‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Relies on Black Women Leadership

 

Black Panther:Wakanda Forever film poster.

Ryan Coogler’s ability to place his art house style into a big budget Marvel film remains an incredible feat. From the special Marvel opening credits to the pivotal end, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever  respectfully tribunes the late Chadwick Boseman. Grief provides a third-dimensional component enhancing a genuine response from each important woman in T’Challa’s world on screen. Every fallen tear, every wobbled breath holds tremendous despair. Shuri, Queen Ramonda, Okoye, and Nakia express their sorrows differently, channeling their broken hearts and spirits by carrying on with individual duties. Shuri continues inventing technological devices in her lab, the very place she tried finding a cure for her dying brother. Queen Ramonda focuses on her remaining child, desperately hoping Shuri releases her pent up sadness. Okoye stays the valiant general, constantly at ready whenever her country needs strength, but her eyes shed an unhappy truth. Nakia, however, cannot even bear returning for T’Challa’s funeral, opting to make a divine purpose in Haiti teaching children nature. 

Once these four women come together, the healing can begin. 

Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and Shuri (Letitia Wright) encounter Namor. DP: Autumn Durald  Arkapaw.

Without the Black Panther, Wakanda appears weak and defenseless. The Dora Milaje remedy that foolish notion. Queen Ramonda expels regal grace and fiery authority over a U. N. Conference, telling the countries that she knows their true allegiance does not lie with Wakanda, but with their lustful hunger for Vibranium. This powerful scene showcases a commanding woman who lost two important men in her life, the two beacons meant to protect her nation, and though she must rule alone, she will do so with a clairvoyant eye and a diligent resolve. Those present in the meeting view Queen Ramonda as rude, threatening, and disrespectful. In truth, she exudes a one-time kindness offering that they should take advantage of. 

Still, a new apparent danger exists underwater, a blue people unlike anything James Cameron could create— for these people refuse to be seen, much less conquered by the colonizers. They are called the Talokan and may have come from land ancestors as far back as Mayan civilization, but the endless, abyssal sea grants them necessary shelter. Their ruler, Namor, a mutant with wings on his ankles, vows to keep that secret guarded. And somehow a young genius stands in the way. He interrupts Queen Ramonda and Shuri’s burial ritual and blackmails them to find a scientist he must kill. 

Riri (Dominique Thorne) helps Shuri in the lab. DP: Autumn Durald Arkapaw.

The humorous elements turn tears to laughter. For example, M’Baku entering meetings chomping (unrealistically) on giant rainbow carrots. The whitest song possible reintroduces Everett Ross— “Can’t Stop” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Okoye (a constant delight in her field work) provides the clipped jokes as she and Shuri approach college student Riri “Ironheart” Williams (with Ross’s help). Seems the military always heavily surveils the super smart people— probably to control or kill in the future. 

Yet, Riri is a young girl deserving to live. Namor shouldn’t be trying to kill her either. 

The Black Girl Magic trio have a wild escape sequence: Ironheart flying high in her ultra cool suit for the first time, Shuri riding solo on a motorcycle, and Okoye driving a hot red car. All seems swell until the blue crew comes through, throwing Okoye into the water (after a awesome fight), and taking Ironheart and Shuri into their undiscovered realm. Must state a million times that the underwater sequences are absolutely beautiful, seeing these gorgeous characters swimming beside epic architecture— a feast for the ages.  

However, the fact that people ship Shuri with Namor leaves room for concern. Yes, it is nice that he gave her his mother’s bracelet and showed her his home in a protective suit, but in that same soft tone, he expresses that Ironheart must die. Surely, no one finds any romance in that demented request. Or in what he later does in the film.

A reactionary Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) could not wait to throw Okoye (Danai Gurira) under a bus— or Wakandan space vehicle. DP: Autumn Durald Arkapaw. 

