MOVIE REVIEW: JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

 

Offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton.

Director: Shaka King

Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Lil Rel Howery, Algee Smith, Martin Sheen

Release Date: February 12, 2021

Genre: Biography, Drama, History

Rated R for violence and pervasive language

Runtime: 2 h 6 min

Review:

Judas and The Black Messiah is heart wrenching look into our past that holds the mirror up and reflects it back to us in the present day.  Shaka King’s debut feature film is visually affecting while being intimate in its examination of its two primary characters.  The story itself is cinematically familiar as it treads on similar beats to something like Donnie Brasco.  Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield are the heart and soul of the movie.  Both just inhabit the skins of their characters with impressive ease and heartbreaking authenticity.  Kaluuya has amassed an impressive resume of performances improving on each with his turn as Fred Hampton marking another high point.  He’s thoroughly engaging and charismatic as Hampton which makes the entire film work, you sense his desire and passion through the big moment and smaller ones as well.  Lakeith Stanfield, meanwhile, has proven himself a chameleon who can transform himself into pretty much anything.  He nails the duplicitous self serving nature of his real life character while still imbuing him with enough pathos to make the audience feel his conflicted nature.  The supporting cast is made up of recognizable faces that add to the overall quality of the film.  Judas and The Black Messiah is a film that’s filled with tension and pain but it feels terribly necessary at this point in history to remember how much process still needs to be made all these years later while still remembering those trailblazers who paved the way.   

A-