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I haven't written a review in awhile, but felt compelled to do so because numerous reviews complaining about the movie as some sort of failed Fred Hampton biopic... The movie is titled JUDAS and the Black Messiah, in which we should all be able to discern who's whom, and understand why the movie isn't just about Fred Hampton, so all of you with your fake woke-ness can stop talking about how shallow this movie is or how they didn't do enough, and then counterintuitively discredit this accomplishment of a film about an important part of the U.S. history!

When I saw "The Trial of the Chicago 7" less than a year ago, I commented that there was likely a more interesting movie to be made about Fred Hampton. Well, here it is! This film avoids all the traps of traditional biopics. Its tight timeline and electric performances distinguished it from similar stories that wind up feeling like nothing more than historical dramatization. I knew how this movie would end. I knew the basic story of the main character. And yet I hung on every moment. Kaluuya is that good, and Stanfield is that good. More importantly, the filmmakers are smart enough to figure out that this could be a story of betrayal, advocacy, loyalty, and fear...something that transcended one person's story. What results is something both universal and uniquely relevant to the present day. This movie deserves whatever awards it wins.

Back to a time where The FBI, led by J Edgar Hoover is more concerned with The Black Panthers, than the Russians and Chinese. A car thief is corrected into infiltrating The Organisation and reporting back.

This is an incredibly powerful story, a fascinating point in America's history. This film is not afraid to show the violence, racism and prejudice that was very real. It doesn't shy away from showing the brutality, the misery faced by people of colour.

Uncomfortable at times, but it's a gripping watch, this film will hold your attention throughout, it's one of those that passes by, without you questioning the running time.

Shaka King's direction is spot on, this film moves by at a real pace. The cinematography and music are phenomenal, especially the latter.

Daniel Kaluuya, he's one of those people I'm convinced will one day own a string of Oscars, an awe inspiring actor, and naturally he does it again here with a spellbinding performance. Huge credit also to LaKeith Stanfield, marvellous also.

I figure this film may not be to everyone's taste, but I'd certainly recommend it, it really does tell a powerful story. It's inspired me to do a little research and reading of my own.

9/10.

After seeing The Trial of the Chicago 7, I read about the people involved and came across Fred Hampton's story which really fascinated me. I believe Judas and the Black Messiah did it justice.

Judas and the Black Messiah follows Bill O'Neal, a man who becomes an FBI informant to gain inside information on the Deputy Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton.

After watching the first trailer, I got goosebumps. Even after repeat viewings of the trailer, I still got goosebumps. No trailer has made me feel like that before and so I was anticipating this film for a long time. This film was unflinching in its portrayal of its events and I loved every bit of it. It may be a disappointment to some as Fred Hampton isn't in the film as much as you would think but I thought showing this story through the perspective of O'Neal was a great choice. Bill O'Neal was an interesting person who did make choices that were questionable and I liked the conflict that built over time between his allegiance to the FBI and the Black Panther Party. Lakeith Stanfield gives one of his best performances here as O'Neal. There are so many layers and nuances in his performance to give an idea of what his character is like. Despite knowing the story, I was still stunned by some of the things O'Neal does and somehow Stanfield still manages to make him somewhat sympathetic by the end.

The main attraction here is Daniel Kaluuya who is mesmerising as Fred Hampton. He pulls off the accent brilliantly and adds so much charisma and power to the dialogue by Will Berson and Shaka King. A particular scene where he's speaking to a large group of people is made so powerful by the energy and confidence Kaluuya brings to each word that comes out of his mouth. I couldn't believe this was the same man from Get Out. This is the biggest chance for him to win a Best Supporting Actor award and I hope he does. Jesse Plemons is also amazing here. I'm so happy his career is flourishing. Dominique Fishback is also fantastic and brings a level of emotion to the film.

For a second feature, this is really impressive from Shaka King. I see a great amount of confidence in his direction and writing and I'm hoping to see more of him in the future. There are a couple of shootout scenes and its depiction of violence was hard-hitting and held a substantial amount of weight to it. The score is very unusual but at the same time I liked the way it was used in the film.

