Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a 2022 superhero film directed by Ryan Coogler, starring Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta, and Martin Freeman. Serving as a sequel to Black Panther (2018), the film follows Shuri and the leaders of Wakanda fighting to protect their nation from world powers and the threat of the underwater nation Talokan in the wake of King T’Challa’s death.

I’d heard that the film does a good job of landing an emotional weight to the story, and they do manage to stick the landing. Like Black Panther’s introduction to the MCU, the film explores the themes of grief and revenge. It’s a good story although it does feel convoluted with so many things happening. It’s almost like the film was two movies put into one. The story focuses on our main characters dealing with the death of T’Challa while one storyline focuses on outside influences attempting to distabilize Wakanda and the other focusing on the threat of Namor. And because of how convoluted the story is I understand why the film is nearly three hours. The film would’ve benefited had the storyline focused on one or the other.

I will admit however that within the first ten minutes of the movie it was hard to hold back the tears. And the climax was pretty freaking entertaining. But ultimately the best aspect of the story was seeing Shuri’s arc. And there are some story threads that could’ve been ironed out better or cut out completely. But judging the story as it is, it’s emotionally impactful but suffers from an overabundance of content and an overextended runtime. There are some threads that are introduced that are clearly there to setup for future films.

The characters for the most part are actually pretty good. The main protagonist of the film is Shuri who’s dealing with the loss of her brother while coming to terms with the responsibility of protecting Wakanda. Shuri irritated me in the first film. I didn’t like that she was overly playful and corny. But in this film, she’s more mature, more serious; so when she has to deal with the important situations you feel for her character. I like that the film focuses on her balancing her spiritual culture and her scientific beliefs. And ultimately, when the film ends I felt good about Shuri as a character, seeing her come a long way from being the annoying idiot from the first film.

The supporting cast is just great, those characters from the first film that return are fleshed out more. Okoye, Queen Romanda, Nakia, and M’Baku return and they’re great, all dealing with both the protection of Wakanda and the death of T’Challa. There are new characters that are introduced, Riri Williams and antagonist Namor being the most prominent. I don’t like Riri Williams as a character because of her introduction in the comics. She’s given this golden ticket simply because of the woke agenda that Marvel’s been pushing. It’s not because she’s black, but because she’s given the full reward without having to overcome any trial or challenge. It’s what makes Tony Stark such a compelling character when he nearly died to become Iron Man and Riri Williams simply chose to do it. But Riri didn’t bother me as much as I thought she would. Yeah, she’s the comic relief (although the comedy is cringe) but ultimately she’s one of those characters that doesn’t need to be there. She’s what bridges the two main storylines together.

But let’s talk about Namor. The changes to the character’s origins is definitely questionable and I don’t understand the pronounciation of his name (probably due to copyright issues). I liked Namor as a villain, and understood his motivations. I had a problem with Killmonger because of his motivations (even though he and Namor share alot of similarities) felt too chaotic and less focused. Namor plans to do the same thing but is more focused. I liked that he was badass but had depth. But as much as I liked him I wished Namora and Attuma got more screentime. Overall, I liked the characters and the themes for the most part, but I think that some elements could’ve been ironed out better or removed altogether to tighten up on the story. (3 out of 5)

If there’s one thing that can’t be said it is that this is a cheap looking movie. Like the first film, Wakanda Forever boast an impressive amount of creativity in terms of customs, technological and cultural designs. And this isn’t just with Wakanda. The world of Talokan looks awesome. Though it doesn’t look as technologically advanced as said Wakanda or Atlantis from 2018’s Aquaman, it’s still great with heavy influences of Mayan culture and architecture. The cinematography itself is rather good, there are some really good shots, especially with the action, the overall shots of the landscapes and cityscapes, the underwater city of Talokan. I did have an issue with some of the action because of the editing. It’s the same problem I had with the first film.

The Black Panther design I thought was okay. I’m not a huge fan of the colorful, technological design we’ve been seeing but it’s cool. There are some moments here and there where characters appear and it’s obvious that it’s CGI. Personally, these moments could’ve been better had they used different methods of showing them. For example, when the fish people appear they jump up in CGI fashion. They probably could’ve use other tecnhiques but I do understand why they did it.

