I finally watched Wakanda Forever after hearing my family talking about it some months ago. Honestly it was really powerful and also touching because at the beginning they pay tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, who played the main character, King T’Challa, in Black Panther. Like many people, I was pretty emotional when Chadwick passed away in 2020 and when they premiered Black Panther I broke down and cried, and afterwards they had a tribute to Chadwick where his co-stars, Tom Hiddleston, Scarlett Johansson and others, paid tribute to him, and after that I just cried even harder. I honestly wasn’t sure if they were going to make a sequel after Chadwick passed away, but they weaved his passing into the beginning of the storyline in a poignant and profound way.
I also really love the score, which is the genius of composer Ludwig Goransson, who also did the score for the first movie.
In this movie, the nation of Wakanda is grappling with the death of King T’Challa, and apparently there is another nation that has vibranium. Most people thought Wakanda was the only country with the precious mineral vibranium but there is another nation, Talokan, that has vibranium as well. This made me think about the history of colonialism in Africa and the early Americas, where European colonizers exploited Indigenous peoples for their resources and profited off of them and enslaved these peoples for their resources. At the beginning, Queen Ramonda is in a conference with global leaders who accuse Wakanda of not being involved enough in international affairs and makes a comment about their vibranium resources. Queen Ramonda tells them that Wakanda is the only nation with vibranium and they are determined to protect this resource at all costs because human beings outside of Wakanda want to exploit the country for its vibranium. However, one evening when Queen Ramonda and her daughter, Shuri, are sitting outside near a campfire, the leader of Talokan, Namor, emerges from the ocean and is decked out in vibranium. Queen Ramonda is wondering how he got ahold of the vibranium, but Namor tells her that Wakanda isn’t the only place with vibranium and that Talokan has had vibranium for years.
This movie also delves into the history of Indigenous cultures and colonialism. Talokan talks about how when his mother was pregnant with him, European colonizers invaded the land and got the Indigenous communities sick with illness, killing many people. His mother and other people in the community took a substance that gave them the power to live underwater. At the beginning, some scientists are on a marine voyage and they hear a choir of the Talokan people underwater, and the people on the crew of the ship are hypnotized and they start jumping over the boat to their deaths. Two of the scientists escape in time but just barely because Namor destroys their helicopter. As the movie progresses, we see how the Wakandans have to battle an even greater force while battling the people of Talokan. In one scene, Riri, Shuri and Okoye are escaping from the police and they escape them, but then the Talokan people fight them and even though Okoye has her spear to fight them, they end up beating up Okoye really badly and taking away Shuri and Riri to Talokan. When Shuri and Riri are in Talokan they are figuring out how to get back to Wakanda especially because Queen Ramonda is worried sick. Okoye comes back to Wakanda and wants to find Shuri and Riri, but Ramonda tells her it’s her fault for bringing Shuri with her to get Riri. When Shuri and Riri are in Talokan they are figuring out how to get back to Wakanda, but Namor meets with Shuri and he takes her underwater to explore the land of Talokan. He hopes to win her favor, but Shuri is loyal to Wakanda. This makes Namor angry and he and the other people of Talokan go into Wakanda and destroy everything. Namor sees Ramonda in the kingdom and throws these water grenades at the window, and these grenades explode and drown the kingdom in a deluge of water, killing Ramonda. Even though they try to revive Ramonda it is to no avail, and so they not only have lost King T’Challa but also Shuri has lost her mother, too. Shuri puts on the Black Panther suit and drinks an herb she has been working on for so long, and it gives her the strength to take down Namor. After she drinks the herb she finds herself confronting Killmonger, and he tells her that now that King T’Challa is dead they can use their power to take over Wakanda. This makes Shuri angry and she musters up her strength to fight Namor. When she and Namor are in the desert, she is about to kill him but she remembers her mother’s words and understands that she doesn’t have to kill Namor to bring peace to Wakanda. As the Talokan and Wakandan people are fighting each other, Shuri and Namor re-emerge and declare peace between Talokan and Wakanda.
I gotta give mad props to the people in the makeup and costume departments for both the first and second Black Panther movies. The costumes were amazing. And as always, I love Martin Freeman. I also love Shuri and Riri because they are Black women working in the sciences and technology, so I was like, “Yes! #BlackGirlMagic.” Also the Dora Milaje are badasses. And Angela Bassett, as always, is amazing.
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