Review of Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) by Hippie256 — 15 Feb 2021

Judas and the Black Messiah (2021): Judas and the Black Messiah follows William O’neal (played by LaKeith Stanfield). He is a car thief that gets caught trying to impersonate an officer while stealing a car. To avoid going to jail for 5 plus years, he agrees to infiltrate the Black Panther chapter in Chicago for the FBI. In the end, the FBI hopes he'll be able to have enough info to indict the head of the chapter and self-identified revolutionary Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya).

Problems: The biggest problem in this film is the throwaway scenes. Some scenes are just there, they don’t add anything to the plot or further the story in any meaningful way. In the worst case, this happens when what should be pretty important never gets mentioned again. Like how in one scene Williams is being scolded by Fred for having a plan to blow up a government building. This causes Williams to get mad and basically call Fred a race hustler, which is a pretty massive claim especially since he is the leader of the party, yet after this scene, it is never brought up again.

-The Score works, but sadly it's nothing to write home about. This sucks cause there are so much Jazz and blues that would have fit perfectly in the setting of 1960's Chicago.

Praises:

- I liked how the story is incredibly genuine in portraying the actions of the black panthers and the police. It doesn’t glamorize either side it. Instead, it shows the evils and good deeds of the Black Panther group as well as effectively portraying the brutality and injustice committed by the police. I also love the action scenes because they’re built up which gives the audience this suspenseful feeling which is always given a payoff that never fails to disappoint. For example, there is this scene early in the film where the Panthers are meeting with a rival Black power faction in hopes to unite. In this scene, Williams is recognized by a foot soldier of the rival faction as the guy who tried to steal his car the other day. Before the soldier can make a scene and confront him he is stopped by a boss from his faction nonetheless though this catches the eye of a few of the Panthers. As a result after the meeting, they hold him at gunpoint and interrogate him. They find out that he would dress up as a fake FBI agent to rob cars. They become highly suspicious after this is revealed since they previously had to kill a member who turned out to be an agent. So, to make sure he’s legit they tell him to hotwire the car they’re in, or they will blow his brains out.

-I love the dialogue because it’s smartly written and really makes’s each character feel unique as an individual instead of just another face in the crowd. I also Have to praise Daniel Kaluuya’s acting as Fred Hampton which is definitely Oscar Worthy. He portrays this character with real charisma and confidence that reminds me of De Niro in Casino. It also really works at making Fred feel like a character that was able to persuade young hearts and minds to join the Panthers cause after hearing Daniel deliver some of those speeches I felt genuinely shocked. LaKeith Stanfield also deserves praise for his performance as Williams. He conveys this feeling of being split between two worlds and the fear that comes with the territory. Judas and the Black Messiah does have some problems, but overall it’s a package that hits hard and entertains all the way through. For these reasons I would say this is a definite eight out of ten and the first real must-watch film of 2021.