‘Judas And The Black Messiah’ Set For Awards Season Release In February

Judas and the Black Messiah, which stars LaKeith Stanfield as FBI informant William O’Neal and Daniel Kaluuya as Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, is one of the biggest films Warner Bros. has arriving in 2021. And they clearly think highly of it, because they’ve just given it an awards season release date of February 12th, both in theaters and on HBO Max like all of their upcoming slate.

Based on a true story, the film follows criminal William O’Neal as he turns FBI Informant to help take down his friend, Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton. Joining Stanfield and Kaluuya in the cast are Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Martin Sheen, Algee Smith, Jermaine Fowler, and Lil Rel Howery.

If you’ve ever seen how things turned out for Hampton, drugged by his supposed friend so he’d be caught unaware when the cops burst in ready to fire, then you’ll know why this story needed to be told and from the perspective of O’Neal. Based on the trailer from a few months ago director Shaka King is bringing a lot of style and energy to the telling.

 

 

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.