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Film Review: Wakanda Forever

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Black Panther : Wakanda Forever

Genre: Drama, Action, Adventure

Release: 11/11/2022

Director: Ryan Coogler

Production: Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures

Cast: Angela Bassett, Letitia White, Tenoch Huerta, Michael B. Jordan, Dominique Thorne, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman

Plot: Queen Ramonda (Bassett), Shuri (White), M’Baku (Duke), Okaye (Gurira), and the Dora Milaje fight to protect the kingdom of Wakanda from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s (Chadwick Boseman) death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Freeman) and forge a new path for their nation.

Review: This movie will tug on your heartstrings instantly. The opening scene immediately shows you a prayer, crisis, desperation, and painful grief in the first five minutes. The cinematography is stunning and visually pleasing. Boseman’s struggle with his health issues did not inhibit his talent as he brought The Black Panther to life and popularity in the first movie. All of his colleagues who knew the effort, work, and energy it took from him brought their A game to this movie, did it out of respect, love, and admiration. The movie then fast forwards a year, and while they still mourn for and miss their King, Queen Romanda is still in charge of protecting Wakanda and the precious vibranium, while trying to help her daughter Shuri get through her grief and anger of not being able to save her brother.

Also, a new player enters into their world whose army, strength, and access to vibranium rivals their own. Namor is the king of the underwater kingdom known as Talocan. He has superhuman strength, the ability to fly, and can breathe just as easily under water as he can on land. He ages at an incredibly slow rate and at the current time in the story, he is over 500 years old. He is trying to determine if Wakanda is his ally or his enemy. He will stop at nothing to protect his people from surface dwellers, as he refers to humans.

The movie generally has a good pace, but it does drag a bit in a couple of spots. The run time for the movie is 2 hours and 41 minutes, but you don’t notice it. This was a very difficult movie to write and direct for Ryan Coogler, having lost his friend Chadwick Boseman so suddenly. This movie wins my vote for best movie is phase four of the Marvel timeline and I look forward to what they have next for the Black Panther franchise.

Rating: I gave this movie a 9 out of 10. If you are a fan of the MCU movies, this is a must see.