Review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) by Tristanhemlock — 13 Nov 2022

This movie fails in so many ways, that you can see they weren't even worried about plot holes seeing they make them as hotcakes. This movie was made to exploit African culture, while also making it seem it's about black empowerment or black culture when it is not about any of that.

First they couldn't have explained T'Challa death in a worst way. Do the writers think people suffer from memory loss?! So they were able to freeze the Winter Soldier, but given T'Challa situation no one even thought about that. If you're smart and you think about everything all the movies have shown you, then you'll never accept the explanation given to T'Challa death. Which only shows how much the writers really care about Chadwick Boseman, that they couldn't have given him a death worthy of the man he was in life but also who the character Black Panther is.

The story of the movie itself is as simple as it can get. Riri Williams, builds something that does something and Namor or should I call him Ne-mour sees that thing as a threat to his kingdom and power. Ne-mour thinks his and Wakanda interests align until he sees that they do not.

And that's it, all the conflict and fights begin here.

Shuri or should I say Letitia Wright, not only fails to transmit the emotions typical with grieving and loss, but how she becomes the new Black Panther was pure plot convenience. Also considering how she achieves it, you're also left wondering how did T'Challa even died at all. Even her fight with wannabe Namor, it leaves you wonder if she added some Wolverine DNA to what she did. As Black Panther she doesn't convinces, and she didn't took her role as seriously as she should have.

The character Riri Williams that pretty much sets the fuse to the entire conflict, if she had only done that and offered Shuri some help becoming Black Panther, that would've been enough. More than enough. But no. They had to go Rey Palpatine on her, and the way she becomes Ironheart is an insult to Tony Stark Iron Man. The way she builds the suit the way she just uses it... It screams Mary Sue.

As for Wakanda itself. They went so over the top to create the illusion that the movie cares about African culture, that they overused it to the point it became ridiculous. There are many choices to pick from, but pay attention to how the holographic barrier that keeps Wakanda hidden is lowered. You'll see the culture abuse right there, because you're witnessing a technological process that doesn't need to have all that spectacle. The spectacle is in the movie to deceive the viewer too hypnotized to realize the absurdity being shown.

Also the way they handle Riri Williams at first, for a society that is supposed to be so advanced, so open minded, about equality, and so much better than all other cultures. They sure handle that with the finesse of a barbarian.

This movie will fool you if you're not paying attention. It will pretend to be about equality when they show they couldn't care less about that. It will pretend that the fight is about some grand motive, when it comes down to who has access to a specific resource. That resource can almost be considered the movie main character. It will pretend that this movie is about black culture, black empowerment, but it just ends up showing that regardless of skin color cultures share the same flaws and fight the same fights.

A few performances were solid, like that of Angela Bassett. But other performances were just laughable, like that of Tenoch Huerta that can't even say Namor as Namor is actually said.

Overall this is an average movie. With a completely predictable story and with so many plot holes that you can see how much care and hard work was actually put into creating this movie. They knew that by using Chadwick Boseman passing, and by filling the screen with what passes for African culture, they didn't need to actually write a good story.

And while some may allowed themselves to fall for this illusionist trick, I for one was never tricked one single time. Average movie at best and I'm being generous, considering some flaws even in the special effects department can easily justify and even lower score.