The stars showed up and showed out for the world premiere of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Rihanna, Winston Duke, Tenoch Huerta and more of the film’s stars walked the purple carpet on Wednesday night in Hollywood.
The film is the highly-anticipated sequel to the 2018 box-office hit “Black Panther.” The first film made $1.35 billion in ticket sales and earned an Oscar nomination for best picture.
The official review embargo for “Wakanda Forever” lifts on Nov. 8, but the restriction on social media reactions was lifted following the premiere itself.
The move is centered around the fictional country of Wakanda mourning the death of King T’Challa. The character was famously played by Chadwick Boseman who died from colon cancer in 2020. While the Ryan Coogler-directed film is without its main man, it still paid tribute to him.
“‘Wakanda Forever’ is outstanding. It handles loss, grief, and revenge with a maturity and seriousness rarely seen in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe),” tweeted film critic Orlando Maldonado. “‘Black Panther’ continues to be their crown jewel. Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, and Tenoch Huerta all bring some of the best acting I’ve seen all year.”
CNET’s Sean Keane called the film a “triumph.”
“It cleverly balances grief and hope, with plenty of visually delightful moments,” Keane tweeted. “Tenoch Huerta is fascinating as Namor, and Dominique Thorne is super fun as Riri Williams. More like this please Marvel!”
Moviegoers were quick to point out the emotional aspects of the film honoring Boseman.
“‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is as epic as Marvel sequels get. The story is hugely ambitious and thematically rewarding with gut-wrenching twists and turns throughout,” tweeted Germain Lussier of Gizmodo. “You feel the length but it’s fun, wildly beautiful, and has the best credits scene in Marvel history, no contest.”
“‘Wakanda Forever’ is bigger in scope and scale than ‘Black Panther,’ but its story is also one of Marvel’s most intimate and heartfelt,” tweeted Charles Pulliam of Verge. It’s definitely a Comic Book Movie, but it’s one that centers on grief and the grieving process rather than superheroics and spectacle.”
However, Forbes’ Scott Mendelson did have some critiques about the movie.
“‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ entertains but spends way too much time setting up future MCU projects and coping with its non-fiction tragedy,” he explained on Twitter. “It also often feels like a mix-and-match of prior (frankly inferior) Marvel movies. Works best when it’s just allowed to be ‘Black Panther 2.'”
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” hits theaters on Nov. 11.