Shaka King flings you straight into the midsts of the Black Panther Party in a ferocious two-hour, nothing held back ride along. What I appreciate about Judas and the Black Messiah is that it’s never biased. It’s willing to show us both sides of the 1960s coin.
The characters we follow are flawed individuals, acting on instinct, fuelled with desperation and anguish. It’s a task to root for the main character, who on paper audiences would typically dislike, but the film manages it with ease, creating moral conflicts as the tension boils.
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Daniel Kaluuya shines as Fred Hampton, chairman of the party, who as always is incredibly watchable. Our eyeballs are glued to his every move. He has an ability as an actor to let us see his inner thoughts, giving us a slight peak at the clogs turning on every move.
However, as great as Daniel is, Judas and the Black Messiah’s jigsaw pieces are glued together by the tormented soul of Bil O’Neal, portrayed by Lakeith Stanfield, and the emotional heart of the film, Dominique Fishback as Deborah Johnson.
But why do I refer to the film having jigsaw pieces? For me, the film doesn’t have the best structure. It has a loose backbone that cracks along the way once or twice, which results in a series of wonderfully captivating movie moments and scenes but the little path to follow.
However, the film thrives after every little bump, so much so you never have a chance to breathe. Shaka King lets the camera follow characters into rooms like we are sat perched on their shoulders. We are bouncing behind boxers walking through the crowd and into the ring. It’s a drama that melts and molds itself into a thriller or horror. It’s a slasher movie in terms of tone that simmers until the final curtain before bowing out in a fiery fashion. Watch ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ on HBO MAX here.
Review by Joseph Walsh
Follow Walsh on IG @filmbitsandlists
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