The opening sequence of Wakanda Forever, a wordless depiction of T'Challa's death and funeral set to a Kendrick Lamar song, establishes in under five minutes what Ryan Coogler's film is about and what it is asking of its audience. It is a remarkable act of creative courage: to make absence the subject of a blockbuster sequel, and to trust that grief, handled with honesty, is enough.
At a Glance
Director: Ryan Coogler
Runtime: 161 minutes
Starring: Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta
Release: 2022
Critics Rating: ★★★½ (3.5/5 stars, a grief-driven sequel that earns its emotional ambition)
Audience Rating: ★★★½ (3.5/5 stars, deeply felt and worth the weight)
Plot
Following T'Challa's death, Wakanda is under pressure from a world that wants its vibranium. When a new threat emerges from Talokan, an underwater civilisation led by the ancient and formidable Namor, Wakanda must decide whether to fight or negotiate, while Shuri processes her mourning and considers whether vengeance is a form of bereavement she can afford. The Talokan world-building is impressive and the introduction of Namor is one of the MCU's most successful character launches, but the film's second half, in which the conflict escalates into conventional superhero warfare, is considerably less interesting than the loss-driven drama of the first. The film's 161-minute runtime is its most significant structural challenge, and there are stretches in the second act where the momentum slackens as the film tries to balance its emotional ambitions with its franchise obligations.
Characters
Letitia Wright's Shuri is the film's emotional centre, and Wright rises to the challenge with a performance of depth and range that makes her transition to lead feel thoroughly earned. Angela Bassett's Queen Ramonda is the film's most powerful presence in its opening act, and her performance in the film's most devastating scene is among the finest the franchise has produced. Tenoch Huerta's Namor is a compelling and morally complex antagonist whose motivations are understandable and whose methods are dangerous, and the film is at its best when it treats the conflict between Wakanda and Talokan as a geopolitical dispute rather than a superhero confrontation. Huerta is a revelation, bringing a physical presence and philosophical complexity that makes him one of the MCU's most interesting additions. Lupita Nyong'o brings her customary intelligence and grace to Nakia. Winston Duke's M'Baku provides reliable comic relief and good humour that the film deploys with good judgement.
Meaning / Themes
Wakanda Forever is a film about grief and the choices it forces upon us. Shuri's arc, from denial through anger to a form of acceptance that does not require forgiveness, is the most coherent expression of the film's themes and one of the most psychologically honest treatments of bereavement in blockbuster cinema. The parallel between Wakanda's collective loss and Namor's ancient wound gives the conflict a thematic resonance that elevates it above a straightforward territorial dispute, and the film's refusal to offer easy resolution to either storyline gives it a moral seriousness the genre rarely sustains.
Direction
Coogler's direction is precise and emotionally intelligent, with a particularly strong command of the film's more intimate scenes. The underwater sequences are visually striking, and the production design of Talokan is one of the MCU's most impressive achievements, creating an environment of visual imagination that gives the film a distinctive identity. Ludwig Göransson's score builds on his work in the original to create something equally rich and culturally specific, and his musical tribute to Boseman within the score is one of the film's most quietly affecting elements.
The film's opening sequence, a wordless depiction of T'Challa's death and funeral set to a Kendrick Lamar song, is one of the most powerful passages the MCU has produced, establishing a tonal register of loss that the film maintains with skill through its first half. The second half is less successful, as the demands of the genre reassert themselves and the film's more intimate concerns are gradually displaced by action sequences and plot mechanics. The contrast between the two halves is the film's most damaging structural weakness, and it prevents Wakanda Forever from achieving the sustained emotional coherence that its ambitions deserve.
Wakanda Forever received strong reviews on its release and performed well commercially. Critics praised Wright's performance, Bassett's devastating opening act work, and Coogler's handling of an impossible creative situation, while noting the film's structural imbalance and the second half's retreat into conventional genre mechanics. Angela Bassett won a Golden Globe for her performance, and the film's opening sequence is consistently cited as one of the most affecting the MCU has produced. It is now regarded as one of the MCU's most emotionally ambitious entries, a film whose real achievements are inseparable from the loss that produced them. Its place in the MCU's legacy is secure, both as a tribute to Boseman and as a demonstration of what the franchise can achieve when it prioritises emotional truth over spectacle.
Final Verdict: A moving tribute to Chadwick Boseman and a film of real emotional intelligence that is ultimately constrained by the demands of the superhero genre. Bassett and Wright are magnificent, Namor is one of the MCU's best additions, and Coogler handles an impossible situation with grace and craft. Not the equal of the original, but a worthy and deeply felt continuation.