Judas and The Black Messiah is fucking incredible. It's exploring the life of Fred Hampton and the FBI informant who infiltrated the Black Panther party. It really dives into the landscape of the time and the war between the Police and FBI against the Black Panthers. It makes it clear that it's an all out war against the people and the police and it showcases how and why the forces that be want to perpetrate this war. It never restrains on showing how absolutely monstrous and terrible the police are, there's some absolutely brutal, devastating scenes in this

I think in terms of handling Fred Hampton it does phenomenally well. It functions like a biopic on him, even though we don't get a full backstory on his life. The movie captures him during about a year long period and you gain a full understanding of who he was and what he fought for. Daniel Kaluuya is literally perfect in the role and if he doesn't win his Oscar for this, I will personally call the Academy to file a complaint. He is electric and steals every single scene he's in. He nails the power and the charisma of Fred Hampton's public speaking, but also allows him to feel like a real person behind the scenes, which really makes him really come alive on screen.

The rest of the cast are also excellent. Lakeith Stanfield is also amazing and he really makes you understand why someone would do this. Jesse Plemmons is also really great and his character takes a shift that I actually didn't expect but really works to highlight the corruption of the FBI and law enforcement.

Shaka King is able to make something that's both entertaining and enthralling throughout, while still being brutally honest and emotional. It's visually engaging to look at, the score is really well used, it all has this uneasy foreboding sense to it which worked really well.

It's just absolute gold, it's near perfect from start to end and it'll end up being on of the best movies of 2021 for sure.

2021 Movies Ranked