Wakanda Forever Spoiler Talk

I was doing my best imitation of the 1/10 IMDb user reviews I usually read. Honestly, it's a very female-driven story, but it doesn't draw attention to itself because there's no forced "girl power" angle. Here's my more honest review. 


The death of Chadwick Boseman left a serious hole in the world of Wakanda. His magnetic, regal presence that matched with his charisma made T'Challa one of Marvel Studios' most compelling comic book heroes. At the time of Boseman's passing, Ryan Coogler stated his script dealt with T'Challa "grieving the loss of time... after being gone for five years." The script was re-written shortly after, but the themes of grief, loss, and reconciliation still remains in the final film. Avengers: Endgame similarly had the Avengers grieving the loss of their fallen comrades who fell victim Thanos's snap, but it kind of became an afterthought once the characters time travel to the past. Even though T'Challa is gone, the memory of what his character left behind still looms over the film. 

In the years since the Blip, Queen Ramonda and Princess Shuri hold the nation of Wakanda together. After Wakanda opens itself to trade vibranium, countries such as the United States and France try to confiscate it. Vibranium is detected underneath off the coast of the U.S., and Namor senses the U.S. will threaten his underwater kingdom. He attempts to form a pact with Wakanda to wage war if the U.S. attacks. First, he wants to kill Riri Williams, a college student who created a vibranium detector (that the CIA is planning to use). Basically, Riri Williams is another America Chavez (from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), a character the villain seeks out for nefarious reasons and a character for the hero to protect. In the film, she's the primary comic relief and sometimes, her scenes work but other times, it doesn't. 

There's also a CIA subplot involving Martin Freeman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus reprising their roles from previous Marvel films. Within the framework of the film, it feels out of place and rarely goes anywhere. It feels mandated by Marvel as set-up for The Thunderbolts. 

When we come back to Ramonda and Shuri, the film is at the near best. The performances from Angela Bassett and Letitia Wright really anchor the film as their characters struggle to move Wakanda forward. The action sequences were decent, but I wasn't too enraptured with them. The film's third act battle ends much too abruptly. Ludwig Goransson's instrumental score was fantastic. The costume design by Ruth Carter was well done. However, there is one Midnight Angel armor suit that looks odd, and the characters wink at the audience joking about about how bad the suit looks. 

Overall, I give it a 7/10. It doesn't quite reach the cinematic heights of the first film, lacking Chadwick Boseman as the center. Nevertheless, the performances of the cast and the dedication to Boseman's memory were excellent. It's enough to see the film in theaters just for it.