Black Panther: Wakanda Forever review

Director: Ryan Coogler
Cast : Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta, Winston Duke, Dominique Thorne, Florence Kasumba, Michaela Coel, Martin Freeman
Genre: Action/Adventure
Run Time : 161 min
Opens : 10 November 2022
Rating : PG13

2018’s Black Panther is one of the highlights of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It garnered commercial and critical success, including winning three Oscars, the first MCU movie to do so. All eyes were on director Ryan Coogler to see where Black Panther 2 would take the hero. After a tragic turn of events in real life, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever takes unexpected turns of its own, further exploring the world of Wakanda and beyond.

King T’challa has died of an illness, leaving his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) distraught. Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) continues to guide her daughter as she leads the people of Wakanda. Having opened itself up to the world, the nation is vulnerable to those who wish to exploit its precious natural resource, the metal Vibranium. An expedition in search of Vibranium in the Atlantic Ocean provokes K’uk’ulkan/Namor (Tenoch Huerta), the ruler of the underwater kingdom of Talokan. Former Wakandan spy Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) must return to work alongside General Okoye (Danai Gurira) as Namor threatens to attack Wakanda. Caught in the middle of it all is a brilliant young scientist named Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), whose role in developing a Vibranium detection device has made her a target of Namor. Still shaken by her brother’s death, Shuri is faced with taking on the mantle of the Black Panther in a time of great instability.

Some have decried various MCU movies for being a little too silly, and for having humorous moments undermine dramatic stakes. That is not a problem here. Wakanda Forever is a sombre, sincere and respectful affair; the real-life passing of Chadwick Boseman infusing the film with a dignified sadness. This is a movie about grief, and responsibility in the face of said grief. It’s a movie about the decisions we make when we are affected by tragedy, and the consequences of making decisions in that state. Coogler continues to be a force to be reckoned with behind the camera, and there is the sense that this is the story he wanted to tell, and not something producers meddled extensively with. Wakanda Forever’s greatest strength is the movie’s balance of character interiority and expansive world-building, without sacrificing one for the other.

Wakanda Forever’s heaviness means it is not exactly the most exuberant, entertaining comic book movie, but it isn’t trying to be that either. Perhaps it could do with a few more cheer-worthy moments, something the first movie did not lack for, but it generally wears its seriousness well. The movie is long, and suffers the most when we are focusing on CIA agent Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), who shares many scenes with a character introduced in one of the Disney+ TV series. While perhaps necessary to emphasise the wider impact of the goings-on in Wakanda, this feels like distracting set-up for future, non-Black Panther related MCU projects.

The absence of Chadwick Boseman is something the movie leans into instead of avoiding. Letitia Wright is truly magnificent in a role that asks a lot of her. Shuri is pushed to the forefront as she struggles with a disdain for ancient traditions and a lack of faith in spiritual beliefs, spurred by her brother’s untimely passing. We are used to seeing Shuri being playful and intelligent, but here she is broken and understandably prone to rage. Wright plays all this without losing sight of what made the character so endearing to begin with. Bassett is also undeniable here, and her scenes with Wright are some of the movie’s most emotional.

The movie introduces Namor into the MCU. Much like his DC Comics counterpart Aquaman, there are aspects of the character that are unavoidably silly: he has pointy ears, winged ankles, and wears green trunks. The movie reimagines Namor and the civilisation he hails from, taking inspiration from Mesoamerican mythology. Some design aspects remain a little goofy, but the movie’s world-building is impressive, and Tenoch Huerta is a commanding screen presence as a complicated character, someone who is antagonistic towards our heroes but is always sympathetic. Namor’s entry into the MCU is something that fans have long been waiting for, and while this incarnation might not fit what everyone was imagining, the movie makes a good case for the changes to the source material and integrates Namor into the wider Black Panther story well.