Meanwhile Okoye is cruelly stripped of her title and forced to live as a Wakanda citizen, leaving Queen Ramonda to trust in one person— the woman who abandoned them to their pain, Nakia. The (widow?) helps in the search for Shuri, posing as a visitor speaking Spanish at the location nearest Shuri’s whereabouts. Nakia learns of the flying man with winged feet and finds his lair; killing a Talokan before saving Shuri and Riri. Despite Shuri’s resentment towards Nakia for not coming to T’Challa’s funeral, the two women still have a very close relationship, one of genuine love and care for the other. If anyone would have saved Shuri, it would be Nakia. After all, they are as close as bonded sisters, poignantly conveyed in their every scene together. 

Namor (Tenoch Huerta) actually makes good on his threat to Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett). DP: Autumn Durald Arkapaw.

The biggest gripe is that Queen Ramonda did not have to be sacrificed in a story jam packed with emotional depth. T’Challa’s death simply lingers too great to add on another casualty. Shuri recently mourned her father and brother almost on top of each other. Shuri may be incredibly smart and technically advanced, but she is still quite young and vulnerable. She is human. Thrusting a heap of responsibility onto her before her tears run dry screams of Black women’s communal duty to hide their emotions, to put others above their sacred mental space. The queen had more to teach and to snuff out her life just to push a revenge angle— to have Erik Killmonger join Shuri’s ancestral plain— seems harsh. Namor equates a subject’s death and Shuri and Thorne’s escape to drowning an actual royalty figure— also a terrible takeaway. 

In the previous Black Panther film, Killmonger spilled insightful truths scene after scene and brought interesting points about Vibranium’s possible impact on defenseless Black people outside Wakanda. Yet fueled by a destructive nature, he killed innocent people in Wakanda that chose not to follow his orders and destroyed the purple herb so that no other Black Panthers would come after him. He would have killed Queen Ramonda herself— and Queen Ramonda’s harbored resentment of his temporary rule explodes in full force at Okoye, who had chosen then to operate as Dora Milaje general than flee. 

Namor lives up to his nickname meaning— no love. DP: Autumn Durald Arkapaw.  

Namor’s villainy mirrors Killonger’s— that bloodthirsty vengeance, the willingness to harm anyone in order to guard his underwater kingdom, eying the wrong enemy. The foe was never Wakanda. The foe will always be the meddling military involvement in all things they have yet to conquer. 

The big fight between Wakanda and the Talokan comes down to Shuri versus Namor. The bigger battle, however, is justice. How will justice be served in the era of superhero fantasy/drama? Can a young woman avenge her mother if not by combat, by law— something that does not seem to exist when two opposing worlds collide? As Namor nearly succumbs and Shuri gains the upper hand, Queen Ramonda’s ghost echoes “show them who you are,” same words she used on T’Challa in the previous film, setting up an early route to forgiveness. It is not to say that Namor should be murdered on the spot at Shuri’s hand, it is to remark on the unfairness of a Black woman’s death, that nothing in this realm can be done to truly punish Namor. Sometimes, Black women are constantly instructed to acquit those that wrong them.  

Furthermore, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever includes even more military presence than before— meaning colonizers gaining more screen time and story than necessary, taking away from the crucial matters at hand. There is the Talokan murdering military personnel, Ross and his annoying ex-wife, and other parts existing off Wakanda and Talokan— as though some screenplay interference happened here.  Even without the element of Marvel comic books, imagine a human picture with two differing cultures both unadulterated by colonialism that can build something remarkable together if only the notion of war did not stand in the way. That essentially is the narrative we should have gotten. 

And without Queen Ramonda’s death. Two funerals in a single film almost three hours long is a lot.  

Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) is the third protector of Riri (Dominique Thorne). DP: Autumn Durald Arkapaw.  

Overall, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s true highlights speak for themselves— Coogler’s direction and screenplay with Joe Robert Cole (still good elements), Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s dynamic cinematography, Hannah Beachler’s Afrofuturistic production design, Ruth Carter’s phenomenal costumes (seriously, where can one get that fabulous dress an unemployed Okoye wore?), and Ludwig Göransson s beat driven soundtrack with the fiery acting ensemble on top! Angela Bassett (first actress in a Marvel film to be Oscar nominated), Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, Florence Kasumba, the late Dorothy Steel, and Winston Duke come back with newcomers Michaela Coel, Dominique Thorne, Tenoch Huerta, Mabel Cadena, and Zainah Jah (a brilliant theater actress who starred in Gurira’s Eclipsed play alongside Nyong’o).

