Wakanda Forever

Wakanda, a picturesque African nation hidden in plain site and home to the great T'Challa. We'd been given a brief glimpse into this utopia in Civil War, along with its hero, but seeing it in all its glory was something else.

We begin with a creation story, not so distant in style from that of Wonder Woman's homeland and equally as visually stunning. It is made clear that even in its infancy, the unique store of Vibranium would be the root of jealousy and danger for Wakanda, who so thrived on the precious metal.

            *Feel like you've heard of Vibranium before, it's just a little thing I like to call THE MAIN ELEMENT OF CAPTAIN AMERICA'S SHIELD!!! As you can see, I find this little fact pretty awesome...

Fast forward a few hundred years and T'Challa's (Black Panther's) uncle N'Jobu betrays Wakanda while on mission, T'Chaka (Black Panther's father) kills his own brother to save Zuri, a warrior turned Master of Ceremonies; and so two sons- one whose father is a betrayer, another whose father is a king- begin traveling along two very different paths.

The story then fast forwards to the present, T'Challa's father has just been killed (as we saw in Civil War) and so T'Challa is right in the middle of transitioning to king status. The king-to-be's uncertainty, feelings of unworthiness and guilt all come with the territory when so many are soon to place their trust and lives in your hands, but throw in a few villains, especially one cousin who is particularly angered by your existence (Killmonger- the cousin whose father was killed by T'Chaka), and things suddenly get far more complicated (by the way, each marking on Killmonger's chest is for someone he's killed...).

What follows is an epic display of what Wakanda has to offer, both in the resources of its vast lands and, most importantly, in its people. We see the return of Everett Ross (the guy from the CIA in Civil War) in a surprisingly big way, the introduction of a number of exciting and complex characters (particularly T' Challa's sister Shuri and her impressive inventions), and a culmination of inner frustrations and outward aggression in all out war with friend against friend and brother against brother.

*The soundtrack is also quite spectacular by the way. It's very different and suits the film very well.

As each new character has been added to the growing group of Avengers, a new dimension has been given to the complexity and dynamics of the group as well as their individual struggles and situations. This film is no exception, there is a lot of heart and equal parts strength that come along with this hero and his allies old and new. I am really looking forward to seeing more of these characters in the next Avengers... (Wakanda Forever)

Superb 5 out of 5