I’m just going to say it, Wakanda Forever was better than the first and even that movie exceeded all of my expectations. Fair warning this is not going to be spoiler free. Ryan Coogler needs all his flowers for this movie.
I was curious as to who was going to be the new Black Panther after we lost the late great Chadwick Boseman in 2020. Without him I had questions swirling in my mind about who was going to bring a performance like he did in 2018. I feel like the pressure was on Coogler to put out a sequel that was not just good, it had to be great because Chadwick, the leading star, was now with the ancestors.
This movie was about grief and how people must accept what they cannot control. Shuri had to deal with the death of her brother and mother within a year of eachother while constantly trying to change what had already happened. Now she is all alone with the titles of Queen of Wakanda and the new Black Panther. She showed how there was no time for grief and how she had to keep going not only for herself but also for her people. But there was a new enemy brewing under the surface, Namor.
Namor rules Talocan which also keeps the outside world from their homeland as Wakanda did once before. With the outside world trying to get their hands on vibranium after Endgame, Namor took on the responsibility of keeping the outside world out. He wanted to make a deal with Queen Ramonda on how to get the girl who created the vibranium finding technology, Riri Williams also known as Ironheart. I feel like he was not wrong in what he did because his goal was to protect his people just like Wakandans do and as Captain America said, “We don’t trade lives.”
Shuri had to suit up and protect her people as the new Black Panther after Namor destroyed the captial city of Wakanda and killed the Queen Mother. The once collaborating nations now were against eachother in a fight that was not theirs to have and created strife between the two. Was Namor wanting to kill Riri justified? No. Because she didn’t know what she created was even being used. He should’ve went to the countries that were using this tech and confronted them about it. I know that he did not want people outside of Wakanda and Talocan to know about his home but his problem was not really with the Wakandans. They could’ve teamed up to keep the vibranium finding technology out of the hands of other countries instead of fighting against eachother. But Marvel would never let a movie like that happen.
Overall the movie has done it again with its costume department, set design, and story. They honored Chadwick in a beautiful way and even gave him a son to live out the rest of his life with. We as an audience got to grieve the loss of Chadwick with the cast and franchise and put and end to his short lived story while also getting to create a new one with Shuri and Letitia Wright as the new Black Panther.