Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Queen Ramonda, Shuri, M’Baku, Okoye and the Dora Milaje 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 the help of War Dog Nakia and Everett Ross and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.

  • Released: 2022-11-09
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Adventure
  • Stars: Lupita Nyong'o, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Michaela Coel, Dominique Thorne, Florence Kasumba, Isaach De Bankolé, Dorothy Steel, Gigi Bermingham, Shiquita James, Curtis Bannister, Jarrell Pyro Johnson, Tejon Wright, Adam Freeman, Marlon Hayes, Babatunde Oyewo, Danny Sapani, Mabel Cadena, Josué Maychi, Alex Livinalli, María Mercedes Coroy, Richard Schiff, Zach Andrews, Manuel Chavez, Kamaru Usman, Michael B. Jordan, Lake Bell, Robert John Burke, Connie Chiume, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael B. Jordan, Zainab Jah, Sope Aluko, Trevor Noah, Shawn Roberts, Zola Williams, Janeshia Adams-Ginyard, Jemini Powell, Marija Abney, Keisha Tucker, Ivy Haralson, Maya Macatumpag, Baaba Maal, Jabari Exum, Massamba Diop, Magatte Saw, Gerardo Aldana, Rudolph Massanga, Judd Wild, Amber Harrington, Michael Blake Kruse, Justin James Boykin, Anderson Cooper, Mackenro Alexander, T. Love, Floyd Anthony Johns Jr., Jermaine Brantley, Granger Summerset II, Luke Lenza, Alan Wells, Bill Barrett, Lieiry J. Perez Escalera, Sevyn Hill, Gavin Macon, Skylar Ebron, Taylor Holmes, Angela Cipra, Faya Madrid, María Telón, Sal Lopez, Irma Estella La Guerre, Leonardo Castro, Juan Carlos Cantu, Shawntae Hughes, Corey Hibbert, Zaiden James, Aba Arthur, Délé Ogundiran, Kevin Changaris, Valerio Dorvillen, Don Castor, Jonathan González Collins, Divine Love Konadu-Sun, Chadwick Boseman
  • Director: Ryan Coogler
 Comments
  • WeAreLive - 24 April 2024
    What a way to disrespect Chadwick Boseman's legacy
    Queen Ramonda, Shuri, M'Baku, Okoye and the Dora Milaje fight to protect the kingdom of Wakanda 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 the help of War Dog Nakia and Everett Ross and forge a new path for their nation.

    Was there anything good about this film? Alright I'll get the good out of the way and say the actors still did a good job with what they were given. The music was also really good.

    Now on to the bad. Well if you don't like spoilers I suggest clicking off the review because I am not holding back.

    Let's start by say this film was very boring. I get the film is nearly 3 hours but at least give a reason for it.

    They immediately disrespect Chadwick Boseman's legacy by having his character die by some diseases. Look I am aware that Chadwick passed away 4 years ago but they really should have given his character a better send off like I dunno retire his character or something. I get that Marvel didn't want to recast his character with another actor but here is thing. Boseman's family actually wanted to see someone take the mantle.

    Namour was a very weak and uninterested villain and what's worse is they botched his name by mispronouncing it.

    This shouldn't even be called Black Panther since they literally did a bait and switch by making Shuri the protagonist instead. Also Iron Heart if these are the type of characters that the MCU is aiming for I suggest they should stop while they still can.

    Also do I even need to say about the stupid decisions of having the queen be killed?

    Oh and that post credits scene involving somehow T Challa all of a sudden having a son?

    In the end all I will say is that while wasn't a huge fan of the first film at first I have began to appreciate it a lot more now. However, this is an embarrassment to the first film.
  • LetsReviewThat26 - 17 January 2024
    A nice tribute
    There was not a lot of excitement going in this one for me. As I felt the original film was lacking lustre in itself. It was a nice tribute to the late Chadwick bosman though. I think the beginning had no real direction, using as much time as possible to talk about how wakanda might not be the only planet with vibranium. The real action doesn't really start untill these blue fish People attack a research vessel belonging to people of Ross. It's nice seeing Martin Freeman again. There's a set up of two possible future superheroes but no real post credit scene. Acting was good all around and the action scenes were alright but overall if could have needed more but as far as marvel films go it was still a interesting watch.
  • patrick-danforth - 27 November 2023
    Yawn
    I tried, I really did. I made to about the 1 hour mark and thought....can this get anymore boring than it already has been? Yes.... Yes it can. I do appreciate the Chadwick tribute, I just felt I was getting told the same ol story. It was colorful, action was uh well uh.... Yawn. Wings on ankles ugh. Some of the creature designs were neat but not enough to keep my interest. So I hit skip ALOT just to get to the end, see where things are headed and went about my day. Thanking myself for not sitting in the theatre to watch this. Marvel just keeps dropping the ball more and more and more. I get it, not every movie can hit a home run....this didn't even get to first base.
  • jparkergomez - 8 January 2023
    An exciting let down
    Black Panther was new. It was exciting. It was something everyone loves. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever changed that whole perspective.