All in all, Judas and the Black Messiah is a powerful film. It brings to a light an important time in history and educates us on someone that wasn't that well known. With striking performances from Kaluuya and Stanfield, this is a film that should be watched.

I had no idea any of this actually happened, so it's great that a film was made about this. This is a powerful film that I would highly recommend.

So let's start with the good. The cinematography and period setting is top notch and really puts you in the era. The acting is very good and helps with holding together a porous story.

Now for the bad. I really really wanted to love this movie. But...If you're looking for a biopic of Fred Hampton, this ain't it. Plain and simple. If you're looking for a movie that tells you more than you already knew about an understated important figure in black history, again this ain't it.

What you will get is a movie about an FBI informant who's motives are questionable at best, that happens to have Fred Hampton featured in it. If you're not versed in the names of people in Hampton's inner circle, you will be confused and have a hard time remembering who's who, as characters come and go constantly, with virtually no character development.

The movie is entertaining for the most part as the acting is quite good. But the story itself is all over the place and some scenes are longer than they need to be. You won't know much more about the great Fred Hampton, than you did before you watched this movie. It's too bad because I was waiting for this one.

People will trip over themselves to give this positive marks, but as a student of history and someone who loves a good drama in a period piece, this movie missed a great opportunity for sure.

The two main acting performances really carry this film. Kaluuya and Stanfield both do tremendous work and make this film a compelling watch. It's a tough. depressing movie to watch, but it feels appropriately timed with its release. It's inevitable to compare this to another recent film containing some of the same characters, The Trial of the Chicago 7. While Chicago 7 is a more enjoyable watch and really zips along with energy, Judas is more unflinching in its reality and less "Hollywood." This isn't to say there aren't the typical story beats you expect in a film like this, but it overall feels more impactful.

Both are based on the true story which happened in Chicago in 1968 and 1969, so two movies give the whole picture of what it was like in Chicago in late 60s. Social oppression, protest in reaction, police's excessive force of use, discrimination against the weaker are the words to describe atmosphere around that time. It's interesting to compare and contrast how Fred Hampton is realized in two movies. Other than that, there are many things to compare and contrast both contents and the forms.

'Judas and the Black Messiah' is disappointing that the director could have done so much more with such an important historical figure (similar with 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'). The screenwriting is stretched and elongated. The momentum and the tension have to be built up for December 4th Monroe Massacre where all the powerful emotions burst. However, the director fails not only to build up but also to have a great ending.

P.S. History speaks that William O'Neal is still a weak coward then and now.

Amazing acting n top notch cinematography.

From the beginning and as the synopsis suggest, we as audiences are already informed about the ending but the real deal is the way it happened in reality, that really shook me up man.

This movie aint par with The Trial of the Chicago 7 as far as entertainment is concerned but it is definitely very informative and made me read about the trials n tribulations the African Americans faced. These fellas are the true champions of everything in life.

It was a good movie but it did come off like the Black Panthers were all about cop killing which is a huge disservice to them. Also, I needed subtitles to understand Daniel Kaluuya. Wish Judy Harmon got more props for being such a badass and the only one who ever suspected Bill at all. It was an okay film.

The FBI, led by J. Edgar Hoover, is focused on taking down the Black Panther Party and other leftist movements. Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) pushes car thief Bill O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) to be his informant and to infiltrate the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. It is led by charismatic Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) who is trying to improve Chicago and battle the racist police force.

There is an obvious connection to today's events. It's of its time and the present-day time. It's definitely taking a point of view but one can't really argue against it. For sure, it's slanted. Roy Mitchell is the key to finding balance but Jesse Plemons doesn't give him enough depth. He has one fascinating talk about Emmett Till. That's an interesting road to go for that character but it feels like he stops short. He turns into just another callous racist cop when he could be deeper. As for the other characters, Stanfield is the standout and Kaluuya is the saint. Both are great in their roles. This is a very compelling story and its relevance makes it more powerful.

