The Reel Rejects - BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER - MOVIE REVIEW!! (Spoiler-Free)

Episode Date: November 8, 2022

RIGHT OUT OF THEATER Black Panther 2 Wakanda Forever Movie Review (No Spoilers)! We cover the The Marvel Phase 4 Movie feat Shuri (Leticia Wright), Namor, Ramonda Angela Bassett, M'Bake Winston Duke, Lupita Nyongo, Danai Gurera, Chadwick Boseman presence, mid-credits scene, action, story / plot, & MORE! #BlackPanther #BlackPanther2 #BlackPantherWakandaForever #Marvel #MCU Become A Super Sexy Reject For Full-Length T.V. & Movie Reactions! https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Support The Channel By Checking Out Our High-Quality Merch: http://shopzeroedition.com/collections/reel-rejects-merch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-reel-rejects/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Join by John, how are you? I'm Vinodais. We just got out of watching Black Panther Wakanda forever. Leave a like. Don't forget to do that. Now, we're shooting this in Burbank. We got our friend Aaron holding the camera. Burbank's really serious about shit around here.

At any moment, we could be tackled by security. What are you doing here? Stop filming. Pay us for this time. Now, in case you don't know anything about this film, there's going to be no spoilers here. In this movie, it takes place after the past of Tchala, Chadwick Bozeman. As you see in the trailers, there's people who are seeing this as a moment of vulnerability for

Wakanda. They're trying to take vibranium. This movie's two hours and 40 something minutes. There's a lot of plot, even involving why Namor and them are fighting that is just not revealed in the trailers. I know some people don't care if they talk about it, but because the marketing he didn't put it out there, I don't want to put it out there. But know this, the movie's like a really long film, and I thought every second, every minute of it was so justified. I loved this movie so much. When I saw the trailers, I kept saying it feels like it's going to be so much about grief and having to work together through grief simultaneously be badass. I found myself like crying for a variety of different reasons from beginning to end, feeling hopeful, feeling just so

shattered. My brain feels foggy from all the crying at this very moment. It is the most powerful MCU movie I have seen easily the most emotional it felt like such a necessary experience for everyone involved with this movie feels so purposeful it's like an epic drama

is how I would describe it you know that's a good take before we go into like Namor Shuri Angela Passett my god Ramonda yeah John what'd you think no I'm similarly dazed because it is such a cathartic experience and because it does intermingles so much with actual life.

Yeah, there are crazy high-concept things happening on screen, and yet it still feels completely personal the entire time, and every action feels motivated by the grief and vulnerability that everybody on screen is feeling for different reasons. And, you know, coming out of the previous movie, it still maintains all of that geopolitical intrigue, because obviously, in the place we rejoin Wakanda, they are in a globally vulnerable state,

not just an emotionally vulnerable state. You get this interesting mixture where so much of the action, literally even the fighting that happens on screen, does feel like it is coming from the same place as a lot of the dramatic scenes. It is, you know, the most powerful and the most meaningful

and the most impactful MCU movie probably in... It's rousing as hell at times. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But not in the way of like how Endgame is rousing. Yeah, it's not on your left, yeah. But it is like it has a life of first. quality just as much as it is about grieving the loss of somebody. And there are some really beautiful cultural motifs that they use to drive that home

that really sing beyond all the other stuff that you're expecting that is there too. Like, it's still thrilling and it's still fun and still endearing in ways. But yeah, there is a pall that they don't turn away from that is cast over the entire proceedings. And even characters who aren't going through what the Wakandans are going through have similarly vital motivations and griefs of their own. own to rectify between everyone in Wakanda to everyone in telecon and in between there's so much life and culture and beauty on display that it's weird so many people I think would want to imagine this movie any other way if it meant Chadwick could be here and I certainly would probably trade

for that reality but at the same time the on the timeline we live on this does feel like a unique snapshot of a moment that also gets to be all the MCU stuff you want it to be too and I think that's really special. There are some really just powerful performances in here. It's the best, I think, out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I'll be honest. Like, I was looking forward to Shuri, but I wasn't exactly walking into this film going, can't wait to see what Latisha Wright does. For some reason, I just wasn't in that mindset. What I noticed was that there are times where when she had scenes where she was, like, displaying joy or happiness, I would start to tear up or cry because her portrayal here carries this ever-growing pain throughout the entire film