    The first Black Panther is great, perhaps one of my favourite Marvel films. It's great to see Chadwick Boseman and a black man as the star of a superhero film. This definitely helps give confidence to black people. Wakanda Forever does better at this, all the leads are black however, specifically empowering black women which I know many people would appreciate including myself.

    To start with, the music is my favourite aspect of the film. Every single song is good from orchestrated arrangements to pop songs. The diegetic and the non diegetic sounds gives the film a good feeling and is fun to listen to. The cinematography is also well planned out, the shots and some sequences are surprising especially for a marvel film.

    The film as a whole seems like a money making project; it did not seem whole. For example, although they portray black women as powerful throughout the film it seems as though that is the purpose of the film, to encourage more viewers in order to make more money. It did not seem genuine they cared about expressing the empowerment the women had.

    Another massive weakness of the film is the plot. It was empty. It seemed as though nothing really happened. It felt like a massive circle; everything seemed pointless. The whole film had been building up for this final dilemma for it to go to nothing. It just felt like a filler for another story and another film to come out from the idea.

    Although the plot may have seemed aimless, it did not lack excitement or adrenaline. There are a fair number of fight scenes. It gives it a much more energetic feeling; after all, that's what marvel seems to be good at. That's what makes it fun, that and the comedy, two aspects that always work together in a marvel film.

    A feature that definitely stands out to me is the acting, it is passionate, not like any marvel film I had seen before. It left me slightly surprised but the acting just put more emphasis on the emotions of the film and how the characters felt, contrasting from the comedy. It is able to explore different feelings giving the viewer a more dramatic experience.

    Overall, the first film definitely is worth your time. With the second one, unless you are a die hard marvel fan don't bother wasting your time.
  • kaydunton - 2 January 2023
    Ancient civilizations and mothers
    I wondered what the saddest story in the world is. I decided it must be all those ancient peoples that have died out for one reason or another.

    I feel like this movie brought that to life. I want to meet ancient civilizations in the afterlife after I die if that's possible. They showed a new civilization in this movie.

    I liked to see the emotions with their familie and their mothers. The care showed by their mothers and their hopes for everyone.

    The visual effects were good. The costume, interior design, everything was beautiful.

    The movie was long, but didn't drag out to me. It was good in that way. I feel the plot was really well developed and set up. The ending was great.

    I think the only thing that offend me about this movie is calling Americans.. The USA colonizers. The USA didn't colonize like the Europeans. In fact, when the Europeans needed help after the wars, we refused to help them unless they pulled out of Africa.

    America is guilty of being nosey, and propping up governments, getting involved where they shouldn't. As an American citizen, how can I trust they are getting involved where it's truly needed, or an ulterior motives is the actual cause? How do I know my government isn't compromised by a rich corporation and doing it's bidding?

    I know the USA is guilty for what they did to Hawaii. For bombing Japan. Invading Iraq, and continuous wars that seem odd for us to be in like Vietnam and Afghanistan. But colonizers isn't the word for us.

    The other thing is making the other people seem holier than other people. The ancient people of different continents were war like, human sacrificers, they hurt each other a lot. What mostly killed them was disease. And they attacked the European visitors a lot. You can say they were invaders and deserved it. But, many Europeans came not as part of a army. They were just small families of settlers and the native Americans attacked and killed those refugees if you will.

    It's horrible what happened, but to paint certain people as better and holier than thou isn't right.

    I feel like this movie is cultural appropriation of Africans and Native Americans. Making them into a cool wardrobe for a film.

    I like how they brought forth beauty and appreciation of other cultures though.

    I like how they made us feel like we're not the center of the universe too. As living in the USA, feeling like the center of the universe happens.

