Dominique Fishback | Screenlife Reviews

With the current state of world politics, there may have never been a better time to release director Shaka King’s incendiary account of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton’s rise to power and the loss of that power at the hand of FBI informant William O’Neil. King’s film is as much a fascinating look into one pivotal moment in the history of the African-American movement for liberation as it is a powerful statement about the current plight of the Black community, highlighting some horrifying similarities between the 1960’s and 2021. Anchored by monumental performances from Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah is an intense and harrowing look at a man whose importance to the Black struggle in America cannot be understated; one that will leave you furious and hungry for reform.

When small-time criminal O’Neil (Stanfield) is caught by police attempting to steal a car while posing as a federal officer, he finds himself face-to-face with FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons), who offers a choice between prison or working as an informant within the civil-rights activism group ‘The Black Panthers’. O’Neil takes the obvious option and soon finds himself indoctrinated by the Panthers in their revolutionary beliefs; inserting himself within the inner circle of the group’s young leader Fred Hampton (Kaluuya). As time goes on and O’Neil becomes an integral part of the Chicago chapter of the group – all the while feeding the FBI intel – he discovers that Hampton may just be the best man to lead his people to equality; the previously undecided bystander forced to pick a side in the war for representation. The screws begin to tighten when this newfound radicalism begins to threaten the FBI’s plans, and Bill is forced to make a difficult choice between the larger movement and his own self-preservation.

That inner conflict in O’Neil also offers a question to viewers that is as relevant in today’s politically contentious climate as it was in the 1960’s: are you content to sit back and watch oppression occur or will you get involved and be a force for good to solve it? It’s a big picture kind of question to ask and Shaka King and co. spend the two hour runtime making a very compelling case for liberation, showcasing the vile and underhanded inner-workings of the FBI at the time. The film itself may be beautifully shot but make no mistake this is a film that deals with ugly topics; namely one of the darkest, depraved chapters of American law enforcement history. The calculated stifling of the Black voice was and remains a horrible tragedy in American history, and King makes the eventual climax of that tragedy hit all the harder with the characterisation he gives O’Neil and Hampton.

Bill is far removed from the civil rights movement of his people when he is first apprehended by the police, content to make a living for himself doing whatever he needs to do to survive; a sad reality that was and is an all too common part of the Black story. Indeed Bill actually enjoys the duping of the Black Panthers for a time, viewing the entire ordeal as some sort of light-hearted game with Stanfield flashing sly smiles behind the backs of his Panther comrades when he bluffs through a sticky situation or escapes a shootout with police. Seeing the unjust arrest of Hampton and the FBI’s violent response changes something in O’Neil, forcing him to commit one way or the other, a prospect made all the more precarious with the FBI breathing down his neck. Stanfield is truly brilliant in these scenes, all nervous tics and sweaty, paranoid glances as he fears apprehension from both sides. A truly gripping scene involving O’Neill at the height of his paranoia is impossible to turn away from, with his terrified facial expression and jittering body making the outcome of a pivotal choice terrifying and unknowable, as King milks every last drop of tension out of the scene.

If Stanfield is our guide into the world of the Black Panther then Daniel Kaluuya’s Fred Hampton is the shadow that looms over every scene, at once as charismatic and arresting a performance as Denzel in Malcolm X. From the way he carries himself to the noticeable drop in the cadence of his voice before a tense discussion or speech Kaluuya is simply phenomenal, imbuing Hampton with a confidence and assuredness that bely his young age. The speeches in particular are the highlight of the film, with the iconic “I am a revolutionary” message striking a particular contemporary nerve given the recent bouts of white supremacy across the United States. The focus and energy Kaluuya carries in his eyes alone in these scenes – throwing it all out on the line as he makes his impassioned argument for peace – is incredibly representative of the fury and desperation seen today in Black Lives Matter protests across the country. A sobering realisation for audiences that not much has changed in the intervening years.

That’s not to say King’s film wallows in pessimism – it doesn’t. There is a flair to his direction; a stylisation to the informant storyline of O’Neill reminiscent of Spike Lee’s recent Blackkklansman but no less arresting. The camera swirls through the streets as we follow Bill bluffing his way to the top of the Black Panthers, capturing the side of him that no one else does through careful editing and musical cues. When things begin to go awry for Bill the menacing staccato Jazz notes that shriek against the stillness of the scene chill your blood; putting you on edge as you anticipate his next, potentially fatal move. Authentic costuming puts the viewer right into that late 60’s/early 70’s time period without being overly flashy and taking attention away from the performances of its stars, a rare skill that many period pieces could take a lesson from.

Judas and the Black Messiah is a triumph of filmmaking that explores one of the most influential figures in the African American civil rights movement in a way that ensures his message lives on in these troubling times. With Shaka King’s sure hand at the helm and career best performances from Kaluuya and Stanfield, this is a film that seeks to educate and entertain, achieving both through an intense story of betrayal, subterfuge and the moral divide between two people in the same marginalised group with wildly different outlooks on the world. There couldn’t be a more pertinent time for a film like this to be released, striking that raw nerve of society in a way that makes everyone look at themselves that little bit harder.

Judas and the Black Messiah stars Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Algee Smith, Dominique Thorne, Lil Rel Howery & Martin Sheen – In Australian cinemas March 11th and streaming on HBO Max and in US cinemas now.

