Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) – Movie Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

“Yibambae!”

Wakanda Forever handled the death of Chadwick Boseman, and subsequently the death of T’Challa, better than expected. The film honored the legacy of Boseman and provided a well-needed send-off for the tragic loss to not only the characters within the film but audiences around the world as well.

After T’Challa’s funeral, the film resumes a year later with Wakanda being called out for not sharing their vibranium-infused technology with the world as T’Challa promised at the end of Black Panther (2018). The loss of T’Challa has left a void in the heart of Wakanda, and neither his mother, Regent Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) nor his sister, Shuri (Letitia White), have fully healed from his death. While Wakanda Forever did an admirable job continuing the Black Panther series, it presented itself as a movie about side characters. In the first Black Panther, Boseman and Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger elevated the film. Here, that leading performance was missed and led to a drop in quality. The biggest issue with Wakanda Forever, however, was its pacing. Some scenes dragged on too long and some plot points escalated far too quickly. 

As always with MCU movies, Wakanda Forever’s action was stellar with crisp sequences that packed a punch. Apparently, Namor is far more powerful than I had originally thought he was and was a spectacle to watch. I did enjoy the idea of Namor’s hidden underwater kingdom being more Mayan-inspired, and the unique origin of how Namor got his name.

Even without a strong lead, Bassett, and White, as well as Okoye (Danai Gurira) and Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), each did their characters justice and brought something unique to the film. Having just rewatched the first movie, it was impressive to see the subtle changes each actor brought a sense of grief to their characters with the loss of T’Challa. Newly introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe were Namor (Tenoch Huerta) and Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne). Unfortunately, neither of these characters stood out or made a great impression. They were just OK but didn’t bring the charisma to their performance to distinguish themselves (consider Tom Holland’s introduction as Spider-Man or Chadwick Boseman’s introduction as Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War (2016)) amongst the ever-expanding roster of the MCU. 

Even with my issues, Wakanda Forever was successful in passing on the Black Panther torch while respecting Boseman’s legacy. Overall, I’d rate Wakanda Forever 3 ½ / 5 stars. While the film did a decent job with a bad hand dealt, it continues the trend of a drop in quality for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Black Adam (2022) Movie Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

“Tell them the Man in Black sent you.”

In ancient times, Teth-Adam was chosen as Champion and granted the powers of the gods to free the enslaved nation of Kahndaq. But after instead using his powers for vengeance, Teth-Adam was imprisoned for nearly 5000 years. But after being released from his tomb, he find Kahndaq still enslaved, now by a group of mercenaries. After using his powers to deal out his unconventional form of justice against the mercenaries, the Justice Society of America is called in to stop him.

Was Black Adam necessary? No. But it certainly was fun. Black Adam was an entertaining installment in the DCEU that didn’t take itself too seriously. For the most part, it was a “popcorn movie” featuring The Rock beating up a bunch of mercenaries with superpowers. And with the current state of uncertainty in the DCEU, that was really all it needed to be.

What stood out most was the movie’s impressive special effects. Everything from Black Adam’s lightning and strength to the bullets disintegrating against his face, the special effects were rock-solid. Another positive aspect was the costume design. Costumes can be especially tricky to get right in superhero films with the debate between leaning toward comic-accuracy or going more modernized. Black Adam struck this balance perfectly with the Black Adam suit and the Justice Society’s costumes, including Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo). Cyclone’s (Quintessa Swindell) suit didn’t stand out next to her counterparts, but that was more than made up by the visually-stunning spectacle of her rainbow-tornado powers. 

Aldis Hodge as Hawkman in Black Adam (2022)

Most of the film took place in Kahndaq, a fictional country located between Egypt and Israel in the DC Universe. One of my gripes was that the city seemed extremely bland. Yes, it had ancient ruins within the city, but other than that, it could have been any Middle-Eastern city. The film shared similarities with Black Panther (2018), namely having a precious resource only found there that can be used to enhance technology in seemingly magical ways. While Wakanda successfully leaned into this idea by showing how their city was futuristically upgraded with Vibranium, Kahndaq did not show any signs of change from its Eternium. No one in Kahndaq had access to Eternium after thousands of years, except for the mercenaries who had been only been there the last twenty.

In conclusion, I was pleasantly surprised with what Black Adam had to offer and would rate it 3 ½ out of 5 stars. Going into this movie, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a fun and entertaining addition to DC’s movie universe. What’s next for Black Adam? No spoilers here but be sure to stay for the post-credits scene for a teaser.

Black Adam is available everywhere in theaters. 

Next: Shazam! (2019) Movie Review

House of the Dragon (2022) – Season 1 Review

★★★★ 1/2

Based on George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood, HBO’s House of the Dragon takes place at the height of the Targaryen empire, 172 years before Daenerys Targaryen was born. Like Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon follows multiple characters fighting for power and control of the Iron Throne in a war the maesters have later dubbed, The Dance of Dragons.

The first season of House of the Dragon presented a large resemblance to Game of Thrones’ first season. What the series lacked in action, it made up for in a slow-burn culmination of political drama, world-building, and storytelling. The series excelled in each of these regards, providing an intriguing story about the shuffle for power and the lengths one would go to secure it. Even after the controversial ending to Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon returns to its roots for a high-quality political fantasy series.

Something the series took from Game of Thrones and expanded upon was including more screen time of dragons. Before the Dance of Dragons, there were 17 dragons owned by House Targaryen. Among these, we saw Syrax, Caraxes, Seasmoke, Vhagar, Meleys, Dreamfyre, Vermax, Arrax, and Vermithor in the first season. The visuals of the dragons looked outstanding and might be the best-looking dragons to appear on-screen. Each had unique features and personalities that distinguished them from one another. So far, we have only seen around half of the total dragons present in Westeros prior to the Dance of Dragons, which we are likely to see up close and personal in later seasons.

With its ensemble cast, the series featured a number of great performances. The stand outs amongst these were Paddy Considine’s King Viserys, Matt Smith’s Daemon and Milly Alocock’s Rhaenyra. Each of these actors brought a gravitas to their respective roles that did nothing but elevate the show. While his character started off unlikeable, Considine’s portrayal of the disease-ridden ruler with a hidden strength completely blew me away the later half of the season. It will be a crime if he isn’t a part of the running to receive an Emmy award for his performance.

As the story progressed, the series featured a change of certain actors for certain characters to represent them aging overtime. These time jumps are a useful tool with a series spanning decades. Given that it is simply impossible to include everything, each of these time jumps worked well to expand upon the story and the growing tension between characters. And while it is never easy to change actors, especially mid-season, I thought they were all handled quite well. While initially hesitant for Milly Alcock’s Rhanerya and Emily Carey’s Alicent to be replaced, Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke each did a fantastic job continuing and expanding upon each of these characters in a very real and believable way. The change in actors for Alicent’s children, Aegon and Aemond, was initially confusing because the younger brother appeared far older than the older brother. I caught on pretty quickly, but this character change was not handled as gracefully.

That being said, I really enjoyed House of the Dragon and would rate it 4 ½ / 5 stars. While it may have started off by building slowly, it is clear that with the story and character progression in season 1, next season will start off with a bang. I, for one, appreciated returning to Westeros and am eager to see what comes next in the Dance of Dragons.

House of the Dragon is available to watch on HBO Max.

Next: Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022) – Season 1 Review