Yes, the ghosts of both Chadwick Boseman and T’Challa haunt the whole movie. It had been reported that the movie would address Boseman’s untimely passing by killing off his character of T’Challa in the opening minutes so that the characters, and the remaining cast by default, get to deal with the fallout.
Of course, more happens to warrant a nearly three hour movie.
And on the brights side, you don’t have to sit through the credits. There is a post titles scene, but none at the end of the long crawl.
Really.
As for the movie itself, it is impressive as a whole. Co-writer (with Joe Robert Cole) and director Ryan Coogler pushes forward with some new approaches to some familiar ground while tackling the major panther in the room. For added conflict, the death of T’Challa changes the political landscape with other world powers looking for Vibranium (even if it means resorting to covert actions against Wakanda) but brings to light a new major power.
That new power is the underwater empire of Talokan, ruled by Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía). Additionally, Talokan appears to have a similar history to Wakanda in that their civilisation also stems from the use of Vibranium. Knowing the issues Wakanda has with the world, Namor intends to protect the secrecy of his nation, even if it means destroying the surface world, preferably with Wakanda’s help.
As we got some history of Wakanda in the first movie, we get a similar story here for Talokan and its ties to MesoAmerican cultures. And therein lies the slight problem of making Namor an antagonist here in that… you can’t kill him off or completely defeat him. As a character within the over Marvel Universe, never mind the MCU, he’s fairly important. Giving him that kind of background makes him doubly so moving forward.
However, the way the story is driven, and given that Coogler is in the driver’s seat, anything could happen. There are a few interesting surprises in the way some future plots are being set-up (at least one movie and one TV series that are coming up). At the core of the story, however is loss and grief. In that, the movie wholly belongs to Letitia Wright.
Wright has the unenviable job of suddenly having to carry the whole film, and it is through her and her character of Shuri that we, as an audience and as a whole, get to process the loss of both Boseman and T’Challa. Unfortunately, it also puts her on the same track T’Challa was on throughout Captain America: Civil War, albeit on a slightly more rageful tract. It gives Wright, as an actor, more range to work with, and she delivers it all powerfully and beautifully.
For me, this puts the capper on Phase 4 as we lay the last ghost of Avengers: Endgame to rest. The movies and series since Endgame have been dealing with the fallout there, mostly dealing with death, grief, and loss. It’s how I saw the last Doctor Strange movie, and those themes, the ideas of accepting the losses and moving on, are present in the two Spider-Man movies, Thor, even Black Widow and Eternals in their own way. The main antagonist in Shang-Chi is also driven by grief. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s going to be a death in the upcoming Quantumania movie.
Dealing with the loss of Chadwick Boseman by proxy in Wakanda Forever is a welcomed aspect of the whole movie, elevating it beyond the typical superhero antics that ultimately dominate the last act.
Many are going to find this the best of the Phase 4 movies (probably more so that Spider-Man: No Way Home), and there is a lot going for it. The technical aspects are amazing with some gorgeous cinematography, along with the production designs and costumes (particularly for Talokan) and the amazing score by Ludwig Göransson. The cast is strong as expected with Huerta Mejía establishing a powerful presence as Namor and Dominique Thorne shining through as Riri Williams, heading into her own Ironheart series next.
Remarkably, you don’t feel the near three hours of the movie’s run-time.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 /5
Directed by Ryan Coogler
Written by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole
From a story by Ryan Coogler
Stars Letitia Wright, Danai Guria, Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, with Martin Freeman, and Angela Bassett
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Berning Away 
[…] is be it from the loss of specific heroes, character or actors (Black Widow, Black Panther) to dealing with grief (Shang Chi, Eternals, Doctor Strange), and death (Spider-Man, Thor). So, […]
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