Black Panther Wakanda Forever - November 11, 2022

[troy_story]

I just got back from seeing it.
No spoilers obviously.

Beautiful tribute to Chadwick… like really superb… and capped off by a really memorable mid credits scene that hits you deep in the feels (heads up there is no after credit scene).
As for the film… it’s very slow. If people didn’t like Eternals pacing… this one was akin to that imo. And it’s very long. Too long. I was bored once as I wandered off for a little bit in the long winded second act… but it pulled me back for a surprisingly untraditional MCU final third. I really enjoyed the grounded way the final confrontations take place.
Letitia Wright was superb. She has a LOT of heavy lifting to do in this film and after the first movie, Shuri didn’t really resonate with me… after this film, she completely changed my opinion. I felt what she was feeling the entire movie. She was great. As was Angela Bassett. There is a really stirring monologue from her that will no doubt get the hairs standing up on the back of your neck. Namor was good, and very imposing… but left me a little underwhelmed and unsurprised with the direction of his character. I actually found myself wanting more of him. Attuma and Namora echoed Corvus and Proxima… looked cool, heaps of potential, but completely wasted. I wasn’t buying what Coogler did with RiRi Williams… I’m not sure I’m sold on the authenticity of how smart she is… maybe it’s the actress I don’t know… I don’t think this was the correct film to feature her in either as her intro… she was kind of shoehorned in. I’m also a little disappointed with Okoye’s role and Nakia, although a key player, didn’t show up til almost half way through.
The score, the costumes and the CGI were all great though. The costumes in particular will get an Oscar nod. Beautifully designed and realised.
There are a few surprises which got me excited too. But I don’t think this is the film to change peoples minds if they are already over the MCU…

Figure wise… I feel a lot of people will pass on this suit. Purely, if nothing else, because of how staggeringly little screen time it gets.
I’m now not convinced we will get an any other figure… including M’Baku (who was also completely underused). I think Namor is a given but outside of Fem Panther and him I don’t see any clear other figure that will emerge. Ironheart at a stretch perhaps…

Overall… it was a little disappointing but as I thought the first was overrated this one was on par with it. Mostly enjoyable, just very unnecessarily expositional for the majority.

Just my two cents. Hope you enjoy it!

 

[chrisstbh]

I will probably just wait for it to be available on Disney+

 

[KitbashOfficer]

I just got back from seeing it.
No spoilers obviously.

Beautiful tribute to Chadwick… like really superb… and capped off by a really memorable mid credits scene that hits you deep in the feels (heads up there is no after credit scene).
As for the film… it’s very slow. If people didn’t like Eternals pacing… this one was akin to that imo. And it’s very long. Too long. I was bored once as I wandered off for a little bit in the long winded second act… but it pulled me back for a surprisingly untraditional MCU final third. I really enjoyed the grounded way the final confrontations take place.
Letitia Wright was superb. She has a LOT of heavy lifting to do in this film and after the first movie, Shuri didn’t really resonate with me… after this film, she completely changed my opinion. I felt what she was feeling the entire movie. She was great. As was Angela Bassett. There is a really stirring monologue from her that will no doubt get the hairs standing up on the back of your neck. Namor was good, and very imposing… but left me a little underwhelmed and unsurprised with the direction of his character. I actually found myself wanting more of him. Attuma and Namora echoed Corvus and Proxima… looked cool, heaps of potential, but completely wasted. I wasn’t buying what Coogler did with RiRi Williams… I’m not sure I’m sold on the authenticity of how smart she is… maybe it’s the actress I don’t know… I don’t think this was the correct film to feature her in either as her intro… she was kind of shoehorned in. I’m also a little disappointed with Okoye’s role and Nakia, although a key player, didn’t show up til almost half way through.
The score, the costumes and the CGI were all great though. The costumes in particular will get an Oscar nod. Beautifully designed and realised.
There are a few surprises which got me excited too. But I don’t think this is the film to change peoples minds if they are already over the MCU…

Figure wise… I feel a lot of people will pass on this suit. Purely, if nothing else, because of how staggeringly little screen time it gets.
I’m now not convinced we will get an any other fingered… including M’Baku (who was also completely underused). I think Namor is a given but outside of Fem Panther and him I don’t see any clear other figure that will emerge. Ironheart at a stretch perhaps…

Overall… it was a little disappointing but as I thought the first was overrated this one was on par with it. Mostly enjoyable, just very unnecessarily expositional for the majority.

