Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Movie · 2022 · Action, Adventure, Science Fiction · 2h 42m · PG-13 · English

Curator score: 3.8/10 (1.7M ratings)

Forever.

Overview

Queen Ramonda, Shuri, M’Baku, Okoye and the Dora Milaje fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia and Everett Ross and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.

Ratings

Director

Ryan Coogler

Production

Marvel Studios

Cast

Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Martin Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Dominique Thorne, Florence Kasumba, Michaela Coel, Alex Livinalli, Mabel Cadena, Michael B. Jordan, Isaach de Bankolé, Danny Sapani, Dorothy Steel, Zainab Jah, Sope Aluko, Connie Chiume

Where to watch

Disney Plus

Curator Review

Verdict

A visually ambitious, emotionally sincere sequel that works best as a tribute and a world-building drama, but it’s also overlong and sometimes strained by the burden of franchise plotting. The grief, performances, and production design give it real weight, even when the momentum sags.

Best for

  • Viewers who want superhero movies with genuine mourning and character emotion
  • Fans of Wakanda’s political and cultural world-building
  • Audiences interested in a more serious, operatic MCU entry
  • People who liked the first film’s style but want a darker, more reflective follow-up

Skip if

  • You want a tight, fast-moving action movie
  • You’re tired of franchise continuity and setup
  • You prefer lighter, more playful superhero films
  • You’re likely to be distracted by the film’s length and uneven pacing

Overview

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is at its strongest when it leans into grief, ritual, and the pressure of succession. Ryan Coogler stages Wakanda as a nation in mourning rather than just a superhero setting, and that gives the film a seriousness rare in mainstream franchise cinema. The performances, especially from Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett, carry a lot of the emotional burden.

Worth noting

The movie also expands its mythos with a striking new underwater civilization and a villain who feels rooted in history rather than generic comic-book chaos. That material gives the sequel a fresh visual identity, even if the story sometimes becomes crowded and overextended. The action is solid, but the film’s real power comes from its atmosphere and its sense of loss.

Bottom line

It’s an impressive, sometimes unwieldy continuation that honors what came before while trying to move forward under impossible circumstances. When it clicks, it feels unusually mature for a blockbuster; when it doesn’t, you feel the seams. Still, it’s one of the MCU’s more emotionally ambitious entries and worth seeing for that alone.

Top Letterboxd reviews

Lenny (3★) · 8355 likes

They took the "forever" in Wakanda Forever literally, because this film feels like eternity.

layzon (4★) · 7319 likes

namor has to be full of microplastics

Alex Hunter (4★) · 6786 likes

75% of this is actually shot like a movie. Seriously tho, I was shocked by how mature, creative and real this was.

james💫 (3.5★) · 5176 likes

i want namor to put a water bomb up my

demi adejuyigbe · 4839 likes

ryan... if you’re gonna do indigenous blue water people, the least you could do is leave big boats out of it entirely! and a month before avatar? c’mon man. look what you did. jim is crying. you can’t see it through the scuba suit but you can tell. we’re not anywhere near the damn ocean why he got a wet suit on. and how would YOU like it? hmm? if he tackled systemic racial structures? hmm? if he knew who… more ryan... if you’re gonna do indigenous blue water people, the least you could do is leave big boats out of it entirely! and a month before avatar? c’mon man. look what you did. jim is crying. you can’t see it through the scuba suit but you can tell. we’re not anywhere near the damn ocean why he got a wet suit on. and how would YOU like it? hmm? if he tackled systemic racial structures? hmm? if he knew who… more

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Topics

superhero drama, grief, political conflict, underwater civilization, female-led ensemble, blockbuster spectacle, emotional sequel, mythic sci-fi, imperial tension, 2020s

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