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Judas and the Black Messiah – Proves Kaluuya is Generation’s Best Actor

Daniel Kaluuya in Judas and the Black Messiah
Daniel Kaluuya in Judas and the Black Messiah

The Plot

Director Shaka King’s studio debut Judas and the Black Messiah starts with Lakeith Stanfield standing on the streets of Chicago in what looks to be detective cosplay, the street is dark and he comes into a bar. He plays William O’Neal, who steals cars by impersonating law enforcement. The attempt goes awry and he dashes into his stolen car and speeds away – something he does a lot in the movie. Based on real events, Lakeith Stanfield portrays a twitchy O’Neal who becomes an FBI informant for the Black Panthers during the 1960s. His mission is to report back on the movements of Fred Hampton (Kaluuya) and the Black Panther Party. 

Post-lockdown (at least the UK), Judas and the Black Messiah is the ideal movie experience. The cinematography is sumptuous, every frame is staggering – the work of 12 Years A Slave and Widows cinematographer, Sean Bobbitt. The music in the film is deep with bass and alive, amplified by good cinema speakers (or your own if you have those). All of this makes for an engrossing film-going experience.

Although, all of the technical work would be futile without a strong leading performance by Daniel Kaluuya or Stanfield. Kaluuya in particular gives an impressively commanding performance. He shows off that undoubtedly he is one of the finest actors these isles have seen in a long time.

Kaluuya’s Performance

His breakout role, Get Out, in some ways was a miscasting. The every-man attitude he has in real life doesn’t necessarily translate well to screen. Get Out showed that he could play at being the every-man. But his energy was stifled by the constraints of the horror genre. The villain is often the one to give the most flashy performances while the victim is running. That is not to take away some of the gripping scenes from Get Out that would never measure up without his performance, the one where he is hypnotised by Catherine Keener comes to mind.

Daniel Kaluuya in Judas and the Black Messiah

In Judas and the Black Messiah, it’s his central performance that holds the movie together. For the film to work, the audience has to believe that he could start a revolution, that he could carry a movement with his words and his presence. Kaluuya makes it look so easy. He can switch between the impervious leader and empathetic lover from scene to scene organically.

There are many who have compared Judas and The Black Messiah to Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman. They are both set during the late ’60s-’70s America, the drive for both are about infiltrating organisations – one the KKK and the other Black Panther party. There are some very obvious opportunities to compare and contrast, and both films shine in different ways. The wit of Blackkklasman and arguably the final scenes close the film far more effectively. However, the central performances set these two works apart. Kaluuya, supported strongly by Stanfield and particularly Dominique Fishback outmanoeuvre John David Washington’s wooden tree impersonations significantly.

4.5/5 stars

Regardless, they are both worth way more than the price on the ticket. And Judas and The Black Messiah is a part of the first wave of truly great 2021 movies.

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