that's coming out in all kinds of ways of aggression and anger and drive. It would just break my heart whenever I would see her happy, you know, and it's that kind of, it's getting me right now. It would just mess me up because you could see how palpable and how much it just resonates throughout the entire film, because that's what this film is so much about is everyone's struggling emotionally right now and we're just trying to keep moving and everyone's threatening us and the only way we can stay together through such a tumultuous time is by banning together so that phrase like calling this Wakanda forever I felt that way more than the first Black Panther way more than whenever it's been said I felt that like yeah Wakanda forever you just feel that phrase

that mantra but it's such a personal fill like it's so personal it's two hours of 40 minutes for a reason It is a slow-moving film that will have action scenes that are just so intense. Like, this is cinema, all right? This is, James Cameron. You would love this movie. Oh, you guys, sit down. This is a great film. There are these action scenes in here where the intensity, it's suspenseful.

It's engaging. And you're watching characters, even on the side of Namor, they're not Atlanteans. The Telokane. Yeah, they call them a different thing here. I forget how you adapt Telokon into its people's name, but yeah. Even with them, it's everyone. Everyone's just trying to do their best and they have these core themes about family and about vengeance and about how to cope. And it's just like that in this giant, massive, expensive-ass film at the same time.

Namor... He was so threatening and he's easily one of the best Marvel villains. I was halfway through watching him monologue at one scene and then I got pulled out for a split second going, Holy shit, this guy's incredible. I know. Because I haven't even thought about like how great he's doing because he's so... He just feels like this character. He just is this person.

You get entirely where he's coming from. The flying, the action scenes with him are awesome. And as much as you get where he's coming from, he also pisses you off so much at times. Yeah, it's a really great dichotomy they draw because he is completely understandable. And yet he is your antagonist for various reasons. and it's really effectively done. It does not succumb to the stereotype of like, oh, you're just kind of going up against yourself.

Like, it definitely avoids that and it gives you somebody with a clear motive, a clear purpose that you can, again, continuing that line from what we got with Killmonger, it's like you understand where this guy's coming from, but more so even than Killmonger, I would argue. Angela Bassett, I believe, deserves an Oscar nomination for this. I don't think I've said that about an MCU performance.

The strength and poise and the amount of commitment, man she has on the screen. You've seen Angela Bassett do an intense performance, but there is so much more percolating underneath that, yeah, like, I would absolutely agree. I'm like, please nominate her. Like, I notice you keep saying pain doesn't sound like a fun movie,

but it's like a necessary pain. It's like you're grieving through with these characters. You're doing all this necessary world building, and you're exploring Talo Khan. Like, there's so much. I'm like, wow, the trailers didn't show you so much. There's so much beauty on display. Denai Guerrera as a coi,

just you know like man you miss you missed you miss chali you miss chadwick what ryan cugler and company gave with their performers here this is the performance of them that i'm going to remember every one of them first black panther i'm like i really like them but it's of course

chadwick and michael b jordan those are the ones you think of it's a true ensemble piece masterful performances and yeah it is i'm sorry for talking so much and baku winston duke total blast to kick it with. Scene Steeler. Rie Williams was the quality of this film I was concerned about.

This film obviously is looked at as something so personal. I felt, are we going to get distracted by them trying to set up Iron Harder? She's a very important character in this film, and she fits

perfectly. It is not just, hey, look out for Ironheart. Come soon on Disney Plus. It is not that. She felt like such a real person. This friendship that she forms with Shuri.