This film could have been much better. Instead of focusing on what made Fred Hampton such a powerful person - his politics, his words, his analysis - we are forced to sit through a bunch of cop-shoutouts and a fairly shallow version of an informant - FBI relationship story that we've seen done better in plenty of other movies.

As for the character of Bill Oneil, who unfortunately becomes the main character of the film, we have no insight into his ideology or his motivations, only that he wants money. The most interesting thing we learn about him is the real footage of the documentary that features at the end - which makes me wonder why I'm not watching a documentary instead. Throughout the film there's nothing about him that makes it believable that he'd be liked, trusted and even integrated as an important person in the Panthers and as a close friend of Fred Hampton's.

Overall, pretty lame

Daniel Kaluuya an utterly amazing performance! This brotha showed some acting chops here. A must see for Daniel alone, but the director deserves a nod too. The director and screenwriter deserve Oscars for that matter. The director took what could have been a PBS documentary and turned it into movie magic. Now let's tell the story of the Oakland chapter. Same director! The shootout on Magnolia. I was a child 1/2 a block down the street when the shots started flying everywhere and Bobby Hutton was killed.

While the acting is good, the deadly pacing kills the drama in this historical look at the Black Panthers and the FBI snitch who helped set up a series of police raids that led to many deaths.

Martin Sheen injects some life into the proceedings as creepy J. Edgar Hoover, but Jesse Plemons is like walking death as the FBI agent who coerces Bill O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) into being a rat.

Daniel Kaluuya practically speaks in tongues and I could decipher only about half of what he said as Fred Hampton, the target of the FBI raids in Chicago's branch of the Panthers.

Violent but not very interesting.

I was really looking forward to this movie because of it's promising plot and it's two co-stars: LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya. However, this movie just isn't as good as some say it to be. Mainly because the character development is painfully under baked and rather shallow approach to it's several interesting messages. People say the two actor's performances are amazing...... are they? Kaluuya seems very dedicated yes, but the writing is not. Stanfield was just given horrible character development and writing. And the FBI guy is kinda useless. They introduce ideas but never go as far to show them. It's sad to say this, but it's the truth in my mind at least.

Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver are familiar names in Black Panther historical lore. Fred Hampton's story, however, is not well-known by the general public. This movie rights that travesty. The movie is simply fantastic, well-acted, produced and engrossing from the first frame. Daniel Kaluuya wears this role like a second skin. Whoever says a Brit cannot play an American revolutionary convincingly, can go pound sand. LaKeith Stanfield plays Bill O' Neal, a Judas, with such conviction, it was difficult not to hate his character the entire movie. However, he does manage to muster some sympathy as you see he begins to believe in the Black Panther's cause and is torn between the cause and his deception. Dominque Fishback does a nice job playing Hampton's love interest. Jesse Plemons, as the crooked FBI agent, was appropriately sleazy. Overall, one of best movies so far this year. I hope it picks up some nominations.

"Judas and the Black Messiah" is one film to watch for historical purposes as it's showcase of how one leader and group fought for what they believed in. Plus the film is even more relevant in today's times and culture with the issues of the police and African American community. The movie set back in 60's Chicago tells the rise and times of one Fred Hampton(in a pretty good performance from Daniel Kaluuya) and the Black Panther Party. Seen are the struggles and social doubts that the people had when dealing with wanting to live just a normal way of life in their communities and neighborhoods. Hampton an outspoken and freedom seeking leader just wanted change and equal rights for people of color yet was misunderstood by the establishment and the federal government from big dog J. Edgar Hoover on down as they wanted to wipe out the party for good.

The film is full of drama and emotion with of course some scenes of guns, knives, and violence and the underbelly and subplot wild card character is found in one Bill O' Neal(LaKeith Stanfield) who follows along with Hampton and the Party only his means and efforts as an FBI informant is a dark cloud over the heads of all involved. Overall this film is pretty good historical storytelling that's informative and relevant with today's culture and times clearly it should be one picture that any movie or history buff should view.

