Judas and the Black Messiah

Grade: C+

For the second time in 3 years, two Best Picture nominees have covered similar territory, or the same time period. It happened in 2018 with Dunkirk and Darkest Hour. This year, we have Judas and the Black Messiah, which takes us back to 1968, as did The Trial of the Chicago 7. Director Shaka King, with a screenplay by King and Will Benson, takes us to the days of the Black Panther Party and Bill O’Neal infiltrating them by acting as an informant to FBI Agent Mitchell.

Jesse Plemons as Mitchell is an actor I’ve seen before, in The Irishman, The Post, and Breaking Bad. He has sort of a Matt Damon and Philip Seymour Hoffman kind of thing going on, and does nice work here. As informant Bill O’Neal, Best Supporting Actor nominee LaKeith Stanfield is earnest and effective. I’ve also seen him before, in a small but memorable role in Knives Out (“You just keep pouring that weak sauce on there”) and a starring role in my favorite comedy of 2018, Sorry to Bother You. This has put him on the map for me. At the moment, the odds-on favorite to win Best Supporting Actor is Daniel Kaluuya (previously nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for Get Out) as Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, and I’d be perfectly happy with that. He commands the role with intensity and fervor.

All in all, though, the whole thing was just ok for me, and, like a car you’re trying to hot-wire, the cables never really came together and ignited. I loved BlacKkKlansman. It had my vote for Best Picture two years ago, and is still in my phone’s auto-complete. I quite enjoyed Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk. I liked it better than Moonlight. Maybe I just don’t relish a 2+ hour historical drama. Judas and the Black Messiah is very well-made. It looks and sounds like it could have been created in the 70s, and the acting nominations are spot-on. It’s just mired in sameness.

Grade: C+