    I criticize this that and the other, but, the movie was really well done.
  • poselily - 27 December 2022
    This movie is the greatest movie put out in 2022
    I said what I said, no other movie can compare. The soundtrack, the acting, the plotline, everything was just amazing. It doesn't deserve the hate it's getting. It also doesn't deserve the hype it's getting. It deserves WAYYY more attention and hype bruh, this was fire. You actually have to be crazy if you can watch this movie and say it wasn't good. Letitia Wright and Angela Basset ate on this movie, same with Lupita. Everybody just did amazingly, especially Burna Boy, Rihanna and Tems. I love how they kept the representation of culture, adding afrobeats and portraying poc cultures perfectly. Marvel ate with this.
  • TokyoGyaru - 23 December 2022
    Black Panther, Colonized Gaze
    I'd love to gush about this film that I saw eleven times in the theater (everyone did well, but my goodness, Angela and Letitia were just...amazing), but there is something that's sat on my mind for a while. I mention the number of times I've seen it to say I've seen it enough to form an opinion of it. Secondly, I'd suggest anyone watch the film at least twice. Why? Because the first time you see it, you're going to have baggage going into it. I've done my best to try to avoid the hatred directed at this film for merely existing, but it does seep in. And whenever a minority or women or (goodness forbid) minority women do anything, the hateful are going to misuse the slang usage of the word "woke." Black folks came up with that term (as slang) to say to stay "awake" (i.e., keep your eyes open to what goes on in the world); however, certain people use it to mean "minorities are there and aren't in service." You know what I mean.

    Now, to get more to the point. The title of my review is because a lot of people (including some confused black people) have been using a far-white lens to look at this film. However, black people know good and well that black women have always (and I mean always) led families in the absence of men, whether it was because they passed away, were locked up, or simply left. And that goes for on the continent as well. There have been female warrior queens in African history, but what does the U. S. or any colonist country know or care about that? What do their descendants know about it? Nothing. Point is, it is not unusual, even in the world of this fictional franchise (because a woman has been the Black Panther before, as was Shuri in the comics) for black women to lead anything. I hate to bring up statistics because they're so often used as a weapon but need to do so to make a point, but just over ten years ago, 72% of black babies were born to unwed mothers. Goodness knows what the statistic is for 2022. You have black male celebrities like Nick Cannon, Future, and several others having children they don't intend to fully parent by several different women. But some of y'all are mad that the film features black women in leadership roles? It's a reflection of life whether you accept it or not, and even though two black men wrote the script, you still don't want to accept it. There are no "girl power" or "in spite of being a girl/woman" moments because womanism (not feminism) doesn't work like that. Like, at all.

    Something I like that Letitia pointed out in an interview is that they don't make some big, showy deal about women doing anything. And that's true. It's not a "fxminist film," and if you think so, that's because you're looking at it through a far-white gaze. It is unusual to them for their women to lead in such ways, to be the military leaders, top spies, the whole of the king's guard, etc. And the tone of their films about women leading things tends to be "girl boss," abrasive, and emasculating. However, Wakanda shows what real equality between men and women would look like. Not someone humbling someone based on their gender but disagreeing based on opinions and policy and adherence to non-gender-based traditions.

    But in Africa, that's not as strange and "empowering" as you think it is. It's just a thing. I almost feel sorry for any black folks that have a colonized mind to dare to look at this film in that way. There is rising far-rxght sentiment in young black men, and they turn to black women to blame for the fathers who weren't there. And so they hate this film that literally worships Chadwick and his memory while they are using the memory of a good man as a weapon to attack black women and whomever else. I might not have known Chadwick personally, but I watched every single interview I could about the film and listened to his FRIENDS/FAMILY talk about him. I wish I could have known him -- he sounds so cool and interesting and smart and kind! It still hurts that he's gone (I literally still cry) because I wish I could have known him personally. He was studious, curious, selfless, and LOVED his co-stars like family and they him. If they'd recast him (which they technically do anyway), would we have gotten the outpouring of love on screen that we did? The movie was about him and how his passing affected everyone, even the Talocanil! (Also, Shuri was his favorite character, btw.)

    So, as a kind of TL; DR: This film shows love to an actor (i.e., Chadwick) in a way I've never seen a film do before. Never before have I seen a giant corporation spend hundreds of millions of dollars to dedicate this much to the memory of an actor. If you can't see that, if all you could see is women-this and black-that, then you're missing out on so much. As I said, I saw it eleven freaking times in the theater. While it's not perfect, there's so much love put into it and such a powerful message about confronting and processing grief. Also, it DID "recast" T'Challa by giving us his son (of the same name) AND possibly M'Baku as the new king of Wakanda. If you watched in hate, even if you think you didn't, I think you did because the film, like the first one, humanizes black people and doesn't center whiteness, and you're simply unused to that. But at the end of the day, it's a HUMAN story, whether you see black folks as human or not.

