Updated 6:47 AM ET, Fri February 12, 2021
Daniel Kaluuya (center) in Judas and the Black Messiah. (CNN) Judas and the Black Messiah recounts a fascinating fact-based story in somewhat disjointed way, as it oscillates between two key characters. Despite that imbalance the movie has plenty to recommend it beginning with Daniel Kaluuya s crackling performance while serving as kind of a companion to two other recent releases: The Trial of the Chicago 7 and the documentary MLK/FBI.
Kaluuya plays Fred Hampton, a minor character in Chicago 7 who headed the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers, and like Martin Luther King Jr. drew special attention from FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen), portrayed as determined to strangle the movement by any means necessary.