Tanya’s Score: Okay-and-a-half*
Rated: 14A
Starring: Two Get Out guys; Meth Damon
Plot: Car thief Bill O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) suffers internal turmoil when tasked by the FBI to infiltrate the Black Panther Party and report back.
Tanya’s Verdict: Many will disagree with me – but despite the fact that this is an important story to tell, I found much of it by-the-book and dare I say it? dull – save for the last 15 minutes.
Nevertheless, there are interesting themes at play: the not so black and white (pun intended) ideas of good and evil and how they often become so enmeshed that it’s difficult if not impossible to separate the strands. What is good? A group looking to promote racial equality even if at times this leads to violence and death? Or a group tasked with keeping law and order who oftentimes break the law themselves in order to supposedly do so. What about a group who actively seeks vulnerable individuals on the margins of society and blackmails them to assist in this keeping of law and order?
All in all, I do believe Judas and the Black Messiah is worth the watch. But honestly, it was an Oscar movie before it was even a movie. And not one I believe I’ll ever watch again.
In my opinion, the story would have been better served as a series over a movie.
*Four score descriptions: Sh**; Okay; Good; Great