BY IRVIN RIVERA

Ryan Coogler's Wakanda Forever will live on as a great bookend to MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Phase 4 and as a heartfelt tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman.

NOTE: This is not a spoiler-filled review, but rather an immediate reaction after initially seeing the film. You can get your reviews, facts and pre-Wakanda Forever primers at various YouTube channels like ScreenCrush, New Rockstars, Everything Always and more. There's plenty of detailed Marvel dedicated, pop-culture channels out there and they're pretty great at what they do.

Anyway, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a grounded, cathartic, poignant tale about people's journey on dealing with grief and overcoming it. It’s Shuri’s journey to finding peace with her grief and Namor’s voyage in finding balance as he protects his kingdom and his culture while opening up at the same time. 

Scenes from the film kept sending chills throughout my body- from the opening funeral scene, to the showcase of Wakanda's landscape, to Namor's first appearance on screen, to the exploration of Talokan all the way to Shuri coming to terms with her grief. It was glorious and was delivered with grace. 

The film provides a dialogue on the venn diagram of cultures and power on the greater political landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse while closing and opening chapters of the various characters around it. There’s a web of subplots that were obviously there to set-up upcoming Marvel movie and TV titles but oftentimes, they don’t really add much value to the core story that is centered on Wakanda and Talokan.  

In any case, these diversions didn’t really take away much from the harmony among the film's elements that often flowed perfectly- the stunning visuals, the music, the timing and the acting were all compelling enough to make this film one of my favorite Marvel titles so far. 

Namor’s (played brilliantly by actor Tenoch Huerta) Mesoamerican influenced culture is a delight to watch. Letitia Wright as Shuri, the new Black Panther, did a great job at carrying the weight of the film. It seemed like a huge task upon her shoulders, but she delivered and gave us waves of emotional moments throughout her journey. The other key players, Angela Bassett playing Queen Ramonda, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia, Michaela Coel as Aneka, Riri Williams as Dominique Thorne a.k.a. Ironheart, María Mercedes Coroy as Namor’s mother and the rest of the ensemble contributed to the success of this blockbuster franchise. 

Do you need to watch the first Black Panther before watching Wakanda Forever? Probably. Just to get the context and the nuances of the worlds and a lot of things presented in the film. But is it necessary? Not really. You can still enjoy it as is. IN any case, here’s a link to ScreenCrush’s primer on things you need to know before watching Wakanda FOrever: Everything You Need to Know Before Watching BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER - Marvel RECAP - YouTube

Side Notes:

-Tenoch Huerta is probably my favorite MCU villain right now. He really delivered and he deserves more projects after this. 

-I Also love how they changed Namor’s origin and the etymology of his name in this film. Originally, it’s an anagram, or more accurately, a palindrome of ROMAN. But in Wakanda Forever, it’s N’AMOR, No Love- given to the character by the dying Conquistador that destroyed his mother’s ancestral village. 

-Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong'o speaking Spanish in the film is also great moment to witness

-It was nice to see Val a.k.a. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) pop up in the film as a looming villain on the grounded aspect of the MCU, but then again, she could’ve been taken out of the film and will still be fine