Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Tries to Please All Viewers, but That’s Exactly What the Film Is Boring

The authors said goodbye to Chadwick Boseman, introduced a replacement for Iron Man, talked about sociality. But the plot itself seems to have been forgotten.

On August 28, 2020, Chadwick Boseman, the performer of the role of Black Panther, died at the age of 43. This, of course, is a tragic event: a developing actor who has just played his main roles has passed away (if anyone still doubts his talent, watch "Ma Rainey: Mother of the Blues").

But for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is also a real problem - the declared sequel, conceived specifically for this character, had to be changed somehow. And it is not painless to do this: if you hold a recast, fans can scold both the studio and the new actor. And if you introduce a new character to the position of Black Panther, you will have to rewind everything to the beginning and shoot another origin.

Marvel bosses chose the second path. I can neither praise nor condemn them – it is not clear how it would be better. One can only judge what happened. I just wanted to make it clear from the beginning. After all, the need to introduce a new hero is one of the main problems of the film. But, alas, not the only one.

So, T'Challa is dead , this is shown at the very beginning of the film. Shuri tried to save him by artificially recreating the "heart-shaped grass" that Killmonger destroyed, but all in vain. A year after his death, Wakanda again has problems - other states arrange sabotage, trying to get vibranium.

But it is even worse that American intelligence agencies find deposits of this valuable metal at the bottom of the ocean. This happened thanks to a student Riri Williams, who created a device that detects vibranium. The event disturbs the underwater people controlled by Namor. They ruthlessly destroy scientists and the military, after which Namor himself decides to kill Williams so that no one else will assemble such a machine.

Shuri and Okoye find the girl earlier, but are captured. And now the Queen of Wakanda has to choose: to support Namor, who claims that they have common goals and values, or to unleash a struggle with a strong opponent.

Surely everyone who is at least somewhat fond of cinema has already heard more than once about the standard principles by which sequels are shot (if not, watch the second "Scream", everything is explained directly there). In the first film, the formation of the hero is usually shown, and in the second part he is already at the peak of his form and must face an enemy of equal strength or more powerful strength, in fact, with his reflection.

With T'Challa, Marvel and in the first film did not really want to spend time introducing the hero - with him, as well as with Spider-Man, the audience was introduced in "Confrontation".

Well, the second "Black Panther" would definitely follow the standards. Namor is a clear reflection of the protagonist, the strongest and most revered warrior of his people. And the central conflict of the film would be that the enemies, in fact, have the same goal – to secure their country from invasion.

By tradition, in parallel, a new character was to be introduced into the plot - Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, who replaced Tony Stark (in the comics this happened a long time ago). From this plot could be formed not too inventive, but quite a standard sequel for those who loved the first part.

Alas, the need to change the main character has now been added to the already loaded plot. Surely it did not come as a surprise to anyone that the focus was shifted to Shuri, and it is she who will wear the Black Panther costume (you can't even call it a spoiler). But still, in the first film and crossovers, she remained in the secondary roles, and therefore about an hour of timing, the authors devote not only to farewell to T'Challa, but also to the heroine's attempts to understand herself.

Here it is worth recognizing that the memories of Boseman's character are an incredibly touching and sincere part of the picture. In a couple of scenes, it seemed that the actors would now accidentally call his real name - they said goodbye clearly not so much to the hero as to a friend and colleague. But if you coldly evaluate the development of the plot, then this line practically stops it.

And add to this the social component - Namor tells how the lands of his people were seized by colonists, because of which they had to go under water, and Wakanda deals with international summits with attacks from other countries. And then there's the jammed but still existing line of formation of the Ironheart.

And in the end, we get not a film, but a kind of Frankenstein monster of three or four lines (I have already lost my way), which lasts an unbearable two and a half hours. Longer than the theatrical version of Batman v Superman, as much as Infinity War. And for understanding: black panther will appear about 30 minutes before the finale.

This inevitably affects the action component. For the whole huge film, there are only three fights, also staged on all clichés: a chase and a fight on the bridge, enemy forces destroy the city, the final battle. The black panther will participate only in the last - the traditional exit of the hero in the origin. This, by the way, is related to an unexpected problem - I almost could not find enough interesting frames with the new Black Panther for the article on the network.

And in between, there are about 40 minutes of not the most exciting conversations and predictable plot twists – in fact, there are no real surprises in the film.

The action itself is sometimes quite inventive. There are good choreographic scenes, especially the fight on the sides of the ship. And in general, it is curious that Marvel shows the underwater kingdom darker than DC with their seahorses in Aquaman. True, this sometimes leads to the other extreme - the picture is not moderately dark, it is difficult to consider something.

And, unfortunately, all this does not negate the fact that at one point the heroines discuss that they want to defeat a man with wings on his legs with a giant hair dryer (they joke, but only partially).

In general, it is strange that the origin of Namor was modernized in order to connect with more relevant topics, but the image is not. It remains with sadness to remember how Vulture or Mysterio was reworked.

I actually feel a little uncomfortable. I didn't mean to scold Black Panther. It's clear that Marvel Studios and director Ryan Coogler are in a difficult situation. They honestly tried to treat the legacy of the first film with the utmost respect in order to satisfy all fans, but at the same time not to change the main plans.

However, in addition to fan affection and off-screen facts, there is a main thing - the film itself should remain interesting. And if you just come to the cinema with a desire to watch a traditional comic book movie, then "Wakanda Forever" will cause more boredom. Sometimes something interesting will happen on the screen, but all the bright scenes will be scattered across numerous storylines.

Finally, a little reflection. I'm certainly not a director, a screenwriter, or Kevin Feige. But when watching, I thought: how could I have avoided the main problem of the film? And I think I have an option.

Marvel is now easily introducing characters and important storylines in Disney+ series — the second Doctor Strange is impossible to watch without knowing what happened in Wanda/Vision. So I think the Black Panther could be replaced in some hour-long rush like Night Werewolf.

A short film would show a farewell to T'Challa and Shuri's first experiments in her new status. And in a full-length film, you could retell everything in a couple of minutes in the introduction and not waste time on it, concentrating on the main plot. But these are, of course, dreams. In reality, we have what we have.