Skip to main content

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Similar, Emotional, yet Still Empowering

 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever poster. Photo courtesy of Disney.

When I saw Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Friday night, I was reluctant at first because of the reminders of grieving a loss. From the first scene, it seemed pretty heavy, and god rest Chadwick Boseman's soul. And the plot and musical score seemed similar to other films, namely The Lion King and Aquaman, and it was heavy again with more reminders of the violent racism other people of color had to face. But the good parts of the film came from Dominique Thorne's character of Riri Williams/Ironheart with her scientific genius and geeking out with Shuri, Angela Bassett's empowering mother spirit (she should get an Oscar for this), Letitia Wright as Shuri for snapping out of the grief in time, the fighting choreography, and the costumes and makeup. I'd recommend you try not to read too much into the dark parts of the film, but try to do what Rihanna did and lift yourselves up, lift Chadwick Boseman up, and lift Wakanda up. Wakanda Forever is not just a saying, it's a way of life when you think about it. It means you carry a whole nation of fighters in you against any trying time. And if it does get too emotional, you can count on Ironheart's hip nature to lift you up, along with more girl power and reminders of what Black Panther stood for.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Superman-Great Past and New Hero Magic

Superman (2025) poster. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. James Gunn's iteration of  Superman  was a well-thought-out film. I give it a 9.4/10 for both the occasional references to the Christopher Reeve film from the late 1970s and for standing out with different presentations of the iconic Man of Steel and his colorful supporting characters. This was my first time seeing David Corenswet, but he was great acting out the drama and heroism in the lives of Clark Kent and Superman. It was also great to see Rachel Brosnahan bring some gumption and humor to her role of Superman's love interest, Lois Lane, and it was great to see former X-Men actor Nicholas Hoult bring some vigor to his role of Superman's ruthless archenemy, Lex Luthor. In this Superman, it stood out by skipping the intro of Kal-El leaving Krypton as a baby and instead showing Superman, played by Corenswet, in his third year of protecting Metropolis and the world. In his quest to prove Superman a threat to humani...

'Karate Kid: Legends": Fought Like a Champ

Ben Wang as Li Fong in 'Karate Kid: Legends.' Courtesy of Sony Pictures. Good evening, readers and viewers.  Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of watching 'Karate Kid: Legends.' It was so wonderful how they bridged together Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio's worlds in the 'Karate Kid' franchise, made beautiful representation of Chinese culture and New York City living, displayed wonderful drama and heart in Ben Wang's role as main protagonist Li Fong, showed cute and funny chemistry between Wang's character and Sadie Stanley's character, how he offered his own funny training montage with Joshua Jackson's character, and how the heroes and villains fought like champs with fast-paced martial arts kicking, punching, chopping. 'Legends' was a great combination of drama, action, comedy, and coming-of-age, and I give it a 9.5 out of 10. Taking place years after Chan's Karate Kid, Li Fong, played by Wang, and his mother, played by Ming...

Ava DuVernay's 'Origin' Was Heartbreaking Yet Uplifting

 "Caste is a system that decides one kind deserves more freedom than another."  "You should love who you love and go where you want." Isabel Wilkerson , first woman of African-American heritage to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism, and author of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents . Photo courtesy of isabelwilkerson.com Ava DuVernay's 'Origin' stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Isabel Wilkerson . Photo courtesy of Neon. The above quotes were paraphrased from Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor 's portrayal of Pulitzer-winning Isabel Wilkerson in Ava DuVernay's 'Origin '. They were denouncing the harsh caste system against races all over the world, and favoring that we should get to be with who we want to love and live our lives without anyone or thing tearing us down. ' Origin ' is about Wilkerson's journalistic journey to understand the why behind the murder of Tray'von Martin (whose birthday is today) and the racist caste systems ag...