Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

 "Youtr brother is with the ancestors"

This is an interesting film, centred on Letitia Wright as Shura, yet full of thoughful subtext, full of lots of glorious Agfrican cultural imagery. Yet... it's average.

Sadly, Chadwick Boseman- a man my age-is dead. That usual Marvel spiel at the start makes a fitting tribute here, being entirely dedicated to him, is wonderful to see. And is more than just avtribute. Because this is a film defined by his absence.

Black Panther was one of the MCU's finest films at the time, and even more in hindsight. It's brilliantly Afrofuturist message and visuals have percolated into society and had a hugely positive effect within this world we live in, in which American police officers, supposed to protect the public, seem to routinely torture and murder young black peope, and where far too many black people in the west live in disproportionate levels of poverty and, indeed, imprisonment. The social legacy of slavery is real. And that's before we get into the legacy of colonialism in Africa as well as elsewhere. Black Panther is at once escapism from this depressing reality and a message of hope.

Yet Chadwick Boseman, an actor of huge charisma, is no longer with us, and cannot just be replaced. Recasting would, of course, have been repugnant. So this film, wisely, reflects this reality, being entirely about grieving and loss amongst an overwhelmingly black and female cast. Shuri takes on the mantle of Black Panther- and of queen- only with reluctance and after much grieving for T'Challa.

Wakanda faces a more hostile world without the respected T'Challa, with other powers openly jealous of Vibranium and quick to scapegoat the African nation for hostile acts with a highly suspicious eagerness. There's also a new power in the world, also with Vibranium, as the MCU finally introduces us to Marvel's oldest protagonist- Namor the Sub-Mariner, a bit less of a dick here than he is in the comics. Wisely, Namor's underwater kingdom is not called Atlantis but rather "Talokan", and is given a rather less silly origin with its roots in Meso-American culture and colonialism- thematic unity- rather than the Hyborean Age and the Great Cataclysm. It's great to see Namor at last, and Attuma too. 

The film perhaps lacks the sheer excellence of its predecessor, perhaps understandably. But for a film so bloody long I found this thoroughly enjoyable.