Movie Review: Wakanda Forever (2022) *Very Minor Spoilers*

For the first time since the start of the MCU, with exception to the Black Widow movie that was released when the pandemic was still a factor, I actively decided not to see a Marvel film in the cinema.

I liked the first Black Panther movie and, at the time, was really looking forward to seeing more of Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa, first seen in Marvel's Civil War Movie.

However the run time of Wakanda Forever (2 hours 41 minutes) combined with the reviews, that were great but described the movie as more 'heavy going' on account of Boseman's passing, weren't really setting me up with the promise of a great time.

Ultimately I decided to wait for it to come to Disney+.

After having seen the movie, I feel I made the right choice for me. I have no doubt Wakanda Forever would've been spectacular on the big screen in terms of the effects and action, but it's also, has an excessive amount of people shouting at or being angry with each other.

The film opens with the passing of King T'Challa. From there it becomes a power struggle between Wakanda and everybody else either trying to get their hands on or trying to stop them from getting their hands on supplies of Vibranium.

Almost all of the key cast from the first Black Panther movie return and arguably give better performances here, if only because they get to be much more dramatic. This time the movie centers around Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) and her mother, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett - who definitely deserves her Oscar nomination for this film. She does a lot of shouting and being angry!).

There are some really great action sequences, you get to see a lot more of Wakandan technology, and you get to see a whole new culture with Namor (Tenoch Huerta) and his people.

While Namor is a welcome addition to the MCU, especially with how well visualized his culture is, I didn't think his motivations were very well thought out. He seemed very willing to put his people's lives at risk without much thought at all.

If he'd just introduced himself and spoke rationally about his concerns right from the get go... I'm pretty sure Wakanda would've been united in his cause of making sure no one outside of their nations got hold of any vibranium.

But he didn't do that.

Overall Wakanda Forever is a well made film with lots to like, particularly with a lot of the new tech, and an origin story or sorts for a new character - likely to be a member of the young Avengers down the track.

I just don't know if I can describe it as an enjoyable movie. It feels long. The humor is quite minimal, and I definitely left it feeling they could've cut quite a bit out and you wouldn't miss it.

I'll probably re-watch it at least once more but I'm not in any rush to do so.