Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Letitia Wright returns to the land of mourning in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever directed by Ryan Coogler.

Released on the 11th of November 2022, the global sensation pays tribute to its late lead actor, Chadwick Boseman, who unfortunately passed away on the 28th of August 2020.

There is a lot to talk about in this film as it has some similarities with Avatar 2: The Way of Water, Shuri, and the importance of Vibranium, but before we dive deep into the gauntlet, let’s get a basic comprehension of where we’re ahead.

In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, we follow Queen Ramonda, Shuri, M’Baku, Okoye, and the Dora Milaje who fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death.

As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with Nakia and Everett Ross to forge a new path for their beloved kingdom.

Straight off the bat, I think we need to applaud director Ryan Coogler for even making this film make any sense especially when you take into account that he had already written and completed the script of the second installment that included T’Challa, before the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman.

So for that reason alone, I give my respect to the man for making something out of almost nothing.

With that out of the way, let’s dive into the review.

Fresh out the bat, is it better than the first one, and the answer is no. There’s a sense of grief and loss throughout the movie, the Wakandans are mourning the loss of their leader, and the iconic symbol that is, the Black Panther.

Shuri is grieving for the loss of her brother, the person that understood her the most, and feels partially responsible for being born with a brilliant mind but not having the ability to save her brother.

Sadly enough, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever fails to deliver on what made the first one ever-lasting and unforgettable, in my opinion, that would be its hilarious humor and captivating villain.

Regardless of what many may say, Namor played by Tenoch Huerta will always be compared to Killmonger simply because Killmonger had a presence on screen.

Even though we got to see a flashback to Namor’s backstory and reasons for doing the things that he does, I could never completely gravitate to the character as I did with Killmonger.

Namor on the other hand is fighting for the safety of his people, to keep them hidden away from society and governments that will hunt them down leaving no stone unturned to get their hands on the Vibranium, however, resorting to attacking the people that you’re asking help from would only end in disaster.

One thing that this movie does better than the first would have to do with the VFX and CGI effects, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever aesthetically outpaces the first with its majestic visuals scenes underwater and during combat, looking more realistic and natural to the eye but I still give it to Avatar 2: The Way of Water for being the most aesthetic movie for the year 2022.

For a movie that was well close to 3 hours, I didn’t necessarily feel the time going by, the movie itself can be funny at times, tragic and sad at most so my emotions are all over the place as well it helped in not necessarily keeping track of the time.

Performance-wise, I enjoyed Ramonda played by Angela Bassett, Nakia played by Lupita Nyong’o and Okoye played by Danai Gurira the best.

Angela Bassett truly radiated a character of a Queen in charge of the most powerful nation in the world, full of elegance and grace but leaving no room for weakness whilst Danai Gurira kept to her character that’s both funny, charismatic, and fearless. She’s perhaps the only cast from the previous film that doesn’t show severe signs of grief, unlike Shuri who’ll I’ll address next.

Shuri played by Letitia Wright is hardly the always smiling I.T. guru that we saw from the first movie, it’s clear from the get-go that she’s been taking it the hardest after losing her brother.

It’s tragic to see what was once a beloved character fall into despair as she did, she’s consumed by so much rage that she doesn’t see that she’s turning into the very thing she despises.

Thankfully the beautiful ending montage scene with Nakia on the beach clarifies some of this as we finally get to see her shed tears for her brother with a smile on her face.

All in all, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever addresses a nation that has to deal with the loss of its leader while external threats try to take the mourning process as an opportunity of weakness, whilst also addressing the harsh reality that is – being invaded by a foreign power and having to let go of lands that were once your ancestral homelands.

What means will you do to protect your people?

I give Black Panther: Wakanda Forever a 3.9 out of 5 ratings.

Let me know in the comments below whether you agree or disagree with my review and let’s get the conversation started.

Thank you for reading another review from, LSR.

Until next time, stay blessed.