Judas and the Black Messiah Review
A riveting drama of American history
By Jude Jordi-Donnelly, film reporter
A riveting drama of American history
By Jude Jordi-Donnelly, film reporter
Judas and the Black Messiah, was one of my most anticipated movies of this year. Having watched The Trial of the Chicago 7 and the documentary The 13th last year, I was incredibly excited to see how this shocking moment of American history would be depicted on the big screen. This film tells the story of William O’Neal, and the role he played in the assassination of the Black Panther party leader, Fred Hampton, on December 4, 1969.
The highest praise I have for this movie are the performances. Particularly Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hapmton and Jesse Plemons as FBI agent Roy Mitchell. Kaluuya gives a career best performance. He commands every second of screen time he has. He’s powerful, uplifting, and is able to touch into the darkest side of him when the script requires. He’s everything his role needed and more. Jesse Plemons may go under the radar as compared to many of the other excellent performances but he was probably the second best actor on screen, after Kaluuya. Roy Mitchel is the FBI agent tasked with instructing William O’Neal as he infiltrates the Black Panthers. He is handled expertly by the script. His character is perhaps the most fascinating in the entire movie. While he may say what he’s doing is right, you can clearly see the conflict within himself, and this conflict is executed flawlessly by Plemons.
Dominique Fishback is also fantastic as Deborah Johnson, Fred Hampton’s fiancee. This is the first movie I’ve seen that she’s in, and she does a good job in many of the more emotional scenes throughout the movie. Finally, LaKeith Stanfield plays the film's lead, William O’Neal. Stanfield just keeps getting better and better with each new project that he’s in, however, the performances throughout the movie are so strong, that he at times gets overshadowed by his co-stars. The directing, and cinematography in this film are also great. Writer/director Shaka King appears to be incredibly strong behind the camera despite this being only his second feature film. While you can clearly see that the stylistic choices Shaka King made takes heavy inspiration from other films and directors, like Spike Lee, and Steve McQueen, King’s breakout film puts him on an ever growing list of promising upcoming directors.
This film, while being fantastic in its production and performances, is not without its issues. The first act of this movie is very uneven narratively. It contains little development for our characters, and is not very cohesive from a storytelling standpoint. Much of the character development occurs in the last two acts of the movie, which are fantastic. The narrative is cleaned up much more nicely in the latter half of this movie, but it is at times messy and difficult to follow during the first thirty to forty minutes.
The movie touches upon an extremely polarizing moment in American history. I was so glad the filmmakers did not hold any punches, and decided to tell the story the way they wanted to tell it, without giving it a glossy Hollywood makeover. This movie is based on a true story. The events that unfolded are incredibly shocking and the film depicts them in a fairly accurate way with some creative liberties. I didn’t know who Fred Hampton was until last year. In a way it's a little frustrating that the only way I learn about some of these moments in american history is strictly through cinema. This is a crucial American story, the Black Panther Party, regardless of how you feel about it, played a major in United States history following the civil rights movement. I firmly believe this movie’s viewing is essential, especially if you’ve never heard of the event it's depicting, and especially following the events of last summer.
I can see Judas and the Black Messiah being incredibly well received and deservedly so, however, the first act’s unevenness prohibits it from being a truly amazing movie. It contains performances destined for Oscar nods, and I fully expect Shaka King’s career to take off from this point. This movie is well worth anyone’s time, if it's only to understand this critical point in American history.
Judas and the Black Messiah gets a B+
The highest praise I have for this movie are the performances. Particularly Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hapmton and Jesse Plemons as FBI agent Roy Mitchell. Kaluuya gives a career best performance. He commands every second of screen time he has. He’s powerful, uplifting, and is able to touch into the darkest side of him when the script requires. He’s everything his role needed and more. Jesse Plemons may go under the radar as compared to many of the other excellent performances but he was probably the second best actor on screen, after Kaluuya. Roy Mitchel is the FBI agent tasked with instructing William O’Neal as he infiltrates the Black Panthers. He is handled expertly by the script. His character is perhaps the most fascinating in the entire movie. While he may say what he’s doing is right, you can clearly see the conflict within himself, and this conflict is executed flawlessly by Plemons.
Dominique Fishback is also fantastic as Deborah Johnson, Fred Hampton’s fiancee. This is the first movie I’ve seen that she’s in, and she does a good job in many of the more emotional scenes throughout the movie. Finally, LaKeith Stanfield plays the film's lead, William O’Neal. Stanfield just keeps getting better and better with each new project that he’s in, however, the performances throughout the movie are so strong, that he at times gets overshadowed by his co-stars. The directing, and cinematography in this film are also great. Writer/director Shaka King appears to be incredibly strong behind the camera despite this being only his second feature film. While you can clearly see that the stylistic choices Shaka King made takes heavy inspiration from other films and directors, like Spike Lee, and Steve McQueen, King’s breakout film puts him on an ever growing list of promising upcoming directors.
This film, while being fantastic in its production and performances, is not without its issues. The first act of this movie is very uneven narratively. It contains little development for our characters, and is not very cohesive from a storytelling standpoint. Much of the character development occurs in the last two acts of the movie, which are fantastic. The narrative is cleaned up much more nicely in the latter half of this movie, but it is at times messy and difficult to follow during the first thirty to forty minutes.
The movie touches upon an extremely polarizing moment in American history. I was so glad the filmmakers did not hold any punches, and decided to tell the story the way they wanted to tell it, without giving it a glossy Hollywood makeover. This movie is based on a true story. The events that unfolded are incredibly shocking and the film depicts them in a fairly accurate way with some creative liberties. I didn’t know who Fred Hampton was until last year. In a way it's a little frustrating that the only way I learn about some of these moments in american history is strictly through cinema. This is a crucial American story, the Black Panther Party, regardless of how you feel about it, played a major in United States history following the civil rights movement. I firmly believe this movie’s viewing is essential, especially if you’ve never heard of the event it's depicting, and especially following the events of last summer.
I can see Judas and the Black Messiah being incredibly well received and deservedly so, however, the first act’s unevenness prohibits it from being a truly amazing movie. It contains performances destined for Oscar nods, and I fully expect Shaka King’s career to take off from this point. This movie is well worth anyone’s time, if it's only to understand this critical point in American history.
Judas and the Black Messiah gets a B+