Just my two cents. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for the review! These days, I'm a little over the MCU and their uninteresting direction. I just want good figures based off good designs, which I agree with you; based on how Hot Toys operates, Namor is probably the only other figure...but first they have to figure out their seamless problems. He would likely have one at the shoulder - a NO-NO for most folks.

 

[Victοr]

I'll wait for a camrip so that I can complain about Manletmor (I already know the spoilers, but still). I honestly can't muster up enough of a care for anything else. But I do want to complain about Manletmor, so...

 

[Stryker2011]

I seriously don’t get why they just didn’t recast the role of the “real” BP. It’s not like other actors haven’t passed and been replaced. This whole constant gender swap crap that Hollywood is doing now is just irritating.

 

[The Buffinator]

I seriously don’t get why they just didn’t recast the role of the “real” BP. It’s not like other actors haven’t passed and been replaced. This whole constant gender swap crap that Hollywood is doing now is just irritating.

There was a significant Black Panther comic story arc where T’Challa was presumed dead and Shuri took up the mantle, so gender swapping the character isn’t the issue for me. It’s that they’ve killed off T’Challa too soon. Just because CB died before his time doesn’t mean the character he portrayed had to do so as well. In attempting to honor CB they’ve actually prevented another actor of color from landing a role, which is the last thing he would have wanted.

 

[Stryker2011]

There was a significant Black Panther comic story arc where T’Challa was presumed dead and Shuri took up the mantle, so gender swapping the character isn’t the issue for me. It’s that they’ve killed off T’Challa too soon. Just because CB died before his time doesn’t mean the character he portrayed had to do so as well. In attempting to honor CB they’ve actually prevented another actor of color from landing a role, which is the last thing he would have wanted.

Yeah, that's kind of my point. Why not give another actor the role; they're not doing the character (or another actor) any favors by just killing him off.

 

[Victοr]

I think this would've been the prime chance to introduce some diversity to Wakanda and go with Hunter as the new Black Panther.

 

[The Buffinator]

I think this would've been the prime chance to introduce some diversity to Wakanda and go with Hunter as the new Black Panther.

I assume this was suggested tongue-in-cheek, as that would have never flown in the wake of CB's death. But if T'Challa had lived on then I agree introducing Hunter's character at some point would have been a great call. I was rather irked when they gave his White Wolf designation to Bucky, as it indicated they had no intentions to ever introduce him. But I suppose between T'Chaka killing his own brother and Killmonger being his nephew & T'Challa's cousin, adding an adopted white brother would have been a tough sell lol...

 

[vailus]

Few will give this movie a negative review even if they don’t like it, so I wouldn’t put too much stock in reviews. Boseman’s tribute alone will see to that. I liked Ledger’s Joker as well, but it became taboo to criticize the movie because of his death. Same will happen here I suspect.

As long as the movie does well I would absolutely bet on an Iron Heart figure. Hot Toys loves their Iron people figures too much not to. Iron Men, War Machines, Rescue, and the armored villains are the most numerous license in the Hot Toys repertoire.

 

[Victοr]

I assume this was suggested tongue-in-cheek, as that would have never flown in the wake of CB's death. But if T'Challa had lived on then I agree introducing Hunter's character at some point would have been a great call. I was rather irked when they gave his White Wolf designation to Bucky, as it indicated they had no intentions to ever introduce him. But I suppose between T'Chaka killing his own brother and Killmonger being his nephew & T'Challa's cousin, adding an adopted white brother would have been a tough sell lol...

Obviously. I still maintain that the whole debacle is nonsensical. It's a capeflick, nothing more. Sad the guy died, and in a bad way, but life moves on. Turning a caperole into something of a "cultural milestone" is merely PR and a ruthless corpo wanting to make more bucks, nothing more. They should've recasted and been done with it. But they wanted the publicity. Which is why they killed him off, and now

Spoiler

he's got a young son named T'Challa as well, whom they'll age up in the next 3 years through time-nonsense, and dump all of "T'Challa's" stories on. It's beyond obvious, and that's what irks me about the whole thing. It's such a blatantly marketing-based decision, so devoid of any genuine humanity, that it bothers me. The worst thing is how they did him. An off-screen hidden disease. It's insulting. The whole thing is in bad taste to my eyes. But I will admit that it's clever. They get to have their cake and eat it too.

