Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 4K 2022 Ultra HD 2160p

The events of the second Black Panther follow T'Challa's death after a brief illness of the hero. The reign of the leaderless Wakanda is essentially occupied by three people at once: Princess Shuri, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and the warrior Okoye (Danai Gurira). The outside world, from which the African country has been so stubbornly hiding for years, continues to become a threat: CIA agents begin an active hunt for vibranium. Along the way, Shuri also stumbles upon an ancient underwater tribe led by Namor (Tanoch Huerta Mejia), who threatens to attack Wakanda unless he is handed over the scientist responsible for inventing the machine to detect the valuable metal. Eventually Shuri realizes that her homeland needs a protector more than ever, and tries to become the new Black Panther.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 4K Review
In early November, the film "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" was released in worldwide distribution, which was originally conceived as a sequel to the story of T'Challa performed by the notorious Chadwick Bowzman. However, the actor's tragic death left Disney producers with a difficult dilemma: How to continue the Black Panther story without the main character? The decision came quickly. To suit the current feminist context, T'Challa's younger sister Shuri (Leticia Wright) was chosen as his successor - a gifted technogenic genius who, by all canons of superhero cinema, fit more into the Robin image than the Batman.

The events of the second Black Panther follow the death of T'Challa, which occurred after the hero's brief illness. The reign of the leaderless Wakanda is occupied, in fact, by three people at once: Princess Shuri, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and the warrior Okoye (Danai Gurira). The outside world, from which the African country has been so stubbornly hiding for years, continues to become a threat: CIA agents begin an active hunt for vibranium. Along the way, Shuri also stumbles upon an ancient underwater tribe led by Namor (Tanoch Huerta Mejia), who threatens to attack Wakanda unless he is handed over the scientist responsible for inventing the machine to detect the valuable metal. In the end, Shuri realizes that her homeland needs a protector more than ever and tries to become the new Black Panther.

After the passing of Chadwick Bowzman, which came as a real surprise to the entire "Black Panther" crew, director Ryan Coogler seriously considered quitting the project, but was eventually able to rewrite the movie script so that the late superhero's ephemeral presence was felt: "Wakanda Forever" opens with a solemn farewell ceremony for T'Challa; all of Shuri's floundering is somehow related to her unwillingness to compete with the brother figure and take his place in the ranks of the Avengers; Wakanda, left without a ruler, is attacked time and again by other states. Everything seems to be screaming for a Black Panther successor to emerge, but Shuri's crisis of self-identity as the new superheroine turns out to be unreasonably protracted.

As a result, instead of the usual popcorn action, Wakanda Forever presents countless dialogues about gaining power, losing power, or handing it over. And while for most of the film's antagonists the theme of possession and control is built around obtaining the cherished vibranium, for the protagonist Shuri herself, power is about walking away from someone else's destiny and the simple human desire to be herself. Alas, all this heartfelt lamentation is devalued in the second act, when a literal version of Black Panther 2.0 appears in the frame. To Coogler's credit, he, unlike Taika Waititi, doesn't try to mold Shuri into a patriarchal version of a superheroine, leaving her to intuitively interact with new abilities and not forgetting her fascination with technology.
Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia in a still from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
As a result, instead of the usual popcorn action, "Wakanda Forever" presents countless dialogues about gaining power, losing power or handing it over. And while for most of the film's antagonists, the theme of possession and control is built around getting the coveted vibranium, for the protagonist Shuri herself, power is about walking away from someone else's destiny and the simple human desire to be herself. Alas, all this heartfelt lamentation is devalued in the second act, when a literal version of Black Panther 2.0 appears in the frame. To Coogler's credit, he, unlike the same Taika Waititi, doesn't try to mold Shuri into a patriarchal version of a superheroine, leaving her open to intuitive interaction with new abilities and not forgetting her fascination with technology.

In the first part of Black Panther, Wakanda was a utopian African state that had miraculously escaped the influence of European colonialism. In the second part, the advanced country actually becomes a battleground for third parties eager to acquire its resources. Coogler's anti-colonial message is undoubtedly important in the context of world history, but in the framework of epic superhero cinema, where pathos increasingly contradicts the call of reason, it fits with extreme difficulty, excessively pulling the blanket over itself and taking away from the film the main thing - spectacle. In the end, Wakanda Forever seems to have more political manifestation than the story of the new Black Panther, which is what viewers go to see in the first place.