Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens in cinemas today. After euphoric reactions, first reviews also promise an emotional, rousing Marvel blockbuster. However, there are also negative voices.
After the death of Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther sequel had to be completely rescheduled. Without the main actor, the MCU sequel focuses on the Wakanda characters around T’Challa. In addition to grief and loss, a new underwater threat is also announced.
The first social media reactions have already celebrated Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as the best Marvel film since Avengers 4. Official reviews have now also appeared ahead of today’s cinema release. They are mostly positive and promise an emotional highlight. However, there are also more negative opinions.
Watch another Black Panther 2 trailer here:
Black Panther 2 reviews celebrate dignified handling of Chadwick Boseman’s death
For Variety Owen Gleiberman writes that the characters can fill Boseman’s void in Part 2:
“[…] But “Wakanda Forever” has a slow-burning emotional tension. Once the film gains momentum, it doesn’t let up. […] The hero:ins of Wakanda Forever fight for their lives, their nation, their fallen king, and the film lets us touch the ruthlessness of their devotion. They fill the void and so does Ryan Coogler as a Marvel storyteller. T’Challa is gone, but somewhere he’s smiling. “
Leah Greenblatt also comes to a similar conclusion in her Entertainment Weekly review:
“Wakanda Forever is still clearly a Marvel property, with all the story beats for fans and supporting characters that its ever-expanding universe requires, but it also feels detached from everything else that came before. “
“And while a Black Panther without Boseman is undoubtedly not what the film’s executives or cast wanted it to be, the movie they made feels like something unusually elegant and profound at the multiplex; a slice of eternity for the star who left too soon. “
In his review for The Hollywood Reporter David Rooney also praises the staging and action of Black Panther 2:
“While most of the film’s battles take place on the surface, it’s the Talokanil’s ability to harness the power of water – I mean, these guys can ride whales – that leads to the most sensational set-piece, in which Coogler deftly orchestrates destruction to mirror the real-life disasters of floods and tsunamis. “
“A big collision at sea, on a giant Wakanda ship and in the sky above, is another highlight. But Coogler balances action with character-driven human drama, keeping the stakes both personal and global. “
Clarisse Loughrey also writes for The Independent about antagonist Namor and his importance to the MCU film:
“As an antagonist, Namor ties directly into Black Panther’s Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). He circles around many of the same ideological ideas: Isolation, cooperation, revenge, self-determination, aggression and defence. But Wakanda Forever expands rather than repeats, offering a mainstream film rich enough in ideas to stimulate serious discussion about resource control and how formerly and currently colonised countries can imagine their own futures. “
There are also more negative voices about Black Panther 2
In a not so euphoric review, Nicholas Barber writes for BBC , that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever would suffer from the lack of a protagonist and crams too many old and new faces into the plot:
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, an overstuffed soap opera that lasts nearly three hours, might have worked better if it had been made into a six-part series for Disney+. “
The harshest sounding review is by Robbie Collin for The Telegraph . He gives it just one star out of five, writing, among other things:
“Four years on, this crown jewel of a franchise has unfortunately spawned one of its dreariest, stale and most incoherent sequels – a nearly three-hour continuous run of gloomy photography and campily staged, emotionally empty two-way conversations, all seemingly designed to sap the will to live of the cast and viewers:inside. “
Starting today, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in all cinemas and you can see the Marvel blockbuster for yourself.
