Wakanda Forever: A Farewell Ballad

Release Date：Nov/11/2022

Genre：Action/Adventure/Drama

Director：Ryan Coogler

Cast：Letitia Wright、Angela Bassett、Martin Freeman、Tenoch Huerta、Lupita Nyong'o

Viola's Rating：7.8

Chadwick Boseman, the face of the Marvel Comics superhero Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), passed away due to colon cancer complications on August 28, 2020. More than two years after his death, MCU presented Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as a farewell ballad to cherish the memory of him.

As the 30th feature film in the MCU and the final one in Phase Four, this adventurous, dramatic action tells the story of Wakandans fighting to protect their home from intervening world powers as they mourn the death of King T'Challa.

Wakanda Forever’s running time is 161 minutes, meaning that it has plenty of time to build up its characters, which it does successfully, both new faces and old friends. Aside from the ones featured in the trailer, Ironheart and Namor, who are going to be introduced to the audience in the MCU for the very first time, a cameo is rather surprising and unexpected.

Most characters in Black Panther don’t appear in other MCU films, so Wakanda Forever is their only and perfect stage to showcase their true selves. Moviegoers learn a bit more about supporting characters such as M’Baku, Nakia and Okoye.

As shown in the trailer, Wakanda Forever starts from a funeral, mourning King T’Challa, but frankly speaking, the whole flick is a tribute funeral for Boseman. The celebrated Marvel opening animation was swapped for Boseman’s pictures as T’Challa with silence as the background. More scenes within the motion picture are shown when characters commemorate him.

At the end of Black Panther, T’Challa reveals Wakanda’s true nature to the world, and in Wakanda Forever, world issues are discussed as if this is the movie version of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Colonization, diseases and wars are themes that appear in Wakanda Forever.

Besides the abovementioned serious topics, what’s more important is the legacy of Black Panther. The answer to “Who is the next Black Panther?” will be answered and more will be revealed in the picture.

In Wakanda Forever, Princess Shuri must face not only her grief and sorrow for her brother, but also her dilemma and struggle between technology, at which her expertise and her passion lie, and tradition, which has supported Wakanda for so long. After failing to save her brother’s life with both, how and why is she going to continue believing in them?

Generally speaking, Wakanda Forever won’t disappoint you like the recent Marvel mediocre, but it’s not as amazing as its prequel, lacking wow factors. However, as sincere as it is, it’s a beautiful present for everyone who loves Boseman.

Picture Credit: IMDb