Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Yes, there are battles, but they're sci-fi and cartoony––it's a Marvel joint, after all––so Jack and I sat through the 2:42 run time to appreciate the magnificent wardrobe and colorful cinematography in a story about the mythical country protecting itself from new foes. This sequel begins with the death and funeral of King T'Challa, presumably because the filmmakers and others are mourning the untimely death of Chadwick Boseman, who played T'Challa in the first Black Panther.

Angela Bassett has a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nod for returning as T'Challa's mother. Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, and Martin Freeman are among those reappearing, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus adding her usual comic relief.

Ryan Coogler directs from the script co-written by him and Joe Robert Cole and Ludwig Göransson's score, available on Apple Music and elsewhere, includes some contemporary songs mixed in with the traditional soundtrack

Ruth Carter's gorgeous wardrobe is Oscar-nominated along with Makeup/Hair, Visual Effects, and Original Song. Autumn Durald Arkapaw is the talented director of photography.

Bassett was last blogged for Soul; Wright for Small Axe; Gurira for Avengers: Infinity War; Nyong'o, Freeman, Coogler, Cole, and Carter for Black Panther; Louis-Dreyfus for You People, and Göransson for Tenet. Arkapaw has shot eight other features and lots of shorts and TV work in her fifteen year career.

Rotten Tomatoes' audiences are forever loyal, averaging 94%, while its critics might leave a bit sooner at 84.

Marvel Cinematic Universe movies traditionally have at least one bonus scene at the very end, so the faithful do not leave or turn it off when the technical credits are onscreen. This has an important one at 2:31 but the last bonus, simply a card at 2:42 that says BLACK PANTHER WILL RETURN, is a disappointing copout. The opening MCI flipping comics pages are another tribute to Boseman.

We watched it with our Disney+ subscription on February 1, the afternoon of the first day it streamed there. One of the many benefits of watching at home is that I can pause to read credits, when the music and locations listings are at the end. Every streaming platform is a little different but they all shrink the viewing window to offer another show when the credits are rolling, which causes me to curse as I fumble the remote. Not surprisingly, the Disney site crashed around 7pm on the movie's first day, just as I was cursing and fumbling. I watched the credits days later, and rewatched them just now.

Black Panther (2018)

Jack and I agree with the public that this is a very good sci-fi action movie, wherein the king of a technologically advanced African nation struggles with bad guys. It's groundbreaking in its cultural representation of actors of color, including some bad ass women. The nation, Wakanda, is fictitious and, according to a map in the very first scene, is somewhere near Uganda

Chadwick Boseman (last blogged for the title role in Marshall) takes on the title role as King T'Challa/Black Panther, Lupita Nyong'o (most recently in Queen of Katwe) is his love interest Nakia, and Michael B. Jordan (last in these pages for Creed) is one of the main nemeses Killmonger, and I must add that the latter two have fantastic hairdos (his and hers). Kicking butt with Nakia are Danai Gurira (I failed to mention her feature debut in the excellent The Visitor and have not seen her other work) as General Okoye and Letitia Wright (new to me) as T'Challa's brainy sister Shuri. We also have Angela Bassett (most recently in Chi-Raq) as T'Challa's and Shuri's mother, Sterling K. Brown (also in Marshall) as N'Jobu in flashback, and Forest Whitaker (last in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as Zuri. Alex Hibbert (the little boy named Little in Moonlight and six episodes of Showtime's The Chi) has a cameo at the end for a hot minute.

The two main white guys are Martin Freeman (most recently in these pages for Whiskey Tango Foxtrot), who supplies some of the comic relief, and Andy Serkis (last in Rise of the Planet of the Apes), who does not amuse as the smuggler Klaue (AKA Klaw) with the "arm cannon." Isaach De Bankolé (covered in Calvary) may or may not have any lines (I just don't remember) as the nattily dressed official with a big plate in his lower lip. There are well over a hundred in the cast, including Daniel Kaluuya (star of Get Out), so I can't go into them all.

Director Ryan Coogler (last helmed Creed) co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole (two episodes of The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2016 and one other I haven't seen).

Rachel Morrison, whom I neglected to mention shooting Sound of My Voice, Fruitvale Station, Cake, Dope, and Mudbound, made history as the first Oscar-nominated woman cinematographer for the latter, provides the images here, some of which are literally dark. Don't worry, it lightens up after a while. Like many action movies, this is probably better on a big screen. We did forgo the 3D screening but chose IMAX when we saw it last week.

The costumes, credited to Ruth Carter (also styled Chi-Raq), are spectacular. Here's a discussion of them and some more pictures.

Ludwig Göransson, who scored Coogler's Creed gives us an exciting soundtrack with lots of drums and other African influences and you can stream it for an hour (with commercials) from this youtube link.

Still averaging 97% from critics and 79 from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie boasts the 5th best all time opening weekend and has grossed over $500 million in its third week of release.

Two things we look forward to in Marvel movies (I just learned that MCU means the Marvel Comics Universe) are Stan Lee's cameo (this time it's in the Korean casino) and the bonus scene at the very end (in addition, this time, to one towards the beginning of the credits). Don't miss them. The movie is two and a quarter hours long so plan your beverage intake accordingly.