Judas and the Black Messiah is the latest film by Director Shaka King. While this isn't exactly his directorial debut, this is only his second full length feature film and is certainly his most noteworthy. Other than a spattering of TV episodes and a couple short films over the last 8 years, King's previous work as a Director was Newlyweeds. He directed 5 episodes of the one-season sci-fi comedy People of Earth which I thought was a clever, witty, dark comedy and was disappointed it didn't get more seasons. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, he brings us Judas and the Black Messiah that is nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
William "Bill" O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) is caught stealing a car and impersonating a Federal Agent. He is given a choice: several years in prison, or become an FBI informant. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen) sees the Black Panther Party as the biggest threat in America and commands the FBI to take down their charismatic leader, Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya). With his FBI handler, Special Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons), keeping close tabs on him, O'Neal infiltrates the Illinois Black Panthers to keep tabs on Hampton.
The film is based on true events. Which sometimes makes it really tough to criticize. If you're watching a movie about Malcolm X, for example, you can't really be upset with the movie maker when Malcolm X is murdered. That actually happened. In 1989, O'Neal gave an interview to PBS for a documentary called Eyes on the Prize II. O'Neal died in a traffic accident less than a year later. It was ruled a suicide.
Judas and the Black Messiah starts with O'Neal entering a bar in a trench coat and fedora impersonating an FBI agent. After he is caught and asked why he didn't just rob the place with a gun like most thieves do, he replied that they aren't scared of guns, but they're scared of the badge and the army of back-up that comes with it. After stealing a car from one of the men in the bar and barely getting away alive as they chase him down, O'Neal is quickly apprehended by the FBI.
He is interviewed by Agent Roy Mitchell who lists the charges and jail time he faces, unless he agrees to infiltrate the Illinois Black Panthers and provide the FBI important information to help take down their organization. Mitchell befriends O'Neal, asking him if he was upset by the recent murders of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. He tells O'Neal that the Black Panthers are no different than white supremacists who are hell bent on violence and mayhem rather than peace and equality. Mitchell takes O'Neal out to eat at nice restaurants, pays him for good intelligence. He invites him over to his house and allows him to meet his family.
I think we were supposed to see the inner conflict in O'Neal. As he gets closer to the Panthers, he realizes they are not terrorists. They are good people trying to do the right thing and stand up against racist oppression. But O'Neal's life was in danger more than just a couple times as the Panthers challenged his stories and identity. LaKeith Stanfield, who played O'Neal, really didn't have a good poker face, nor did he have subtle facial expressions. There was a scene where the Panthers were in the same bar O'Neal robbed. Afraid of being recognized, he comically attempted to hide in the corner and conceal his identity. He was just as exaggerated under the same circumstances in the headquarters of a rival gang.
Later, O'Neal is challenged by other Panthers to hotwire the car they're in to prove his story. He does so and let's out an exaggerated deep breath and roll of the eyes showing relief that he pulled it off. And there is yet another scene at a rally welcoming Panther leader Hampton back from prison where Agent Mitchell shows up and blends in with the crowd. O'Neal sees him and is visibly disturbed by his presence there. He just seemed to lack any nuance in his performance.
In fact, I found the inner turmoil of Agent Mitchell to be more compelling. You could see him struggling to convince O'Neal that taking down the Panthers was a good thing. You could see his faith in his own FBI waver as fellow agents willingly put another informant in harms way and left him out to dry. You could see his hesitancy to carry out the order to eliminate Hampton before he was to go back to prison. And you could feel his conflict when he had to threaten O'Neal with prison time when O'Neal called him desperately wanting to stop being an informant.
Daniel Kaluuya burst onto the scene in 2017 with his outstanding performance in the twisted thriller Get Out. He is nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Black Messiah. While I thought he was convincing and charismatic and accurately portrayed the Panther Leader, I don't know that I'd consider his performance Oscar-worthy. LaKeith Stanfield has been around, but this is definitely his most prominent role to date. He is nominated for Best Actor, and I certainly don't think his performance warranted the nomination.
I didn't know what exactly to expect from Judas and the Black Messiah. It was easy to deduce that O'Neal was Judas and Hampton was the Messiah based on clips in the preview. I assumed it would be an emotionally charged film about the racial tensions in the late 1960's in Chicago, but this film failed to elicit much of an emotional response from me.
Like I said, films based on historical events are hard to critique. I would have appreciated more of a back-story on O'Neal so we could see how he ended up in the bar that fateful night. I would love to have seen more of Mitchell's family life and his conflict between morals and duty. I cautiously anticipated 3.5 stars for this movie. I will say that one of the things I love about Oscar season is that I push myself to see movies I normally wouldn't necessarily be inclined to watch on my own. Trying to see all the Best Film nominees pushing me to explore just the ones I think I would personally find entertaining based on the previews.
After watching Judas and the Black Messiah, however, I'm going to have to lower my rating to 2.5 stars. I was hoping it would be powerful, emotional, well-acted and a tough look at our country's ugly recent history. Overall, I felt it was underwhelming, missed opportunities to have the viewer invest more in the characters, and was almost comically melodramatic at times. I might have found it worth a matinee or a rental, but it's not one I anticipate seeing again, and it will not be finding a home in my personal collection. So, what movie will be on my mind next? We shall see . . .
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