Saturday 12 November 2022

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

So guys, we're at the newest M.C.U movie and one that was gonna turn out interesting, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. I say that because of the fact that this was a film being made after Chadwick Boseman passed away. Ryan Coogler admitted that he actually died shortly after he wrote the original script for this and he had to rewrite the entire thing to not include him and so it was gonna be pretty tragic to watch this since it was a new comic book movie that was a sequel to a movie that was really successful and Boseman had become incredibly synonymous with the character. And, so, in the end, I'm super happy with the end result. As a film that I can imagine must have been very difficult to make since the passing, I think they did the best thing they could have done. I would say this is my favourite M.C.U project this year. This is definitely one of the most emotional M.C.U movies yet. So, let's get into this, and, like always, this will have no spoilers for the first part and then I'll go into all the spoilers afterwards. So, what's the story? After the passing of T'Challa, Wakanda is struggling, especially now that other countries are trying to get access to their Vibranium. Not only that, but they're now also having to deal with a new enemy named Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta, so now, Shuri is trying to step up and take care of things now that things are the way they are. So, like I said, this is already one of the most emotional M.C.U movies because they sorta use the fact that Boseman died as a piece of emotion for the movie because the characters in the movie are constantly feeling T'Challa's absence and it's very emotional because we feel the same way due to the real life event that happened as well. But it doesn't just rely on that, this movie is also phenomenal when it comes to character development because the characters are having to go through a lot in this movie, and, by a lot, I'm also talking about how this movie pretty long. I personally didn't mind because I never really noticed how long this movie was, which is a credit to how well paced the movie is, but also just how well the character development is because we watch them go through tons of development in this. Also, I feel like this movie did right what Eternals did wrong last year. When I saw Eternals, it felt like that movie was trying to make it so that it would be a slow burn so it could build the characters, but I don't think it worked because none of the characters were interesting there, but this movie knew exactly how to do it to make all the characters interesting and I never found it boring. The casting is also incredible here. The first Black Panther movie I think is one of the best performed M.C.U movies and this is exactly the same, everyone does a fantastic job, especially Angela Bassett as Ramonda, she's absolutely amazing in the movie and her performance carries a lot of this movie, especially one scene in particular in the Wakanda throne room, but Letita Wright also does an amazing job. She was one of my favourite aspects of the first movie and I loved her here, especially since she's the main character here and it's interesting how she was elevated from a side character in the first movie to the main character in this, and, yeah, in some other movies that happens and sometimes it doesn't work because sometimes they really were just written to be a side character and not the main focus, but the writing for her here made her a lot more interesting and Letita Wright did an amazing job, her performance also helps carry a lot of the emotion in the movie as well. The movie also just looks incredible. I feel like since they have a place like Wakanda as a setting for this movie, they can get a lot of amazing shots and do other things with the cinematography. Speaking of how the movie looks, the movie's C.G.I is also a lot better this time. The first movie's C.G.I is pretty infamous for not looking finished, especially during the climax, but this movie's C.G.I is a lot better most of the time, as well as the action scenes. There's some really good martial arts action in this and they do a good job with shooting it. There's nothing here that's super intense, but it's still really interesting to watch. I was also shocked to see the surprises in this. There's quite a few twists here and I didn't expect a few of them. I would also say this is the first comic book movie I've maybe ever seen to not have a costume reveal for a good while. This isn't really a spoiler because it was in the trailer, but, yeah, we don't get to see anyone in a superhero suit for a good portion of the movie. That's a lot of praise I've just talked about, but, as far as any problems, there's not many, just a few. For one, there's a few scenes here that I think could have been trimmed down a bit. Like I said, I didn't notice how long this movie really was, but a few scenes do go on a bit too long, one in particular involving exploring Namor's kingdom. It was interesting, but a bit of it didn't seem very necessary. Speaking of Namor, he's probably my main critique with the movie. Not much, and it's not like he's one of the worst M.C.U villains, but sometimes they spend a lot of time on him to help us understand him and his motivation and, while it is interesting, it's not as interesting as Killmonger was in the first movie. Killmonger still might be my favourite M.C.U villain ever because of just how much sympathy I have for him and everything else about him just made him so complex and interesting, and it feels like they wanted to do that again, but it didn't really feel the same, and, again, the fact that they spend a lot of time on him makes it all the more noticeable. Still though, the writing for him was still solid most of the time. Also, occasionally, the C.G.I doesn't look very good. Like I said, it's better than the last movie, but, especially involving one character in this, it's pretty hard to ignore. But, that's that really about it. So, overall, I had a really, really great time with this movie. As someone who loved the first Black Panther movie and was really excited for this, not to mention knowing how hard and tragic it must have been to make this movie given the circumstances, I loved it and I would say it's definitely my favourite M.C.U project this year. So, yeah, I would highly recommend checking this one out, I had a great time with it myself. And so guys, those are my thoughts on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think. Okay, now we're gonna get into the spoilers, if you don't want anything spoiled, go see the movie then come back and read the rest of this.