A powerful, understated depiction of all-consuming grief.

Rita Slays Her Demons in ‘Vampire in Brooklyn’

 

Exactly twenty-five years ago, Eddie Murphy presented Vampire In Brooklyn, a comedy-horror directed by the legendary Wes Craven, written by Michael Lucker, Chris Parker, and the late Charlie Murphy— Eddie’s brother and longtime creative partner. At the center of this Coming to America vibe, is Rita Veder, the carbon copy replica of his longtime love (as it so happens in most vampiric tales). The Caribbean hailed Maximilian has arrived in a bloody boat, looking specifically for her. 

After the untimely death of her mother in a mental institution, Rita has been tormented by strange thoughts and dreams. She moonlights as a painter, integrating the dark, supernatural manifestations into surreal pictures on canvas. In fact, her unraveling behavior presents fodder for her insensitive co-workers down at the precinct. It should be duly noted this shows police are incapable of being compassionate towards those afflicting from severe trauma or mental illness. Only Rita’s partner Justice cares about her troubles, shedding an attentive ear and protective garb. 

However, Rita is no damsel in distress. Although terrifying moments occur, like a coffin appearing with her lookalike stowed inside or a hooded cobra striking at her, Rita stays grounded, keeps her cool. She is surrounded by skeptics and naysayers who believe a Black woman is losing her marbles, but Rita cares little for the opinion of others. When she is almost kidnapped by a disguised Max, she manages to gain the upper hand and save herself. Of course, Justice is pissed that he doesn’t get to be her shiny hero. Rita, though, is angry at him, believing that he was the one giving Nikki, her vanishing roommate, a wild romp night. 

It is wonderful that two gorgeous Black women are onscreen, let alone two women sharing an apartment, but Nikki does not receive full development, let alone a direct conversation with Rita. Nikki is introduced only after Rita lets Justice into the apartment— not before. And yes, there are parts Nikki could have been readily inserted. Nikki tries the seductive temptress route with Justice, but he is not interested in her overly aggressive pursuit. Max, Nikki’s badly mistaken consolation prize, is out in the wings waiting for an opening. She lets the hypnotic vampire inside, succumbing to the full moon needs of sex and blood. Simbi Khali, around twenty-four years old at the time, was definitely underused here. She is a gifted actress, funny, talented. It would have added incredible depth to the script if Nikki were much like the Dr. Zeko character, knowing about the otherworldly phenomenon, talking to Rita about her paintings and her disturbing nightmares. Definitely, missing a potential scene there, but men wrote and directed... 

Academy Award nominated, Golden Globe winning Angela Bassett shines here as the smart, charismatic detective with a profound passion and knowledge for art being wooed by two males eager to dominate. She easily transforms from mourning adult daughter in restricted uniform to a sensual woman drawn to Max’s magnetic prowess. That beautiful black, spaghetti strap dress donned for a first date, accentuated Rita’s deep brown skin— something missing in this colorist landscape of Black cinema. Bassett was absolutely riveting, lighting the screen with her elegant portrayal, miles above the problematic story. As far as supernatural and horror, Bassett stars in several of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story anthologies on FX and even survives Critters 4— the only straight-to-video in the tiny furball creature series. 

Vampire in Brooklyn has Rita balancing between the bloodthirsty lure of vampiric existence or remaining an upstanding human. Max wants to show her the entire world, but the cost kills innocents. How could a woman choosing to protect lives handle wreaking such devastation for years and years like Max has? Rita’s internal battle is tough, especially when Justice is literally tantalizing her newfound hunger. She ultimately chooses the best decision fit for the evolution of her selfless character.   

‘Black Panther’ Gloriously Delivers Wakanda

Black Panther film poster.

Black Panther was indescribably above expectations and is the best Marvel film by far.

Although not the originally slated four hours that anxious fans desperately hoped for, the shorter run time still had plenty of juicy appeal to satisfy the appetite for all things African. This film is definitely not the average Marvel verse. At last, we see ourselves, our ancestral pride stitched in every detail. From the far and wide casting choices of black American, Kenyan, Zimbabwean, Ugandan, Rwandan actors/actresses to the elaborate costumes that pay homage to roots, to the jewelry to the sights of drums and dance and ritual to face painting, hair styles, makeup, fashion, language (both phonemic and hand communication) and scenery. Every ingredient unifies the world of Wakanda, taking audiences to a place they’ve always wanted to go, but rarely realized it could finally happen.

Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), and Okoye (Danai Gurira) are now home.

Black Panther starts off with an unexpected betrayal in the past, an act that will unravel and change the course of Wakandan allegiances in the future. Thus, in the present-day, after catastrophic events from Captain America: Civil War, T’Challa embarks home, retrieving Nakia, a bold, brazen woman spy who often leaves him rightfully "frozen," along the way. Upon his most welcomed return, the traditional ceremony of his crowning as King of Wakanda is a joyous occasion with music, dance, and battle.

Like an eloquent black Eve bearing an apple of fruitful knowledge, Nakia, refusing to be wife, offers T'Challa the first taste of forbidden resistance. She wants to share Wakanda to those in need, to generously spread the great wealth of resources all over the world, especially to black people. This is where they differ. T'Challa wants to stick with Wakandan tradition, to remain apart, and continue on with sacred, privileged black utopia. They are on opposing sides, but the love they have for Wakanda and for one another is a delightful. refreshing energy. Their banter, their looks into each other's eyes, their handholding, and their kissing is that splendid, exasperating thing, the first black on black heterosexual love story shown in the Marvel films.

T'Challa is reluctant, but is ready to be a remarkable leader. At the same time, he is not his father. He is tested throughout, challenged to consider exactly where Wakanda's loyalties lie. In his eventual pursuit of Klaue, he faces being surveillanced under the scrutiny of public eye and finding out some disheartening truths about his father, who had once said in the astral plane, "that a father who cannot prepare his son for the future has failed as a father."

The hypocrisy levels definitely tore T'Challas's fatherly love and admiration asunder. There is no question that what the former Wakandan king had did a horrific, inexcusable wrong.

Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) faces off against T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman).

With his malice lying deep in the feelings of isolation and trauma, Erik Killmonger is such a terrific many layered villain. Beyond the bad seed trope, he is the physical consequences of residual scars of seeing the abandoned body of his dead father like that of the black body grossly depicted in history, in our current landscape, dead and unattended, left without a sliver of compassion and empathy. The desire for revenge rightfully brews in him, gaining substantial ground as he grows up on American soil, experiencing heinous racism and oppression, while desiring a place in his father’s native homeland, the very place that he blames for his tragic childhood. Thus, his extreme politics bear great similarities between of the righteous need to arm civilians with tools necessary to flourish and thrive without fearing white supremacy. He is the Malcolm X to T'Challa's Martin Luther King Jr.

The heart of the film is finding one self conflicted between T’Challa and Erik, finding both sides wrong and right on different political and social parallels. That wherein the genius.

Okoye (Danai Gurira) and her beloved spear taking names in the midst of an awesome car chase.

Black Panther fearlessly passes Bechdel and Ava DuVernay tests with flying emergent colors. The women of Wakanda were an absolute, scene stealing treat! There are no background players and props here. Firstly, the dynamism between the four leading women was a chemistry barely tapped in the Marvel Comics film sphere seeing as most of its core female characters, Black Widow especially, operate alone in a male dominated situations. In Wakanda, levels of trust and friendship went beyond protecting their supreme ruler. Queen Ramonda, Shuri, Nakia, and Okoye are a beautiful, inspiring sentiment, an awesome portrayal of the communal bonds between the black women’s love for each other and their undying allegiance to their country.

Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) and Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) are ready to fight for their country.

Queen Ramonda has birthed two amazing individuals who have inherited her goodness, her tenacity, and her courage. Princess Shuya, the computer tech whiz behind Wakanda’s highly advanced superior technology had more than once saved the day behind-the-scenes. She is valiant, witty, sharp, and intelligent, a supreme highlight who had some of the best deep seated one-liners, especially about colonialism. Nakia, the prince’s heart, has love for all people, wanting nothing more than to share Wakanda’s wealth of knowledge and resources to those of the diaspora, but of course, her kind of vigilantism often gets her into trouble. She too is an excellent warrior, her fighting skills a tremendous glory to watch, seen in the visually stunning choreography sequence in the casino scene with her fellow sister, Okoye, the powerful, resilient, staff wielding leader of the impressively elite Dora Milaje. Okoye is fierce and loyal to the throne, which adds to her internal struggles further down the line.

