Cinema Sunday: Black Panther - Wakanda Forever

So in lieu of the 3rd Ant Man movie, the MCU movie for this Cinema Sunday post will be Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. 

When this movie came out last fall, Andrea and I did not see it for... reasons.  We enjoyed the first Black Panther film a lot. We actually saw it in the theater twice. 

But for the follow up, we found excuses not to see it and I guess it was because the very tragic death of star Chadwick Boseman was going to make it very hard to watch this follow up. 

Wakanda Forever begins with Shuri, T'Challa's sister, frantically working in her lab to synthesize the Heart Shaped Herb. In the first Black Panther film, Killmonger had burned all of the herb flowers.  Shuri is trying to bring back this mystic plant because T'Challa is dying of an undisclosed disease.  The family has been gathered to say goodbye to Wakanda's king but Shuri stays in the lab, determined fight against death until the bitter end. 

Shuri is crushed by her failure when she receives word that King T'Challa has died and she wasn't there to say good-bye.  

A year later and T'Challa's mother Ramonda has assumed the throne as Queen and is dealing with shit from the rest of the world. Nations like the United States are in a pissy mood that Wakanda isn't sharing more of it's vibranium and Queen Ramonda is pissed that nations like the United States are trying to steal what they can't gain from negotiation. 

Well, the United States is all "Well fuck you, Wakanda and your flying cars! We'll find our own vibranium!" 

In the Atlantic Ocean, the CIA and U.S. Navy SEALs utilizing a vibranium detector have found a vibranium deposit underwater. The expedition is killed by a group of blue-skinned, water-breathing superhumans led by Namor.  

Blue skin? Brown skin? Who can tell the difference? The United States blames Wakanda. 

Now Wakanda ain't done shit to nobody but Namor brings them into the fight.  Confronting Ramonda and Shuri, Namor blames Wakanda for this race to find vibranium which is putting his people at risk so he gives the Queen and her daughter an ultimatum: deliver him the scientist responsible for the vibranium detector or he will attack Wakanda.

CIA agent Everett K. Ross clues Shuri and Okoye (still bald, bad ass and beautiful) that the vibranium detector was developed by an MIT student named Riri Williams.  Riri is super duper smart and built her own Tony Stark level Iron Man suit in a garage.  There are shenanigans in the plot where Shuri, Okoye and Riri are on the run from FBI agents and Namor's warriors. There's a lot of kick ass fighting and shit blows up real good but sadly, Okoye is not able to stop Namor's warriors from taking Shuri and Riri with them. 

Queen Ramonda is pissed that Okoye had ONE JOB to keep her daughter safe and didn't so the Queen is all "you're FIRED" as general of the Dora Milaje. As if that's going to stop Okoye. She goes to Haiti to see out Nakia, T'Challa's girlfriend, to help her sort this mess out. 

Meanwhile....

Namor shows Shuri his vibranium-rich underwater kingdom of Talokan, which he has protected for centuries from discovery by the world. Ever the scientist, Shuri's geeking out over the wonders of this hidden kingdom but Namor does not know how to chill for a damn second.  Bitter at the surface world, Namor thinks Talokan and Wakanda should team up and kick the rest of the world's ass. If Wakanda does not agree to this alliance, Namor threatens to destroy Wakanda. 

Translation: "Be our friend or we will kill you"?  (Does Hallmark make a card for that?)  

• Good news: Okoye and Nakia rescue Shuri and Riri.
• Bad news: A Talokan guard is killed in the process.
• Worse news: Namor is pissed and attacks Wakanda.
• Worst news: While protecting Riri Williams, Queen Ramonda is killed. 
• We're not done yet: Namor vows to return with his full army and level Wakanda to the damn ground. 
• Reminder: Wakanda ain't done shit to nobody.

Also having a bad day: Ross is arrested by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (we met her in Falcon and the WInter Soldier and at the end of Black Widow) for giving classified intelligence to the Wakandans.

I think it bears repeating: Wakanda ain't done shit to nobody.

Anyway...

In caser you're wondering if someone named "Black Panther" will ever show up in a movie with "Black Panther" in the title...

Shuri finally perfects the synthetic Heart Shape Herb, takes a dose of the herb medicine, has a heart to heart with someone dead...

No, not her brother or her mom but that fuck up Killmonger shows up in Shuri's trance.

Anyway, much as she once did in the comics, Shuri suits up as the Black Panther and now Namor is in for a serious ass whupping. 

OK, so Namor is fairly comics accurate with pointy ears, green shorts and little wings on his ankles that actually flap and enable him to fly which is kind of silly looking but damn, the dude can fly so get over it.  The MCU version of Namor differs from the comics by moving his kingdom from Atlantis to Talokan and it's ties to ancient Mayan culture.  The abuses endured by the Mayans at the hands of conquistadors feeds the anger and distrust Namor's people have for the surface world.   

Letitia Wright as Shuri was endearingly charming as T'Challa's sister in the first Black Panther but now having to step up to the lead role, it's not quite a comfortable fit. 

Danai Gurira as Okoye owns every scene she's in with strength and intensity along with some flashes of humor. And Angela Bassett has the gravitas necessary to carry Ramonda as Wakanda's Queen and the broken heart of a mother who has lost her son. 

Who is not in this film is Chadwick Boseman. Yes, there are two scenes with Boseman as T'Challa in the form of montages taken from previous films. But the producers do not resort to any CGI trickery or unused footage to try to insert T'Challa into proceedings in some way. I'm sure it may have been tempting to try that when Shuri's in her trance and one might expect to see her brother.  I think not sneaking Boseman into the film for some "new" scene through editing or CGI was a wise decision. 

Bringing back Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger for that trance sequence was a very good move. Killmonger tells Shuri what she WANTS to hear: Namor killed her mom so she should kill Namor right back.  

But Killmonger was a fuck up so why listen to him? 

I'm kind of glad we waited to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in the comfort of our home instead of in a theater.  The loss of Chadwick Boseman is keenly felt and it felt better to process that at home. 

Still Black Panther: Wakanda Forever does a good job of building on the world we explored in the first Black Panther movie.