GENRE: Drama
RATING: R for violence and language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 6 minutes
PLATFORM: HBO Max
STARRING: Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Black Panther, Queen & Slim)
LaKeith Stanfield (Atlanta), Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad, FNL)
DIRECTOR: Shaka King (Newlyweeds, People of Earth – TV series)
WRITER: King (Newlyweeds) & Will Berson (newcomer)
PLOT: Bill O’Neal infiltrates the Black Panther Party for the FBI as Fred Hampton gains power.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Heard good things but mostly watching for Oscars.
STORY STUFF: When I was watching this, I kept thinking back to the infiltration film, BlackKklansman, which I found to be far better. I don’t know much about the Black Panther party but also feel I didn’t learn too much about them either. I was more interested in O’Neal’s infiltration. The love story was okay. There were a handful of scenes I enjoyed like the opening scene in the pool hall and in the car at gunpoint but I wasn’t pulled in like I thought I would.
ACTING STUFF: Kaluuya and Stanfield give some great performances; I can see why they got nominated for Oscars. I think Stanfield was better though, he had more stuff to do. He should be up for Lead Actor but I guess he feels he has more of a shot as supporting – like Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects. I also liked Dominique Fishback (The Hate U Give) as Deborah Johnson. Plemons is actually tiresome as he seems to be playing the same dick-ish roles lately. Martin Sheen (West Wing) creeped me out as J Edgar Hoover with his menacing demeanor and awful hair.
ARTISTIC STUFF: The cinematography was pretty good. Again, I liked the camera movement in the opening scene. The music annoyed me. It would blast after quiet dialogue making me have to change the volume constantly. I can’t imagine how that would be in a movie theatre.
VERDICT:
Two and half stars out of five
SEE IT IF:
You’re watching all the Oscar nominees.
UPCOMING REVIEW: More Oscar films
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