Whilst the plot is definitely familiar, Judas and the Black Messiah is still an incredible drama that's emotional, devastating and relevant. Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield both give phenomenal performances. Dominique Fishback is incredible and Jesse Plemons is great. Shaka King's direction is excellent, it's extremely well filmed and well paced. The music by Mark Isham and Craig Harris is really good.

Judas and The Black Messiah (2021)

Two things that come to mind when hearing the name Judas: Jesus Christ and betrayal. Judas loved Jesus, he believed in his ideas, he was his close friend and yet he betrayed him for 30 silver coins. After being arrested by the FBI, Bill O'Neal finds himself joining the Black Panthers as a spy. Initially, he doesn't care about their struggle as he is in it purely to avoid incarceration. However, once Fred Hampton's revolutionary ideas manage to crawl into his mind, Bill finds himself at a moral crossroad.

On one side, he likes staying out of jail while getting paid by the FBI; on the other, he feels the rebellious spirit coursing through his veins as he gets closer and closer to The Black Messiah and LaKeith plays that part to perfection. Daniel Kaluuya gives a volcanic performance as Fred Hampton and yet it felt like a miscasting despite his tremendous energy. The real 21 year old Fred looked like a man of knowledge with wisdom beaming out of his eyes; the same couldn't be felt about Daniel who is also 10 years older. Furthermore, instead of delving deeper into Fred's life, the movie limits his time while choosing to focus on shootouts.

What is important in any revolutionary film, specially if it aims to be realistic, is to portray both sides of the coin and I think this movie doesn't achieve that objective. Instead of focusing on counter politics, Bill's motivations or Fred's backstory, the film runs all over the place as events and characters are introduced without any development simply for the sake of adding layers and creating noise.

Despite losing it's focus, the movie successfully establishes a core idea which will hopefully inspire peole to read about these events. Aesthetically, the film felt immersive as the revolutionary spirit was flowing through the screen; Kendrick Lamar's Hiii Power would have fit nicely here. Giving credit where credit is due, the movoe stayed true to the title by managing to make it all about Judas and his weakness. On the day when he was tasked with the ultimate betrayal, Bill burst into tears just as Judas cried when he had to betray Jesus and in a way, that felt poetic.

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Watching "Judas and the Black Messiah" for me was more academic than entertainment. Some years ago I read the Jeffrey Haas book titled "The Assassination of Fred Hampton," so I was apprised of all the events surrounding Fred Hampton's death. More importantly, I went through several stages of anger when reading the book which prepared me for the movie. So, the question for me going in was: how will the movie measure up factually to the book I read?

I say that the movie was brilliant. It was a fair and honest assessment of the Black Panther Party (BPP) especially at that time and it was a fair representation of Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya). As far as the Judas in this saga, William O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), I knew very little about him and I didn't care to know much about him. I knew all I needed to know: he provided the floor plan of Fred's home for Chicago P.D. to bust in and kill Fred in his sleep. Still, "Judas" gives the audience a deeper look into the life of O'Neal just before his involvement with the BPP up until the fateful day on December 4, 1969. We get a picture of a confused man who, while working for the FBI, seems to want to help the BPP in its goals. But, in all of his confusion he remains selfish in that self-preservation comes first for him.

Fred Hampton, on the other hand, is the total opposite. Self-preservation and selfishness is not a part of his DNA. And what needs to be remembered is that Fred Hampton was only twenty-one when he was killed. He was a bright, charismatic, and sincere young man who accomplished much good and could've accomplished so much more, and I think "Judas" did a phenomenal job portraying that.

I'm biased, I know. I have an affinity for Fred Hampton and the BPP though I wasn't alive during their reign, so any positive portrayals I'd probably like. Having said that, I still look for accuracy and I've read enough to be able to spot BS. Every movie is going to add dramatizations and an event here and there to increase the drama and I think that's acceptable so long as it doesn't significantly alter the facts. "Judas and the Black Messiah" toes the fact-line and also entertains.