Summary: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a movie with true gravity, more so than many recent MCU films. The movies in the franchise are sometimes in danger of feeling inconsequential, but Wakanda Forever feels like a movie that matters. The real-life death of Chadwick Boseman is handled in a respectful and dignified way, leading to a movie that has a certain heaviness and seriousness to it. The fantastical elements and world-building are balanced with an emotional honesty. Shuri gets a fantastic character arc and Letitia Wright plays her with strength and nuance. This is not the exuberant fun some audiences might be expecting from the MCU, but Wakanda Forever wears its seriousness well and is still an expansive and spectacular adventure. There is one mid-credits scene.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Us review

US

Director: Jordan Peele
Cast : Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Evan Alex, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Anna Diop, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon
Genre : Horror
Run Time : 1 h 57 mins
Opens : 21 March 2019
Rating : NC16

            It took many a while to wrap their heads around the fact that Jordan Peele, best known as one half of the comedy duo Key and Peele, has become a modern-day master of horror. His feature film directorial debut Get Out was hailed as a game-changer and won Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars. Now, Peele is back to frighten us with Us.

The film centres on Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) and her family: husband Gabe Wilson (Winston Duke), daughter Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and son Jason (Evan Alex). They’re on vacation at their Santa Cruz beach house, meeting their friends Josh (Tim Heidecker) and Kitty (Elisabeth Moss) Tyler, who have twin daughters Gwen (Cali Sheldon) and Maggie (Noelle Sheldon). On their first night at the beach house, Adelaide and Gabe discover strangers standing in their driveway. These strangers, known as ‘the Tethered’, look exactly like them. Their arrival unleashes a string of eerie, chaotic occurrences, with the family fighting for their lives to defeat their evil duplicates.

There’s something inherently unsettling in the concept of a doppelgänger: nobody knows us better than we know ourselves, so coming face to face with someone who is physically identical to oneself but otherwise a complete stranger does inspire paranoia. Writer-director Peele, who is presenting the new Twilight Zone reboot, was inspired by the episode “Mirror Image” from the original Twilight Zone series.

While Get Out was a horror comedy which was heavy on the social commentary, Peele set out to make what is tonally a more traditional horror movie. There are still several well-placed jokes, but Us is primarily a masterclass in mood setting. The atmospherics are full-on creepy and there are many tense, disturbing moments which Peele plays to the hilt. The score by Michael Abels packs in the Bernard Hermann-esque shrieking strings but is a safe distance away from a cliched horror movie soundtrack.

There’s still a deeper underlying message, one that is deliberately vague and open to interpretation. The Tethered could represent the oppressed lower castes of society, with their counterparts oblivious to their existence and their plight until a violent uprising occurs. Peele has stated that the movie is not specifically about race, so perhaps it’s mainly about class. There’s a lot of symbolism which you can bet will be eagerly dissected by casual viewers and film students alike.

Peele displays a keen awareness of iconography. Enduring horror movie villains can often be tied to specific props, costumes or physical attributes, be it Jason Voorhees’ machete and ski mask or Leatherface’s human skin mask and chainsaw. In Us, the Tethered have those red jumpsuits and very pointy gold scissors – this is destined to be a popular Halloween costume. The actors enjoy playing up the creepiness of the Tethered, but not so much that the characters become caricatures.

Nyong’o does a lot of heavy lifting and is excellent in her dual roles as Adelaide and her Tethered counterpart Red. Adelaide struggles with deep-seated trauma from an incident in her childhood, and when the attack happens, is frightened but ultimately capable. As Red, Nyong’o essays an off-kilter physicality, walking about swiftly and with her back ramrod straight. As either character, she remains focused and determined and is a big part of why Us works.

Winston Duke, who like Nyong’o also co-starred in Black Panther, plays a character who’s prone to dad jokes and is a little silly, but who’s also always ready to step up and protect his family.

It’s always a little tricky putting kids in horror movies, because placing children in peril for the sake of a few scares can feel manipulative. That, and kids in horror movies tend to be annoying. Shahadi Wright Joseph’s Zora is the teenager prone who’s on her phone all the time and prone to an eye roll or two, while Evan Alex’s Jason very much lives in his own world. Wright Joseph has perfected the creepy smile as Zora’s double Umbrae, while Jason’s double is a pyromaniac feral child.

Tim Heidecker and Elisabeth Moss provide some laughs, but the film’s focus is trained squarely on the Wilsons. A sequence set in the Tyler’s luxurious house is one of the film’s more intense and viscerally scary moments.

Us is a film that is deliberately frustrating in parts, with somewhat-obtuse symbolism scattered about. However, even without subjecting the movie to rigorous meta-analysis, it works as a horror film and it’s clear that it’s meticulously crafted. Peele is a filmmaker with something to say and enough style to say it engagingly, so we’re looking forward to his upcoming Candyman reboot and whatever else he has up his sleeve.

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong