Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

I almost feel dirty writing a critique of this movie, when it is not the movie anybody involved wanted to make. It is a movie born from terrible circumstance, and as such, it feels like saying anything negative about it is punching down, and saying anything positive is mawkish. So let’s get the hardest part out of the way. This is a messy movie, and that is caused by the death of Chadwick Boseman. It has an unenviable task of balancing the awkward transition away from his Black Panther and continuing the story of both Wakanda, the rest of the characters, and the MCU as a whole, all while trying to pay respect to him and give both the characters and the viewers a way to grieve. There is no way that would’ve been right or good or appropriate. Grief is never easy or clean, and a movie that has to still tell a story while being something of a public memorial service is going to be difficult. I just wish that, for once, the business of the MCU’s ongoing march didn’t have to happen, because balancing that need to acknowledge T’Challa as a character and Boseman as a man against the MCU’s story arc hurts both sides. That’s made worse when a character dies in the movie, and it feels like the movie is piggy-backing on real grief. There’s so many choices made here, so many plot elements and character development that feels off or wrong or hurts in a bad way … but they’re also borne of a situation nobody asked for. This is a movie everyone forced to make, and for what they did make, they did the best they could. The acting is still excellent, the emotional beats feel real, the conflict is understandable, the character arcs meaningful … it’s got good stuff in it. It’s a decent watch. But where the first movie is an excellent movie independent of the MCU brand, this is a decent MCU movie … and probably the best they could’ve done. It’s hard to love, but I respect it for what it is all things considered.