Review of Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) by Theredsky — 09 Mar 2021

A truly exceptional piece of filmmaking. I was surprised that this was Director Shaka King’s 2nd Feature Film and it was this good. Daniel Kaluuya is my lock in for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscar’s this year and he definitely deserves it.

So far, Kaluuya’s performance is my favorite of 2021 and it will probably be that way for a while. He brings a lot of emotion to this role that I haven’t seen him do in a long time. It’s obvious that he cares a lot about this project.

Lakeith Stanfield also did an incredible job too. He’s outshined bu Kaluuya in some scenes but you can’t deny the powerhouse of emotion he brings to his scene. Jesse Plemons is an actor I’m definitely keeping my eye on as he seems to be the Philip Seymour Hoffman of his generation.

From what I researched and listened to, this film is very historical accurate with maybe one or two exceptions here and there but it presents everything in an incredibly tense, outstanding, and emotional way.

If you know the story of Fred Hampton then you know what happens to him and the way the film portrays this is anger inducing and incredibly emotional at the same time. This is all thanks to the writing and how the film is shot.

The film looks great. The way some of the shots are set up is fantastic because of how much it shows and how much it doesn’t show. This is an emotional powerhouse of a film that I would definitely recommend even if you’re not fully engaged in this subject.