By the time, you know, the movie, was ending. I was like, oh, no, I want to still see them hang out. I want to, I want to still see them together. And it makes you hope that Shuri will appear somewhere in Ironheart to just continue that rapport they have. Everything to me comes back to Letitia Wright for this film. Whatever personal opinions you have about Latitia Wright. Everything comes back to me about, like, it circles around her. She was perfect, absolutely mesmerizing. She didn't even yon. Oh, my God. Yes. No, yeah, like revelatory. And, and the way,

especially she is used in the movie without saying much is interesting and does come with very much catharsis and a lot of its own tough emotion that is unique. It's like you have everyone sharing a certain amount

of grief obviously but I feel like at the center of the story you have Shuri but you also have Nakia in a way that isn't really a part of what people are talking about or what's being pitched to you but she is one of the brightest parts of the movie I feel like. When you see the trailer you know what you're hearing a lot about is they've lost their leader and now it falls on the remaining people

in Wakanda to carry on the legacy and to take a stand and show their strengths still. So what they did with this film was they went, okay, let's not try to find a new lead. Let's instead really hone in on our supporting players from the last movie and make them the leads. As tragic as it is, as beautiful as a tribute as this film is, like you feel Chadwick Boseman's missing presence and presence throughout. You feel his spirit imbued in everything. Like when you say the missing presence, it's not like the movie's not good

because it would have been good. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You feel the longing, that weight of the loss of someone. But weirdly, I felt like they came out with a film that was better than the first one. Personally, for me, I feel like this is a better film. The action's really great. And imaginative and dazzling.

Yeah, this is like the Wakanda version of the Winter Soldier action in some ways, you know. A little bit of that Aquaman wonder. I think they made the underwater stuff look better than Aquaman. Real, more real versus, not trying to make this like a Marvel versus DC comparison, it just felt actually real. The music, oh, this is some of the absolute, this is a cinematic score. Yeah, it feels spiritual throughout, and it takes those motifs from the previous movie, but it builds on them in really wonderful ways.

It uses vocalizations, and two, it crosses cultural boundaries because you are dealing with ancient, I think they name check, The Mayans, yeah, it's like, you know, you have so much to add in beyond the music of Wakanda that just makes it feel so much more rich and alive, and all the flourishes, like, you can really feel the elegant quality of the tones that they pull. The sound design's amazing, the makeup and effects are awesome. My only real problem with the film is that at times, and it's not like, oh, Marvel Phase 4, you know, just the crap you crap on it with the Marvel Phase 4 is CGI. It is like there are times in the, especially in the finale where you're like,

yeah, some very noticeable CGI. But when I was thinking that I was going, what movie doesn't with a hat that relies on CGI? Some shots will inevitably be a bit better than others. Nobody has all the time they needed. Even the greatest technological looking movie at the time it comes out, you will have moments that go, eh, that looks fake.

Like some other minor qualms I might have with the movie. Because, yeah, I do think it does a fantastic job world building and handling this ensemble. because it is very well written. The entire thing is motivated within characters. It's a big film, but it's also extremely character-driven. But at times, the editing can feel a tad off pace, but out of two hours and 40 minutes, that thought maybe crossed my mind at a very small handful of times. And there's, the humor works. And there's only one scene of humor that felt like typical quote-unquote Marvel comedy. But the rest of the scenes that make you laugh, they don't feel that way. I thought this was a damn near perfect experience and exactly what I thought it should be more than what I wanted it to be or expected it to be. I thought it was great. There's a heavy toll throughout, but also inspiring and hopeful. You just take different directions with characters you just wouldn't expect.

And yes, perhaps the best post-credit scene because it's a legit, powerful scene and not just like, hey, hey, what's coming next? Yeah, yeah, it's very, very spiritually in line with the movie. It makes sense to separate it and make it the coda, and I think it's a really elegant use. Yeah, it feels like the real ending. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think it was a really elegant choice to do it that way. Like it could have ended where it ended, but the post-credit feels like, no, this is the real ending. And it does seem like the kind of movie that will give you more on-repeat viewings for sure.

I want to watch it a couple more times, but could be my favorite of the... It's just above Thor 11th, or not. It could be my favorite. I don't know yet. I have to watch it again. What did you guys think? Subscribe. Leave a like. Click that bell. Yeah, Wakanda forever. This is one experience I'm never going to forget. No. Never. Never. It was awesome. This is truly unique.