IN BRIEF: An earnest but flawed exposé with a star turn by Daniel Kaluuya as the Messiah.

JIM'S REVIEW: (RECOMMENDED) It seems it is more than just documented facts that J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI illegally investigated any Black subversive protest groups during the 60's, with the Black Panther Party as their No. 1 target. Recent films seem obsesses with that matter (One Night in Miami, MLK/FBI, The Trial of the Chicago Seven, the soon-to-be -released The United States vs, Billie Holiday). You can now add to the fold, Shaka King's searing indictment, Judas and the Messiah.

This bio-pic tells the true story of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the BPP, who is ultimately betrayed by an FBI informant, William O'Neal (Lakeith Stanfield). The film chronicles Mr. Hampton's life and death with a searing performance by Mr. Kaiuuya as the doomed crusader. There is no doubt that this performance will be recognized this award season. (More on that later.)

We follow Mr. Hampton's journey from to skillful orator to full-blown leader, his sweet relationship with Deborah (Dominique Fishback), and his so-called friendship with William. We also view Mr. O'Neal's involvement in petty crimes and criminal activities before he becomes the stoolie for FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons, under the behest of J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen, with heavily applied make-up that borders on buffoonery).

The script by Mr. King and Will Berson is a bit of a jumble and skims the surface before presenting its case. The movie allows a more liberal point of view from the filmmakers and crew in retrospect. The director/writer interweaves archival footage to his biographical tale most astutely and knows how to film his action scenes to full throttle effect. He does not shirk from showing the violence from both the police brutality and the Panthers' own militant stance and pro-gun attitude. The director envisions his drama like an unfolding gangster saga, with fluid camerawork and stylish flourishes, although his decision to use an annoying atonal music score just add more injury to one's eardrums. All in all, the film still resonates with its factual baseline and superb acting in general. One cannot discount the redacted facts and the shady cover-up that are now part of historical record.

This is an honest but empathetic view of the Black struggle which shows the desperate violent lengths the Black Panthers would go for their cult-like cause which almost seems to justify Hoover's insistence about this group's dangerous origins and his underhanded tactics in taking this group out. But the portrayal of the FBI and their fearful leader is strictly one-dimensional. The Feds are predictable cardboard bad guys that become absurd caricatures rather than real figures. That seriously hinders the film's impact.

The film loses much of its momentum whenever Fred's story is pushed aside in favor of showcasing scenes of O'Neal's issues and the FBI arch villainy. The reliable Mr. Pleson is fine as the cold and calculating FBI agent, but Mr. Sheen is miscast as Hoover. Granted, the waxy make-up doesn't help his performance. It only makes him look like a supporting cast member of The Sopranos than J. Edgar. The screenplay would have been wiser to eliminate the physicality of this well known figure entirely.

In accurately conveying the 60's era of racial unrest, the main Judas role is underdeveloped. Mr. Stanfield is very good as William and the actor tries to fill in the gaps to this solitary loser, but, as written, O'Neal is more a series of nervous tics and fearful glances than a real person who one cares about.

What the film does best is honoring its Black Messiah and his Lady Madonna storyline. As previously stated, Mr. Kaluuya is sensational. His role has more depth and emotional nuance. Mr. Hampton's revolutionary speech after his arrest is totally mesmerizing in its delivery. But it is the film's quieter scenes with Mr. Kaluuya and the captivating Ms. Fishburne that provide the gravitas needed. They are the emotional core. Their final scene is a heartbreaker and staged so powerfully in its straightforward use of graphic violence and human cruelty.

Well crafted and skillfully performed, Judas and the Messiah has many strong moments scattered between some scenes of loose and meandering storytelling. It takes a while to build its narrative, but it does so by its tragic end. (GRADE: B-)

NOTE: The R&B song during the closing credits, Fight for You, is a real winner. Take a listen.