In the forests near the mountains of Gorilla City, Jabari's Tribe, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and Shuri (Letitia Wright).  

When Nakia, having successfully taken the last of Wakanda’s most precious plant as Killmonger orders it all burned down, is pleaded by Queen Ramonda herself to engulf the advanced Black Panther powers, the powers entrusted in her familial line. Even with her own young daughter standing by, it is Nakia, that Queen Ramonda believes can save them.

Other must see highlights: Nakia's first secret mission of freeing captive women (because of its heartbreaking reminder of "Bring Back Our Girls," a movement to finding the missing kidnapped girls from Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria); Killmonger wisely informing a curator of the Museum of Great Britain that they stole artifacts from Africa (because us knowledged people cannot imagine Africans gifting precious artworks to "The Other" aka colonizers); M'Baku and his people barking over Agent Everett Ross, telling him that he couldn't talk (because white people constantly tend to speak over black people). A sweet Moonlight actor makes a cameo at the end (because this brings to full circle the monumental range of diaspora unleashed in this film, us brown and darker skinned complexions with our broad noses and protruding foreheads and full lips are present together).

Wakanda Ensemble: Forest Whittaker, Daniel Kaluuya, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Chadwick Boseman, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, and Letitia Wright.

Black Panther does have minor adversaries. It is unsettling that a white C.I.A. operative comes to their country, wears their symbolic garb, and eventually must wield their sophisticated devices to blast down Wakandan vessels. There is no queer representation, which makes one wish that Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie, introduced in Thor: Ragnarok, would fly on down to Wakanda and have her way with a Dora Milaje soldier. Or perhaps in its sequel (oh there has got to be a sequel), Roxanne Gay can be brought into the writing room. The most glaring flaw is that black libertarianism, seemingly the real supposed villain, the conveyed message behind Killmonger's "evil," definitely conjures internalized friction. This idea to save long suffering black people from imperialism (Wakanda has plentiful which Nakia earlier addressed) isn't Wakanda's problem, but what T'Chaka did to Killmonger is. Where was Killmonger's mother? What role did she play in his life, if any? His masculinity was a toxic, misogynistic brand and yet, his desire to arm the most vulnerable people in the world was moving in spite of it.  

However, it is imperative to remember that one fictional superhero movie cannot hold everything, be everything to someone. It would be irresponsible to say the least.

Black Panther has granted us a black director (Ryan Coogler), black writers (Coogler with Joe Robert Cole), a black costume designer (Ruth Carter), a black jewelry designer (Douriean Flecther), a black production designer (Hannah Beachler), a black soundtrack director (Kendrick Lamar), and an almost all black cast from different pockets of the globe. And that stands for something undeniably profound.

T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) has reassurance from Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) that he can and will thrive as king of Wakanda.

Overall, Coogler and his team have helm a magnificent picture with a fine, gratifying story that passionately entails the complexities of fights within the black community. He has achieved a finesse that few filmmakers in the comic book verse have by incorporating historical and contemporary problems. The performances are meticulously top notch and powerful, possibly one of the best ensembles of Marvel. With Oscar winners and nominees, Golden Globe contenders, NAACP Awards and Black Reel accolades, and even a Pulitzer Prize nominee in the mix, the stakes were high. From Chadwick Boseman's commanding lead (kudos to his dialect coach), Michael B. Jordan's ruthless aggression to Lupita Nyong'o's ferocious vitality to Danai Gurira's stout loyalty, everyone had came with their A game. Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Daniel Kaluuya, Sterling K. Brown, Winston Duke, and Letitia Wright (who was superb in that must watch Black Mirror episode, "Black Museum') also put in incredible acting efforts.

Black Panther may not have televised the whole entire revolution, but this imperative comic book film drama passionately ignites conversations to take that leap.

Now go see and support the vision of black excellence. Wakanda forever.