    S/N: Anyone who didn't see the greatness in M'Baku's role really missed out. He earned that kingship (if it truly is to be his) by being level-headed, empathetic, brave, self-less, and a sound source of council. Two of my favorite scenes/dialogues in the film involve him and Shuri. I loved M'Baku's character in this film! Also, I loved the interpretation of N'amor (kind of not "Namor" anymore) and his motivations. He was fully fleshed out and his concerns were understandable. Great job by Tenoch, Mabel, and Alex. This film has my favorite ensemble cast (with Chadwick there in spirit) of all time!
  • danchilton-71955 - 20 December 2022
    Wakanda (feels like it goes on) Forever
    Wakanda Forever somehow manages to be far too long while simultaneously leaving the world building, plot and some characters underbaked. Given Ryan Coogler is an excellent director and how much experience Marvel has with these films by now its hard to believe real world events haven't played some part in the patchiness.

    You feel that real world intrusion right from the off, with Shuri, played by (reported anti-vaxxer) Letitia Wright scrambling to devise a cure for her brothers illness. While I'm sure Disney would really not like you to ponder the potential irony of this scene they most definitely do want you to feel the real life loss of Chadwick Boseman and you would need a heart of stone not to be kicked in the feels by images and mentions of the much missed former star. Backing up the emotion are some great performances, particularly a barn storming showing from Angela Barnes who really should have had more screen time. The film is more of an ensemble piece than most Marvel movies but Shuri is definitely the main character and, whatever problems her beliefs may or may not have caused during filming, Letica Wright is excellent. She sells her grief and anger, creating a much more rounded character than the usual college fratboy MCU heroes. Tenoch Huerta is decent as newcomer Namor but really could have done with more time to flesh out a character that is supposed to be both antagonist and noble defender of his people.

    Its that issue of timing that is Wakanda Forever's biggest issue. Its too long but many elements are undercooked as the film is more interested in setting up a Disney + show than fleshing out Namor's world and charcters don't get the screen time they need due to a completely superfluous side plot involving Martin Freeman's CIA agent. The inclusion of Freeman's Everett Ross is particularly egregious as we would really be better served exploring the new underwater world than watching him flirt and squabble with his boss/ex partner and his inclusion seems to be part of the film makers dissapionting reluctance to shift the focus too far from America. Not a great move when your films biggest strength is its cultural diversity.

    When you weight some great performances and decent set pieces against the messy plotting and lack of focus you're left with a standard quality Marvel film which, at this length at least, is becoming harder to recommend.

    6 respectful epitaphs out of 10 cynical cash grabs.
  • Bill1980 - 18 December 2022
    Good...Not Great
    The first Black Panther was interesting, complex and extremely well acted. Wakanda Forever suffers from a predictable story, weak lead and the need to fill big shoes. It's worth your time, but tamper expectations.

    Character limit: The first Black Panther was interesting, complex and extremely well acted. Wakanda Forever suffers from a predictable story, weak lead and the need to fill big shoes. It's worth your time, but tamper expectations.

    More character limit: The first Black Panther was interesting, complex and extremely well acted. Wakanda Forever suffers from a predictable story, weak lead and the need to fill big shoes. It's worth your time, but tamper expectations.
  • ashalan77 - 16 December 2022
    Just disappointing.
    While there were parts that were entertaining as a whole this movie was just boring. They could have easily cut 40 minutes of the movie, there were many long pauses and seemed badly edited in parts.

    Tenoch Huerta as Namor was good. I like the actor and thought the changing of the character's story was decent knowing they're probably going to use his story to explain future characters entering the MCU.

    Choosing to make this movie more of an ensemble I felt wasn't the best choice as there are some characters that are not that interesting. Martin Freeman's character Everett Ross could have easily been cut from the film.

    Letitia Wright as Shuri was good but we have never seen her character train or fight outside of shootings blasters in the first Black Panther and Infinity War/End Game. It was kinda BS she could go toe to toe with Namor who is thousands of years old and clearly has more training than her.

    It made Shuri come off as a Mary Sue character which is sad as the character from the comics had a lot of training. All the wasted time on long takes and characters staring off into the background could have been used to develop her taking on the mantle. Instead she just puts the suit on and that's it...