Judas and the Black Messiah should feel like an urgent, timely piece of under-reported history landing in a particularly fraught moment for civil rights and black activism, but it doesn't. It looks incredible -- does a phenomenal job of evoking its late 60s, early 70s period setting, but it feels slightly unfinished and unfocused. Sadly, it feels like a huge missed opportunity.
This is perhaps because it crosscuts between two characters -- the legendary Black Panther leader Fred Hampton (played effectively by Daniel Kaluuya) and an FBI informant Bill O'Neal (played by LaKeith Stanfield less effectively), with neither getting fully realized to satisfying effect. It starts promisingly enough with Stanfield (not quite pulling off playing someone much younger than himself) as a small time hood who poses as an FBI agent to steal a car, and early on we are treated to some glimpses of Hampton's legendary ability to build coalitions with unorthodox constituencies (gangs, rural whites, Puerto Ricans) but little else about its significance and practical function.
We expect a Heat-style epic about a test of wills between two complicated leading men but instead we end up with almost a Cliff's Notes version of this history. The result is a movie that feels like it should be more powerful than it is, a movie that has a lot of potential but little else. And unless, like me, you go in knowing much of the history already, you don't necessarily leave with a greater understanding of Hampton's importance or O'Neal's motivation.
Some of this is the fault of the screenplay, but also Stanfield's jittery performance. We never understand his true feelings about the Black Panther party. He seems to see its righteousness and is conflicted, but he never really illuminates this tension beyond acting nervous and stressed. It may be that he doesn't have the range to convey the complexity of this man (although some riveting footage of the real life O'Neal at the end suggests they do bear a resemblance) or that the screenplay simply didn't know enough about him to portray it. But we never really understand why he so willingly signs on to be a spy or how he really feels about it.
Kaluuya fairs a little better as Hampton. He certainly does a terrific impression of Hampton's distinct speaking voice. But the film cuts away from him every time his story starts to get interesting, and beyond his relationship with the mother of his child (Dominique Fishback in a nice, but also under-developed performance), we don't get a lot of backstory or information on him either. He arrives fully formed, speechifying and right when we start to get more shades of his persona, he's gone. We don't get enough of an opportunity to get emotionally invested in him.
The infamous assassination of Hampton is portrayed in vivid detail and is effectively horrifying. But if all feels a little abrupt, at least for me. It's not that it's a short movie. It's just over 2 hours, but it still feels rushed. The great Jesse Plemons pops up periodically as an ominous FBI overseer. We have moments where he appears to maybe be conflicted about putting Stanfield in danger, and others where he appears to be a true believer in the overheated rhetoric of J Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen is very silly putty make-up, why not cast an actor who actually looks a bit like Hoover?) and others where he boasts about having investigated the murder of three civil rights workers in the mid-60s. He repeatedly tells Stanfield he thinks the KKK and Black Panthers are no different. Does he really believe this? It's unclear.
If he isn't meant to be a fully realized character, why give him so much screentime? And if he is, why sketch him out so haltingly?
Some of this may serve the story. A better film would interrogate the confusion and tension of being this immersed undercover. The Departed did this very well as did Donnie Brasco. But we never see much of Stanfield's life when he isn't playing a Panther, in fact, it appears he doesn't have one.
What I hope the movie does do is drive more viewer interest in Hampton, who truly is a worthy subject for a glossy film like this. The end titles, which spell out the fallout from his death, are powerful as is the real footage of the aftermath, which are stirring. I only wish it had all been the subject of a great movie instead of a merely ok one.
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