Spoilers:

Okay, so, I was pretty surprised that they just cut right into the movie. Like, we didn't see any kinda title come up or the Marvel logo, it was just immediately into it with Shuri trying to find a cure for T'Challa and then it shows he died, then there's a funeral for him. It was nice to see that since it was a nice way to honour and respect Boseman and this is what I meant as the film being one of the most emotional M.C.U movies because they constantly think about that. Also, before seeing the movie, I was kinda wondering if they would include the Marvel logo at the beginning they made honouring Boseman they made for the version of Black Panther on Disney+, and they did. I thought it would be nice if they put that in here and they did, so it was really nice to see that. I also thought it was cool to have Iron Heart in this. I don't know much about the character, but I know a small bit and I think Dominique Thorne did a great job with the character. Though, the effects on the suit is what I meant by the C.G.I sometimes looking kinda weird. It was nice to see Martin Freeman back in this as Ross and I still really like him, though, I didn't expect Valentina to be in this. And, that whole scene where Shuri is in Namor's kingdom is what I meant by some of this was dragged out a bit. It felt like the whole exploring of that place went on a bit too long. And then the attack Namor does on Wakanda looked pretty cool and this starts the first twist I mentioned, I didn't expect Ramonda to die here and it was pretty surprising, though, I guess it kinda parallels when T'Chaka died in front of T'Challa and that's when they both become Black Panther. Speaking of, the biggest surprise for me was when Shuri is able to recreate the Heart Shaped Herb and goes to the Ancestral Plane and sees Killmonger there. I didn't expect to see him in this at all, but it was great to see him again and Michael B. Jordan did a fantastic job with him again. And then seeing Shuri becoming the new Black Panther was really awesome and I really liked the final battle. I liked how some of it got kinda brutal like when Shuri had to pull herself free of the spear, and the actual end of it with the jet exploding looked really cool. I also liked how this isn't another M.C.U movie where the main villain dies, I like how they managed to make an alliance out of the whole thing and it was nice to see. As far as the ending, it was fun to see M'Baku and the others back in Wakanda and Shuri's goodbye to Riri was nice and it was cool to see Okoye save Ross, though I do wonder how that's gonna work in the future with his role. But then Shuri remembering T'Challa was really nice and another nice way to honour Chadwick. But then, the mid credit scene, I loved it. It was really nice and really emotional. We got to see T'Challa and Nakia's son who's also named T'Challa and him meeting Shuri was really nice to see and emotional and when it faded and we saw text that said "Dedicated to our friend, Chadwick Boseman", the entire audience just applauded. I was pretty surprised there wasn't an end credit scene, mostly because I thought we were gonna get a Doctor Doom tease, but, this was still a nice way to honour Chadwick. So yeah, overall, I was just really satisfied after seeing this. So, yeah guys, that's my review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.

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