​​Last weekend, I went to the theater to watch Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” The movie is currently in theaters, but will be released to streaming platform Disney+ in the upcoming months. “Wakanda Forever” is a flawed, but well-done sequel to the original “Black Panther” that rocked the movie industry in early 2018.

“Wakanda Forever” follows the fictional kingdom of Wakanda after the death of King T’challa, played by the late Chadwick Boseman. Throughout the film, T’challa’s sister Shuri, Queen Ramonda, Okoye, and the tribes of Wakanda adapt to a constantly changing world. In wake of T’challa’s death, the world works to undermine Wakanda’s supremacy over vibranium, a rare metallic ore with energy-manipulating properties. 

As the world races to take advantage of Wakanda’s perceived weakness and rival its control over vibranium, a well-hidden and recently disturbed kingdom rises with ambitions of global domination, led by the Aztec demigod Namor.

Personally, I enjoyed the movie. Namor made for an outstanding villain with complicated, but understandable motivations and beliefs. In addition, I have never seen a more visually pleasing Marvel film. The movie made significant strides in CGI compared to its predecessor and other “Phase Four” films and TV shows. Following an entire phase of rushed corporate garbage, I went into the movie with low expectations. Luckily, I could not have been more wrong. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is a well-shot film with potentially the best CGI I have seen in a Marvel project. 

However, this movie is not without flaws. In simple terms, the film is a poorly paced hallucination of a movie. Throughout the film, multiple characters felt unfocused and irrelevant to the plot. For example, Agent Ross takes up approximately 15 minutes of screen time and does not contribute anything substantial to the flow of the film. In an already long movie (two hours and 41 minutes), scenes with him and other characters feel like a waste of time because they take away screen time from more intriguing characters’ plots. For example, Okoye’s adaptation to life outside of military service is barely addressed. 

I’d give “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” a 7.5/10. I enjoyed watching the film and believe it did as well as it could have without Chadwick Boseman as T’challa or Killmonger as the antagonist. I would recommend “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” to anyone who loves the MCU and Black Panther. The film was enjoyable, but like many of us, was missing the legendary acting talent of Chadwick Boseman.