You know, when you devote an entire year to watching movies on Tubi, you inevitably miss out on other cinemagoing ventures. As the Tubi Continued… column draws to a close, I’m going to try to catch up on some of the comic book movies I’ve missed in the last year or so. First up is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Grief is a slippery devil. Just when you think you’re over something, grief comes back on you twofold. The most interesting thing about Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is that the characters are allowed to grieve like human beings, even though they inhabit a superhero movie.
Really, the actors and filmmakers are getting an opportunity to grieve loss of the beloved Chadwick Boseman, who passed away shortly after cementing himself as a strong leading man in the first Black Panther. The opening moments that pay tribute to Boseman are nicely done. Sadly, his absence resonates throughout the film, and it’s a burden the movie can’t quite overcome.
After the death of King T’Challa, his mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) claims the throne to Wakanda, and his sister Shuri (Letita Wright) throws herself into her sci-fi tech wizardry work. Other nations test Wakanda’s resolve by coming after their most precious commodity, Vibranium. The country eventually butts heads with Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejia), the king of the fishes who is prepared to go to war over their Vibranium resources.
Wakanda Forever has the handicap of being a superhero movie without a central superhero. Boseman was the heart of the original, and frankly the film lacks anyone with his chops to carry it on their shoulders. Several try to pick up the mantle. Ramonda, Shuri, Okoye (Danai Gurira), and Iron Heart (Dominique Thorne) give the flick a sense of girl power, but it lacks a central figure to keep everything together.
The stuff with Namor is especially disappointing given how he’s such a fun character in the comics. On the page, he was brash, arrogant, and bold. None of that shows through with this iteration of the character. Nothing against Meija, who tries, but he’s much too petulant and bland to really register as either a “Big Bad” or as the heir to the superhero throne. Plus, it doesn’t help that they just basically gave his soldiers a bad Avatar blue dye job. Or that it looks really goofy when he flies around by his ankle wings. Or that the action scenes just feel like reheated leftovers from Aquaman.
There are some neat touches here and there. For example, Namor’s explosives emit water, not fire. It’s a shame that the action for the most part, is a washout, and the climax is middling. Add to that, the nearly three-hour running time, which certainly doesn’t help either. Wakanda Forever? It sure felt like it.
Marvel Cinematic Universe Scorecard:
Spider-Man: No Way Home: ****
Avengers: Age of Ultron: ****
The Incredible Hulk: ****
Iron Man: ****
Thor: Ragnarok: ****
Avengers: Endgame: ****
Ant-Man and the Wasp: ****
Spider-Man: Homecoming: ****
Iron Man 3: ****
Captain America: Civil War: *** ½
Ant-Man: *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy: *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: *** ½
Avengers: Infinity War: *** ½
Black Panther: *** ½
The Avengers: ***
Captain America: The First Avenger: ***
Captain America: The Winter Soldier: ***
Thor: Love and Thunder: ***
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: ***
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: ***
Captain Marvel: ***
Spider-Man: Far from Home: ***
Thor: ***
The Marvels: ***
Thor: The Dark World: ***
Iron Man 2: ***
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: ** ½
Doctor Strange: ** ½
Black Widow: ** ½
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: **
Eternals: * ½
I think this is a pretty good movie overall considering the circumstances.
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