The soundtrack is absolutely brilliant, the best in the MCU. Loved the music from the first film and loved the music in this film as well. Ludwig Göransson is just a brilliant composer and when it comes to Wakanda (the African themed music) and Talokan (with the Mayan themed music), it’s just deep and emotionally resonating. The sound design is just rich and with a high quality of attention. Overall, the visual and sound design is of the best quality and definitely makes the film look good. (4 out of 5)

The acting and performances are actually really good. I gave Letitia Wright a lot of crap for her performances (and characterization) of Shuri in the first film. But this time around, she completely sells the role. I recently watched her film The Silent Twins and along with her performance here I think she has potential to go a long way. And if she’s nominated for an award I would not be surprised. And I have to give it to Angela Bassett too. Bassett is great in whatever she does and being a fan of her since my youth am happy to say she does not let up here. And let’s not forget Tenoch Huerta Mejía as Namor. He gave me a solid performance as a villain, and I would like to see him return to the role.

The supporting cast is really good. It was great seeing Lupita Nyong’o (as Nakia), Danai Gurira (as Okoye), Winston Duke (M’Baku), and Martin Freeman (as Ross) return, and they all do a good job. Despite my reservations of the character Riri, Dominique Thorne gives a good performance. The film also includes performances by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michaela Coel, Florence Kasumba, Michael B. Jordan, Isaach de Bankole, Dorothy Steel, Danny Sapani, Connie Chiume, Mabel Cadena, Alex Livinalli, Maria Mercedes Coroy, Lake Bell, Richard Schiff, Kamaru Usman, and Trevor Noah.

Ryan Coogler is somebody I have a love/hate relationship with. On one hand, he’s a talented director who knows how to explore characters and how to bring out the best performances by his cast. But on the other hand, he’s got a serious problem with making movies with the stereotypical “black” experience and messaging. This was one of the problems I had with the first film. The dad was portrayed as a villain, the women overshadow T’Challa in his own movie, and there was the cultural clash between black Americans and black Africans. And there is some of that here too. It was enough to add depth to the story while at the same time lightly shove the victimhood pie in your mouth.

The writing is okay when it isn’t trying to be overly convoluted, political or providing social commentary. The strongest element to the writing is how well it pays homage to Chadwick Boseman and honestly, I respect Coogler for doing this for his friend. There could’ve been a better balance with the two conflicting storylines with one being shaved off to provide the spotlight for some of the new characters to be fleshed out. Despite the controversy over the changes from the source material the characterization is pretty strong. It was much appreciated that the humor was toned down which helped give way for Wright’s performance. Riri’s character provided most of the humor, but it was pure cringe because again, there’s the cultural differences that was emphasized. For example, when Riri meets Okoye and Shuri, she comments that Okoye’s bald head is ashy. And that’s supposed to be funny. No, it only emphasizes that stereotype in the “black community” that being ashy is a slur. Then there’s the scene where Riri and Shuri are captured and when offered new clothes Riri spouts about being offered clothes and names several white women in movies. It seems that we just can’t step away from these bad jokes. I recently watched The Curse of Bridge Hollow and could only shake my head with how bad these jokes are and how prevalent they are.

There are also some pacing issues. I understand why the film is almost three hours long but there’s no reason for this film to be three hours long. This film has a lot of marks that it’s trying to hit and sadly it misses a few. It’s trying to talk about political pressure from the governments around the world, trying to focus on this escalating threat of Namor, trying to introduce Riri Williams because of her upcoming Ironheart series, these three being the most prominent among others. This could’ve easily been a great two-hour movie had there been more focus on what matters and not setting up future projects. It just struggles under so much weight. And even with the ending, for as cool a fight as it was, made little sense in terms of tactical advantage. In the end, the cast and performances are brilliant though I have issues with the writing and direction. (3 out of 5)

The Verdict: In the end, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever might not be as much a game changer as it could’ve been, it’s still a solid sequel. Yeah, the film is too long with too much going on, but it’s still entertaining in its execution. Overall, this is a good-looking film with a great music and awesome performances. I didn’t like the first film but walked away from the sequel satisfied despite my gripes. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever gets 3 out of 5.