all the talk and threats of war throughout the film, we finally get to see the power of the two vibranium-rich civilizations. These two superpowers had heated discussions before the battle, which made us believe in their abilities the whole time. But in the end, it was nothing more than hot air. A damp squib if you will.
The big battle is supposed to take place at sea, with the forces of Wakanda united on a single ship, under the cover of technology that prevents the Talocan army from approaching. Additionally, they have air support in the form of one or two fighter jets and a few flying soldiers – three in total. That doesn't seem like much.
At the same time, Talocan's army approaches the battlefield, riding a few whales. Are we to believe this was their entire army? A total of four or five whales carrying their army, which cling to the animals as they enter the scene. How much of a desert is Wakanda, if these are the blades of grass they were talking about?
I can only assume that the lack of an impressive army at either end is a result of the CG budget. But why make such elaborate statements if we are never going to see them, ever. At no point in the film did we see the number of people Namor claimed to have in his army – not even among the everyday people on his “streets”.
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In the end, we couldn't even count 1,000 fighters on the battlefields in its entirety with both armies combined. There were more bodies on the ground during the final battle against Thanos, which could be seen in the distance. The fact that soldiers from two armies of the supposedly greatest world powers could fit on the deck of a single ship, which in itself was poorly designed, leaves much to be desired. I can't tell if this is an oversight or an expectation that fans won't question it. If it's the latter, then it's disrespectful that they take this fact for granted while we, the fans, expect more.
Ultimately, the final “boss fight” we often witness in Marvel films falls flat in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and by a considerable margin as it turns out.