There used to be a time Black Panther was in my Top 5, and often in my Top 3. Now I'm not even going to buy a dolly. The MCU just ruined a lot of things for me.

 

[RavenAsh]

I will probably just wait for it to be available on Disney+

This is what I’m doing. Could not care less about a sequel without the main character from a first movie which I like less and less the more I think about it. And it’s 2 hours 40? Nah. I’ll just play GOW Ragnarok instead.

 

[KitbashOfficer]

Yeah, that's kind of my point. Why not give another actor the role; they're not doing the character (or another actor) any favors by just killing him off.

Indeed. I would've had an unknown, mysterious male BP show up, save the day, never show his face and answer later down the road "who was that guy?"

But at least - Yahya Abdul-Mateen II should've been offered the role. Not Wonder-Bread Man.

 

[Sassafras]

I will probably just wait for it to be available on Disney+

I know I will. Suspected the characters I liked from the first one would still be characters I liked -

But much like End Game, I personally don't need movies to decompress me emotionally - although with BP, respect that Disney and the filmmakers had a tough bridge to walk making a sequel. Outside of a committed cast tho, didn't think that much of BP1, and nothing's grabbing me about BP2. Would have preferred Namor would have stuck to the comic origins, as well. Bummer.

Don't think I will ever think more of Boseman as an actor than his Civil War performance, especially the last scene with Zemo.

 

[jye4ever]

I keep hearing that Letittia Wright owns this movie.

When she signed on as a side character I bet she never thought in a million years she would be asked by Marvel to carry the sequel on her shoulder you know after the lead actor died!

Marvel should’ve just recasted instead of dumping that responsibility on her.

She was also crazy for accepting it so now she has to deal with the hate being directed at her.

 

[e30ernest]

I keep hearing that Letittia Wright owns this movie.

When she signed on as a side character I bet she never thought in a million years she would be asked by Marvel to carry the sequel on her shoulder you know after the lead actor dies!

Marvel should’ve just recasted instead of dumping that responsibility on her.

She was also crazy for accepting it so now she has to deal with the hate being directed at her.

I do not like her views, but I do respect her as an actress. And she does indeed own the role here. I think she is also one of the highlights of the movie. Her character really does go through an arc here.

 

[ironwez20]

Looks like I’m seeing this crap on Sunday. Thanks marvel for burying a well known black character and then wanting to be so inclusive. You guys are awesome and I guess I’m supporting it lol.

 

[ironwez20]

I seriously don’t get why they just didn’t recast the role of the “real” BP. It’s not like other actors haven’t passed and been replaced. This whole constant gender swap crap that Hollywood is doing now is just irritating.

I will keep complaining about this until I’m blue in the face. The fact that they did this imo is very disrespectful to the character and the actor. I bet they wouldn’t do this with any other character. They wouldn’t replace Steve rogers or tony stark. Just cause an actor dies tragically doesn’t mean you just retire the character he was playing . What sense does that make? If Robert Pattinson died we’d have more Batman movies. Just silly to go that direction and they talk about inclusion and being so diverse but yet you kill off arguably the most popular black superhero off screen? Ok

 

[jye4ever]

Ticket sales 20% behind DS2

 

[medicomsucks]

I will keep complaining about this until I’m blue in the face. The fact that they did this imo is very disrespectful to the character and the actor. I bet they wouldn’t do this with any other character. They wouldn’t replace Steve rogers or tony stark. Just cause an actor dies tragically doesn’t mean you just retire the character he was playing . What sense does that make? If Robert Pattinson died we’d have more Batman movies. Just silly to go that direction and they talk about inclusion and being so diverse but yet you kill off arguably the most popular black superhero off screen? Ok

I feel the cultural significance of BP for the black community elevates Boseman above nearly any previous actor in superhero films though. We have had quite a few batmen in the last 100 years. I think they did the right thing here but I havent seen the movie yet.