"Black Panther" was one of Marvel's best and most successful movies. Chadwick Boseman brought so much to the role of Ta' Challa, aka The Black Panther, and everyone looked forward to him in that role for years to come. Sadly, Boesman passed away from colon cancer in 2020. The second Black Panther solo movie had already been planned and had to be reworked following his death. I cannot imagine what it was like for writer Joe Robert Cole and writer/director Ryan Coogler to have to figure out how to cope with the loss of their main character and a beloved actor.

While still dealing with the death of King Ta'Challa, the people of Wakanda must deal with a threat from a previously undiscovered civilization from the depths of the ocean.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but I did have some problems with it. With a running time of 2 hours and 41 minutes, it was way too long. It could have been over 30 minutes shorter, and not missed anything. As much as I like seeing Martian Freeman in the MCU, his character of Everet Ross adds nothing to this movie. The movie is bloated and tries to cram too much; it might have been better as a Disney+ series.

My other critique is more of a personal issue. Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri, is a very vocal anti-vaxxer. She spoke about and posted her beliefs on multiple occasions, which I kept thinking about while watching the movie. It would not have been as big a deal if she was the secondary character she was in the first movie, but with Ta' Challa's absence, Shuri takes the lead role. The kicker is that Shuri is a brilliant scientist, and she is being played by someone who doesn't believe in science.

One aspect that I really enjoyed was Namor (Tenoch Huerta). In the comics, he is the ruler of Atlantis, but the movie abandons that for a new city that has its roots in Yucatec Maya culture. His people call him Kukulkan, the feathered serpent god. Much like Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) from the first movie, Namor is a villain with a point, even if he is going about it wrong. He wants to protect his people and will destroy Wakanda to do so.

I wanted to like this more, but between the pacing issues and the movie's length, I didn't love it. It is still in the top half of Marvel movies, but it had many opportunities to be better.