Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Review (2022)
By: Mallory Timbrook
Director: Ryan Coogler
Where to watch: Disney+
Oh. My. Gosh. If you’re going to watch this film, I have a couple of tips. First, make sure you watch the first Black Panther (this is not optional. You need to watch it.) Wakanda Forever is a sequel. Second, BRING YOUR TISSUES. I know some people think movies aren’t worthy of crying over, but they’re wrong. The movie hadn’t even started, and I was already sobbing like a toddler who didn’t get to eat a popsicle.
The first five minutes of the film had me sobbing, but the Marvel logo intro
had me hysterical. I think my date thought I was crazy (by date, I mean my 16-year-old brother, who was also crying even though it’s not ‘manly.’) With Chadwick Boseman’s passing in 2020, Disney announced King T’Challa would not be recast. I was a little bit worried about how the Black Panther films would continue, but that worry was unnecessary. Wakanda Forever was phenomenal. As a sister, I can’t even imagine losing one of my siblings. Letitia Wright portrayed a devastated Shuri so well. As powerful and impressive as Letitia’s performance was, it was nothing compared to Angela Bassett’s portrayal of Queen Ramonda.
Angela Bassett portrayed a grief-stricken mother amazingly. Naturally, her portrayal brought tears to my eyes. She also won multiple awards for her performance, as she should have. She has won a Golden Globe and has been nominated for an Academy Award. Her power and grief came across on film absolutely wonderfully. The line, “I am Queen of the most powerful nation in the world, and my entire family is gone,” will make you cry like a baby and want to hand her all the awards.
Another star of the film was Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor. I have friends of Hispanic descent, and they said the impact of having a Mexican actor in such a prominent role in such a big-budget film was so significant for their culture and people. The action sequences of the film were top-notch, and the fighting was coordinated expertly.
My absolute favorite part of the film was Okoye kicking butt on the bridge. have the fighting skills of an angry six-year-old, but I felt like I could fight off 100 men after watching her. If you do watch the film, make sure you stay until the very end. By ‘the very end,’ I mean the last end credit scene (all Marvel fans should know this.) Please find the time in your day to watch Wakanda Forever or the first Black Panther; I’m not saying it will change your life and perspective of the world, but it will.
