Wakanda Forever 2022
Black Panther was one of my favorite Marvel movies and maybe the most critically acclaimed of them as well, so I was definitely looking forward to the sequel. There are some good character arcs introduced here, but the villain is a little average, albeit unique. There are also a lot of new characters introduced, with very little overlap with the rest of Marvel. The death of Chadwick Boseman is dealt with by having his character in the movie die as well. It is a good way of dealing with Boseman’s death, but it is also very central to the entire movie, almost exploiting a real life death to push a multi-million dollar movie plot. I think it is truly a heartfelt way of honoring Boseman, but my inner cynic did tingle a little. Otherwise I was almost entirely unspoiled for the movie and I don’t feel like the trailers even revealed much of the plot. The women (and almost all of the main characters are women) do a good job of acting, in particular Angela Bassett as the queen of Wakanda. A lot of the movie rests on Letitia Wright’s narrow shoulders as Shuri, with somewhat mixed results. Her character is trying to figure out her place, so can’t be impressively strong, which makes her a little wishy washy. She seems better suited as a sidekick than a lead. The movie is good for the most part but feels very different without Boseman’s Panther or any Avengers. As such, I don’t feel like it is as good as the first one, but is still a satisfying return to form for Marvel after a couple of missteps lately.
Written: 16 Nov 2022
Owned on: Digital