Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Directed by Ryan Coogler

Story by Ryan Coogler

Screenplay by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole

Stars: Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Tenoch Huerta, Dominique Thorne, Martin Freeman, Mabel Cadena, and Alex Livinalli 

I did not think this movie was going to happen. After what happened with the death of Chadwick Boseman, how could the movie go on? I'm sure there was a lot of rewrites that had to happen. Film friends were not to keen with movie. Is it on par with the original movie? No.

After the sudden death of T'Challa (Boseman), Queen Ramonda (Bassett) and Princess Shuri (Wright) have to put their broken pieces back together. Foreign powers are pressuring Wakanda to share the vibranium with the world. It is discovered that vibranium is not the only place it is housed. A new threat, Namor (Huerta), the king of Talokan threatens to wage war against the surface world unless Wakanda aligns with them. Who will take up the mantle of The Black Panther?

This is not an easy watch. The movie is melancholy. It is understandable why has to be. Some people's roles had to be expanded, because certain actors from the the first movie were not there. It seemed that the characters changed from the first movie to this one. 

The problem I had with the movie is the pacing. The middle of the movie where was had to have the backstory of Namor was fine. It dragged along. Namor as a character was very good. It felt like his motivations were the same of Erik Killmonger from the first movie. Okay.

Some of the action scenes were lackluster. It wasn't suspenseful. They were mostly boring. The soul of first movie was not present in this movie.

Rating: 7/10

Us

Us (2019)

Written and directed by Jordan Peele

Stars: Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Anna Diop and Madison Curry

There have been mixed reactions to this movie ever since it came out. I wanted to see all of Jordan Peele's movies. Since I loved his debut, I thought I was like his follow-up. Yeah, no.

Adelaide Wilson (Nyong'o) is taking a vacation to their rental property in coastal California with her husband, Gabe (Duke) and kids; Zora (Joseph) and Jason (Alex). She is haunted by a traumatic event that happened to her when she was little. The trauma manifests itself as doppelgängers of her and her family begin to terrorize them.

 I did not have the highest of expectations when I watched this movie. It seemed that this movie did not set the right tone. There was no tension, no suspense. The Tethered looked creepy, but their mannerisms and way of talking made me laugh. I questioned their motives.

Reading into the movie, Peele wanted to deal with American privilege. Okay. Fine. I did not see that. If the movie was about a famous person or an affluent family than I would have gotten the theme more. It felt like a bunch of ideas that did not meld together well.

I will say that Lupita Nyong'o gave a performance in this movie. I was surprised that it didn't get enough awards attention. She went through it. The soundtrack was also great as well.

Lastly, fuck that ending. That was a head scratcher.

Rating: 3/10