First of all, RIP to Chadwick Boseman. They really did do a good tribute to him in this movie through various devices. Performances when reflecting his death felt real and convincing, probably because there was little "acting" involved. Losing a franchise star is really a tough blow. While I felt Boseman's absence, I don't think not all of the movie's downfalls are linked to his absence.
Biggest head-scratching moments were for me was poor writing mainly from some of the tactical choices. The whole conflict stems from the existence of Riri (soon to be Ironheart), who built a Vibranium detector for a school project. Apparently, she's the only one in the world who can do that. Aside from that ridiculous premise, I thought Ironheart's introduction to the MCU was not bad (I still think the suit is ugly). She was likable enough and I think she has potential. I do worry about the overlap between her and Shuri because while they do have good chemistry, they are such similar characters. Anyways, this detector triggers a cascade of events where Shuri and Riri are taken to Talokan. First of all, getting rid of Riri will not do anything because the technology is no longer in her hands alone. Also, Wakandans have very little reason to protect her other than the fact she's a great scientist. I was also baffled that key hostages like Shuri and Riri could escape Taloka with the help of one person DURING an ongoing negotiation. A rookie foreign affairs mistake. It was not even a hostage situation. It was closer to an aggressive invitation. This was literally the cause of the all-out war and I thought it was just poorly written how they started that conflict. And at that point, the entire war felt so meaningless and stakeless because it wasn't clear why they were fighting. It still isn't clear why Talokans wanted to go to war with Wakanda. So whatever came after that became difficult to love. Ramonda's death was also quite preventable in my opinion. The queen with no protection and left to drown. Like why does Riri matter so much to Ramonda that she sacrificed herself to save her? It almost felt like an artificial plot device to pump up Ironheart's value as a a character. And Shuri does not blame Riri once or show any animosity toward her even though she was an indirect cause of her mother's death? Seemed a little strange unless she didn't know what happened.
There were positive things too. I thought Taloka's story was interesting and was well introduced. Loved Namor as a character and his action scenes were powerful enough. The performances were solid across the board, especially Ramonda and Namor shined. I thought some of the battle sequences were interesting despite being imperfect (really bad CG moments here and there). Overall, it was rather inconsistent with really cool spear fighting scenes and just generic scenes. The whales really did surprise me. I thought the locations were well chosen. I really like their portrayal of Wakanda and Taloka in general so that's a plus. I enjoyed how they incorporated the idea of the oppressed (the Mayans) versus oppressor like they did in Black Panther 1. But again, this should only unite Taloka and Wakanda together rather than fight against each other.
I'd also like to comment on Shuri. She has now become the official franchise star with the death of Ramonda and T'challa. My overall impression that while she has the potential to be the franchise but it's a tough transition. She's been known as the geek scientist sister but now she's the black panther and the sole protector of Wakanda. That's a big jump for both the audience and the character. That type of transition, fueled mostly by grief and revenge, should usually take multiple movies or a series to hash out but that was not an option for the production team. So while I still am not used to the transition, I think they were handled as well as they could be. Her characterization was complex and meaningful enough. A far better experience than the most recent MCU movie.
In the end, phase 4 has been a let-down for most fans with a notable exception. I was disappointed that this movie was not able to be part of that exception.
Biggest head-scratching moments were for me was poor writing mainly from some of the tactical choices. The whole conflict stems from the existence of Riri (soon to be Ironheart), who built a Vibranium detector for a school project. Apparently, she's the only one in the world who can do that. Aside from that ridiculous premise, I thought Ironheart's introduction to the MCU was not bad (I still think the suit is ugly). She was likable enough and I think she has potential. I do worry about the overlap between her and Shuri because while they do have good chemistry, they are such similar characters. Anyways, this detector triggers a cascade of events where Shuri and Riri are taken to Talokan. First of all, getting rid of Riri will not do anything because the technology is no longer in her hands alone. Also, Wakandans have very little reason to protect her other than the fact she's a great scientist. I was also baffled that key hostages like Shuri and Riri could escape Taloka with the help of one person DURING an ongoing negotiation. A rookie foreign affairs mistake. It was not even a hostage situation. It was closer to an aggressive invitation. This was literally the cause of the all-out war and I thought it was just poorly written how they started that conflict. And at that point, the entire war felt so meaningless and stakeless because it wasn't clear why they were fighting. It still isn't clear why Talokans wanted to go to war with Wakanda. So whatever came after that became difficult to love. Ramonda's death was also quite preventable in my opinion. The queen with no protection and left to drown. Like why does Riri matter so much to Ramonda that she sacrificed herself to save her? It almost felt like an artificial plot device to pump up Ironheart's value as a a character. And Shuri does not blame Riri once or show any animosity toward her even though she was an indirect cause of her mother's death? Seemed a little strange unless she didn't know what happened.
There were positive things too. I thought Taloka's story was interesting and was well introduced. Loved Namor as a character and his action scenes were powerful enough. The performances were solid across the board, especially Ramonda and Namor shined. I thought some of the battle sequences were interesting despite being imperfect (really bad CG moments here and there). Overall, it was rather inconsistent with really cool spear fighting scenes and just generic scenes. The whales really did surprise me. I thought the locations were well chosen. I really like their portrayal of Wakanda and Taloka in general so that's a plus. I enjoyed how they incorporated the idea of the oppressed (the Mayans) versus oppressor like they did in Black Panther 1. But again, this should only unite Taloka and Wakanda together rather than fight against each other.
I'd also like to comment on Shuri. She has now become the official franchise star with the death of Ramonda and T'challa. My overall impression that while she has the potential to be the franchise but it's a tough transition. She's been known as the geek scientist sister but now she's the black panther and the sole protector of Wakanda. That's a big jump for both the audience and the character. That type of transition, fueled mostly by grief and revenge, should usually take multiple movies or a series to hash out but that was not an option for the production team. So while I still am not used to the transition, I think they were handled as well as they could be. Her characterization was complex and meaningful enough. A far better experience than the most recent MCU movie.
In the end, phase 4 has been a let-down for most fans with a notable exception. I was disappointed that this movie was not able to be part of that exception.