Antonio Jackson
Staff Writer
The Black Panther is one of the most influential Marvel characters that was able to inspire the African-American community. In celebration of Black History Month, I watched the latest installment of the Black Panther series, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was released in theaters on Nov. 11, 2022, and can be streamed on demand on Disney+.
Directed by Ryan Coogler, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” takes place years after the blip caused by Thanos that erased half of the universe from existence. With the Heart Shaped Herb being destroyed by Killmonger, T’Challa will eventually fall ill to an incurable disease with no way of healing himself, resulting in his death.
With the mantle of Black Panther being unoccupied, Wakanda is left vulnerable without its protector. With the world being aware of the valuable resource, vibranium, existence, many nations plan on using it for themselves in unimaginable ways.
Eventually, Wakanda will come into conflict with underwater nation, Talokan, ruled by Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta Mejía, after the U.N. mistakes Talokans as Wakandans and blame them for killing an underwater search team after they found vibranium outside of Wakanda.
After being at odds with each other, the two nations eventually came to the realization that they would better survive together in a world where they are outnumbered.
Something that I appreciated about the movie is the inclusion and representation of multiple minorities and the different ideologies that they have. Wakanda is very passive towards the outside world, being willing to cooperate and compromise with other countries.
However, Talokan is very hostile and is willing to protect itself by any means necessary, even if it’s war against the entire world. Despite the differences in beliefs and being at war with each other, both nations eventually agree that their fight is pointless, and they are stronger together.
I believe this is a very powerful message that is not all too common in today’s media. So it is very important that the audience acknowledges and recognizes how that message can impact their lives.
One of the many high points in the file for me was its action sequences. It’s very clear that the goal was to raise the bar from the last movie as far as their fight scenes. The choreography and the CGI or computer generated images does well in capturing the intensity of each battle to the point where you feel as if you were there.
A low point of the movie for me was the lack of impact that one of the characters had on the overall story. Riri Williams, played by Dominique Thorne, is a well-known prodigy of Tony Stark, one of the smartest characters in the Marvel universe. In the comics, Riri is a very capable protagonist, being able to develop her own version of the Iron Man suit and dawning the name, Iron Heart.
However, in “Wakanda Forever”, it seemed as if Riri was sitting along for the ride just as much as the audience was. To be fair, she did develop a device that was very critical to the plot. Other than that, she provided little to no influence to the story, being reduced to plot device rather than an actual character.
The biggest doubt I had about the film initially was how well it would perform without the inclusion of the original Black Panther T’Challa, who was played by the late Chadwick Boseman.
I figured that many fans were led to believe that Black Panther wouldn’t be the same without him, however this isn’t true at all. In her role Shuri, T’Challa’s younger sister, played by Letitia Wright proved to be able to step forward to create the same amount of impact as Boseman once did. Not as a full replacement, but as an actress in her own right.
Overall, I believe that “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is a masterpiece that was not only a well needed medium to help deal with the grief behind death, but a brilliant political thriller.
It was an easy task to be able to follow up the 2018 original Black Panther and managed to not only live up to its forerunner but surpass it in every possible way.
