Review Detail

I was excited hearing Tremault wanted to make a shorter version of Wakanda Forever, as it's one of the movies in Phase 4 that grew on me, & I was interested in a version that was more focused on Shuri's struggles. There were many clever cuts made to streamline the movie, though it kept nagging me that some of the film's heart was being removed.

For instance, I would've preferred a few of Nakia's scenes to have been kept in. They do well to reintroduce her to an audience that hasn't seen her in four irl years, so it made her showing up in the underwater city (& the reveal of her son with T'Challa) feel more hollow than I'd like. While I like the idea of removing Okoye being stripped of her title, there's still a reference to it later in the movie when M'Baku says Nakia will be rewarded for saving Shuri with "lifetime banishment," a reference to that cut plot point. Likewise, that M'Baku dialogue is immediately followed up by Namor's first assault, which happens too fast due to removing the scene of Nakia & Okoyoe seeing each other for the first time in years, both in & out of universe.

After hearing the idea of restructuring how Shuri would see Kilmonger & gain the power of the Black Panther, I was curious & didn't spoil for myself how it'd play out. Unfortunately, I found this new way underwhelming. It feels like a mistake to not see Shuri take the herb & be buried, since that was a big part of how it worked for T'Challa in the first movie. Then, we only get the bare minimum of Kilmonger near the very end, & while it's implied that Shuri seeing him in her vision is a bad thing, it's not spelled out to us until she's literally about to kill Namor, meaning it doesn't get to simmer with the audience.

I wonder if it would've been better if we saw Shuri get buried, then we cut out of the vision before we see who Shuri sees in the chair, so we can enjoy her having brought the Black Panther back. Then, once Nakia asks Shuri who it was she saw, then we cut back to the rest of the vision, with Killmonger speaking out to Shuri's motivation, setting the stage for the final battle.

Lastly, I really didn't care for the Namor mid-credit scene to be followed by "In loving memory of Chadwick Boseman." Massive tonal whiplash. It would've been better if the scene was placed somewhere after the fight (probably right after M'Baku's last scene in the movie, like the original) & the last image we see of the movie proper is the tribute to Chadwick plus credits.

All in all, the edit doesn't replace the original for me, but it makes for a good alternative experience.