Wakanda Forever is one of the better projects Marvel has produced in a very long time. After Avenger’s Endgame, people speculated that Marvel had reached its peak and could never supersede the standards they themselves had set. Nonetheless, to our surprise, this latest production has exceeded expectations.
The beginning of Wakanda Forever almost made me cry as I am sure most people know that Chadwick Boseman, the previous leading role of the first Black Panther, passed away two years ago due to cancer.
Wakanda Forever starts with Shuri, played by Letitia Wright, attempting to cure T’Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, of his illness with some home-made concoction. Unfortunately, Shuri is too late and T’Challa joins his ancestors.
A year passes, and Wakanda’s queen Ramonda, played by Angela Bassett, attends a United Nations conference where representatives discuss the incredibly powerful element Vibranium. For those who don’t know, Vibranium is a scarce element in the Marvel universe that possesses many extraordinary properties.
Many nations fear Wakanda since it is the only known nation with access to Vibranium. If Wakanda decided to challenge the world in a war, the earth’s powers would have no means of stopping them.
Ramonda refutes these claims saying that Wakanda is the only nation responsible enough to have access— if others were to get their hands on the precious element, who knows the level of mass destruction possible?
The movie then cuts to an American ship out at sea, exploring the depths of the ocean to find Vibranium. Eventually, the Americans find a chunk of it by taking advantage of a new piece of equipment capable of detecting the rare element.
As the modern-day pirates try to gather their latest treasure, the ocean’s waves stir up a song that lures crew members to jump overboard. Essentially the captain of this operation, Director Dreyfus, played by Julia Louis, sees the danger she is in and tries to escape via helicopter.
Suddenly, sea people emerge from the ocean, attacking the ship in hopes of killing any possible survivors. Dreyfus eventually escapes, but only within inches of her life.
The movie cuts back to Wakanda when Ramonda returns, showing concern for her daughter Shuri. She believes that Shuri has not taken the time to properly process T’Challa’s passing and needs to get out of her laboratory where she spends too much time avoiding her problems.
Ramonda finally convinces Shuri to leave her lab and explore Wakanda’s wilderness. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Shuri and Ramonda are greeted by a man with wings on his feet. The man calls himself Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta. He informs them that Americans have found vibranium near his underwater kingdom and that American technology is increasingly advanced, to the point where specific machines can detect the element.
Namor wants Ramonda to have someone find the person who designed this specialized equipment and turn them over to Namor and his people. At first, Ramonda wants to refuse his demand, but Namor threatens to go to war with Wakanda if they don’t comply.
Ramonda has the head guard at Wakanda, Okoye, played by Danai Guurira, to find the scientist. Okoye brings Shuri because she’s concerned for her well-being. The two find the scientist Riri Williams, played by Dominique Thorne, and plan to take her to Wakanda; however, Namor’s people ambush them and take Riri and Shuri.
What will happen now? Will Namor’s people kill both of them? Will Ramonda wage war or find a compromise? You will have to find that out for yourself.
The director of Wakanda Forever, Ryan Coogler, did a great job putting this movie together. The music was beautiful, the costumes and makeup looked amazing, the set design was gorgeous, and the cinematography had some outstanding shots. The only complaint I have about this movie is the pacing; sometimes, the film was too fast or too slow.
At two hours and 41 minutes with a PG-13 rating, I give Wakanda Forever a 4.5 out of 5 stars.
