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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nIn 2018, \u201cBlack Panther\u201d became the biggest hit of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It even made more at the domestic box office than that year\u2019s \u201cAvengers: Infinity War.\u201d Since then, King T\u2019challa (Chadwick Boseman) of the African kingdom of Wakanda died at the hand of Thanos, came back in \u201cAvengers: Endgame,\u201d and then died permanently of an unspecified illness. This of course mirrors Boseman\u2019s real-life death in 2020. The opening of \u201cBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever\u201d is dedicated to T\u2019challa (and Boseman\u2019s) passing and the celebration of his life. Yes, the Marvel logo is Boseman-centric, but it opts for a quiet, reverent tone rather than the call to cheer that was Stan Lee\u2019s tribute at the beginning of \u201cCaptain Marvel\u201d in 2019. Nothing wrong with either approach, they\u2019re just respectful in different ways. This portion of the film is handled perfectly. The rest of the film is\u2026 less perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A year after T\u2019challa\u2019s passing, Wakanda is still thriving thanks to the strong leadership of his mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett). A sequence where she makes a stern speech at the United Nations with the help of military leader Okoye (Danai Gurira) is the best post-T\u2019challa scene in the movie and is even garnering Bassett some Oscar talk. There\u2019s still some unease because Wakanda no longer has sovereign hero Black Panther around to protect it. Ramonda would like her daughter Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) to pick up where T\u2019challa left off, but Shuri wants only to bury herself in scientific research so Wakanda can survive without an antiquated superhero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Danger rears its head in the form of Namor (Tenoch Huerta), ruler of the undersea kingdom of Talokan. Talokan is the only other place on Earth with access to vibranium, the element that allows Wakanda to be so technologically-advanced. Namor orders Ramonda and Shuri to assassinate Rari Williams (Dominique Thorne), a teenage scientist with the ability to expose Talokan\u2019s existence to the world. Failure to do so will lead to Talokan declaring war on Wakanda and then on the rest of the world. Namor\u2019s plan doesn\u2019t make a whole lot of sense, as Talokan doesn\u2019t seem to have a terribly strong military once they lose the element of surprise, but for purposes of this movie, Wakanda has to find a way to fend off Namor and the rest of Talokan, with lives of important characters hanging in the balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramonda and Shuri even have to enlist the help of Nakia (Lupita N\u2019yongo), the former lover of T\u2019challa, to help with the effort, because she\u2019s an expert in languages. The mission doesn\u2019t need Nakia nearly as much as the movie needs Oscar-winner N\u2019yongo. And if you think there\u2019s little reason to have her in the movie, wait until you see the flimsy reasoning behind another cameo late in the movie. It pains me to say it, but the forced cameo is where the movie lost me. Or if not there, then definitely a moment in a climactic battle that brings to mind one of the most laughable scenes in a rival superhero franchise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For all its importance in saying goodbye to Chadwick Boseman, \u201cBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever\u201d is a below-average MCU installment. Wakanda really is one of the greatest worlds within the MCU, which makes it all the more glaring that it\u2019s in danger from the cramped, primitive-looking Talokan. Also, if Wakanda was really going to defend itself without a Black Panther, the protector\u2019s name wouldn\u2019t be right there in the title. We know we\u2019re getting a new Black Panther, no need to spend so much time playing coy. I\u2019m in no hurry to return to Wakanda after this movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grade: C<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever\u201d is rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, action and some language. Its running time is 161 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Bob Garver In 2018, \u201cBlack Panther\u201d became the biggest hit of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It even made more at the domestic box office than that year\u2019s \u201cAvengers:… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":56120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[1920],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56121,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56119\/revisions\/56121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}