Judas and the Black Messiah

Judas and the Black Messiah

Bill O'Neal infiltrates the Black Panthers on the orders of FBI Agent Mitchell and J. Edgar Hoover. As Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton ascends—falling for a fellow revolutionary en route—a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul.

  • Released: 2021-02-12
  • Runtime: 126 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, History
  • Stars: Lakeith Stanfield, Daniel Kaluuya, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Algee Smith, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Lil Rel Howery, Dominique Thorne, Martin Sheen, Amari Cheatom, Ian Duff, Caleb Eberhardt, Robert Longstreet, Nick Fink, Nicholas Velez, Terayle Hill, Graham Lutes, Khris Davis, Amber Chardae Robinson, Ikechukwu Ufomadu, James Udom, Jermaine Fowler, Chris Hahn, Raymond Seay, Linda D Gaines
  • Director: Shaka King
 Comments
  • lucaslw-93145 - 20 May 2024
    From history's archive of important stories
    Judas and the Black Messiah (JBM) tells the story of car thief turned FBI informant William (Bill) O'Neal and his relationship with Fred Hampton, the charismatic, idealist leader of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther party. It's a tale of espionage, race, and betrayal. I'm reminded of another film, BlacKkKlansman, but while both films cover based-on-true-stories tales of espionage and race, the levity and sense of justice that makes BlacKkKlansman such a good movie are decidedly not in here. Where BlacKkKlansman has a very black and white morality where the protagonists are clearly the good guys, JBM is a much tougher tangle to decipher. Our lead character in LaKeith's Bill O'Neal is conflicted, struggling, and self-interested even as he takes on the word and scripture of his selfless black Messiah in Kaluuya's Fred Hampton. In some sense, it's a battle between the shades of black and grey on the scale of ideals. Not a knock against JBM, the two are their own, unique stories, but just something that came to mind when watching.

    Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield are the titular co-stars of this movie and both bring their A-games. No real notes to list here other than to say it's a flawless performance from both actors.

    Soundtrack wasn't particularly noteworthy, camerawork was good. Dialogue was solid and writing overall met the mark. As I've said before, it's not a particularly fun film to watch and can be downright upsetting at times, regardless of how much you agree or disagree with the broader political views of the characters, but that's neither the intent of this film nor something I'd be justified in demanding, especially in the genre of civil rights historical dramas. Whatever the case, Judas and the Black Messiah tells an important story and tells it well. I wasn't aware of this piece of history prior to the film and I appreciate this well executed adaptation of Bill O'Neal / Fred Hampton's story.
  • CriticsVoiceVideo - 11 June 2023
    Long, drawn out, boring, incohesive, incoherent mess.
    A very disappointing muddled effort. Lots of bad writing, bad acting, bad direction, and bad casting. It's a really terrible film jumping from scene to scene with no explanation. No heart, no warmth, no suspense. You're better off watching a documentary. Believe me, you do not wanna waste your time on this film. I can't believe all the praise. Also, I don't know if it was just me but the sound mix was absolutely terrible.

    Fred Hampton deserved better in real life and in film. Very disappointing.

    A very disappointing muddled effort. Lots of bad writing, bad acting, bad direction, and bad casting. It's a really terrible film jumping from scene to scene with no explanation. No heart, no warmth, no suspense.

    Fred Hampton deserved better in real life and in film. A missed opportunity to tell a very tragic evil story well.

    So disappointing.