Interregnum

Black Panther

Crit

So I'm guessing that more people are going to see Chadwick Boseman as King T'Challa of Wakanda this weekend than have seen him portray Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, and James Brown combined. Which, OK, this is a fine superhero flick, and an excellent Black Lives Matter document, but you know, proportion?

Having enjoyed myself thoroughly, I have two bits of contrarianism:

1. The white guy. Look, I like Martin Freeman, dating back to The (original) Office through Shaun of the Dead and all the Hobbit thingies to (not original) Fargo, but (a) wouldn't it have been a lot more interesting if the CIA guy were black and shared a broader wavelength with the Wakandans and especially with Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan; damn, wanna bingewatch the first season of The Wire and the later seasons of Friday Night Lights)? and (b) if he has to be white, could he at least be played by an actual American? There are a few talented white actors who could play the role without doing an unconvincing accent.
2. This whole technocracy thing. Wakanda has secretly been technologically advanced for centuries, far beyond the Western colonizers who thought of (I won't use present tense, the express scatological opinions of certain national leaders notwithstanding) Africa as the Dark Continent. (T'Challa has his very own Bondian Q in the family, in fact: his sister Shuri [Letitia Wright].) And OK, that's cool and empowering, but aren't we supposed to be past worshiping technology? Aren't we supposed to recognize that African culture is no less than ours because of culture, not because a meteorite gave them an infinite cache of the strongest material in the solar system, which also has curative powers and the ability to transfer energy and to let you stream Netflix with no buffering even in a waterfall?

But I quibble.

Trailer of note

• Solo--At last, the biopic about the troubled former goalkeeper of the U.S. women's soccer team. Oh, wait, no: this one bears the subtitle A Star Wars Story. Does not look promising, but open mind.