Netflix is thriving in the current pandemic-ridden environment, capitalising on the closure of cinemas worldwide to secure millions of eyeballs on their seemingly endless torrent of original content. Within the myriad of original films that have hit the service during the pandemic, a curious little sub-genre has emerged: the Netflix action movie. First we had Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction; a relatively straightforward hostage thriller with some extraordinarily choreographed fight scenes and mind-blowing action. This was followed by the Charlize Theron led The Old Guard: an absolute waste of a promising sci-fi premise which devolved into tedium with middling action scenes which failed to excite alongside endless streams of exposition. The latest of these is the Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt starring Project Power, a somewhat inventive spin on the sci-fi genre which falls somewhere in between these two films with only its star power to rely on to get you through the poorly paced plot and boring set-pieces. Despite a solid performance from newcomer Dominique Fishback, Project Power is an utterly forgetful film which may offer a few hours of relief from crippling boredom, but does nothing to spark excitement or a desire to ever go back and explore this world.

Fishback plays Robin, a high-school teenager forced into slinging a particularly powerful drug in order to care for her ailing mother and ultimately pay for a life-saving surgery. The drug in question is “Power”, a pill that grants the user 5 minutes of superhuman abilities specific to that person. What powers does the person get? Well that’s the risk with “Power”; you don’t know until you try it. Maybe you’ll become a Human Torch-like walking wall of flame or maybe you’ll explode instantly and paint the walls red. Needless to say the drug appeals to a vast majority of criminal personalities and Robin has been working undercover with local New Orleans police detective Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to identify the source of the drug and put a stop to its spread. Elsewhere in New Orleans is Art (Jamie Foxx), a mysterious man hell bent on finding his kidnapped daughter, whose fate is inexplicably tied to the creation of “Power”. When the trio’s paths cross, they are forced into joining together to find Art’s daughter and put an end to the spread of “Power”.

On paper the plot of Project Power sounds pretty compelling. It’s a relatively original concept for a superhero film; something of a cross between the Bradley Cooper film Limitless and recent Netflix hit Code 8. It’s reasonably well produced and shot, not coming close to anything Marvel or DC have come out with, but with a decent amount of polish to pass it off as a mid-tier summer blockbuster in regular pre-COVID times. The chief problem with Project Power – and one that I’m starting to realise stretches to most of these Netflix films – is that it is so ridiculously unremarkable and forgettable. The somewhat interesting premise is completely wasted, with the film devolving into a series of cookie cutter set-pieces before culminating in a finale that resembles the Scooby Doo scene where the gang is chased through a series of doors. So intense was the blandness that I found myself forgetting what I had seen only minutes before, and don’t even get me started on trying to remember the plot a few days later to write this review. Netflix is throwing increasingly large sums of money at these sub-par scripts without actually caring about the final product and my mental exercise to try and list all the memorable quality films in the service’s catalogue took far too long to came up with barely a handful of titles. That’s not what you want to hear after attracting top-tier talent to the service and investing hundreds of millions of dollars on films that no one will remember existing after a week. Perhaps that is the business move? Make the films so utterly forgettable that you forget you’ve seen them and rewatch them over and over again. It’s not a particularly consumer friendly approach but hey as long as it increases Netflix’s bottom line, right?

Bringing in A-list stars to these projects almost acts as a double-edge sword in a sense, as the lead trio are quite literally the only good thing about Project Power and their natural charisma carries the audience through the film; not because their characters are well developed (they aren’t) but because you know Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and you like them in other things. Having said that, simply having Jamie Foxx in your movie doesn’t make it good. I should care about Art because his character is appealing and his motivations make sense to me and make me care about his plight, not because he is played by the man who sang “Gold Digger” and I love that song and therefore him in the film. This is a man who has had his daughter ripped away from him and doesn’t really seem all that concerned about it whatsoever. Sure he keeps telling you he’s going to rip through New Orleans to get her back, but then seems perfectly content to sit back and listen to Dominique Fishback’s character rap for what felt like an eternity. This little rapping sub-plot is just one of many that stop the film’s momentum dead in its tracks and while they provide a laugh every now and then; in a film that is struggling to keep my attention as is, any break from the main plot just makes you forget things faster. Despite the film’s problems, Fishback does give a fairly compelling turn as the down-on-her-luck Robin and has the only complete story-arc in the film. She is clearly a talent destined for a bright future, hopefully away from films like this that threaten to waste that talent.

You may be thinking from what I’ve written that I don’t care for Netflix. This isn’t true; I feel it is an amazingly powerful service that gives often unheard talents a platform to have their stories told. There are some truly wonderfully films on the service; just look at last year alone with Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Noah Baumbach’s superb Marriage Story. Clearly the service is capable of putting out good products. When it comes to this particular action genre however, Netflix needs to pick up their game severely and give some proper care and attention to genuinely good scripts, not just interesting ideas. Extraction worked with its limited scope and focus on action and choreography; it knew what it was and did it well. The Old Guard and now Project Power do not. Simply attracting A-List talent to a potentially solid idea without fully fleshing it into a script that takes advantage of that talent is a giant waste. Sure Project Power will be seen by millions of viewers around the world (not recommending you be one of them) but if nobody remembers it even exists, then what is the point of making it?

Project Power stars Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback, Rodrigo Santoro, Amy Landecker, Machine Gun Kelly & Courtney B. Vance – Available to stream on Netflix now.