Daniel Kaluuya offers a powerful performance that can put you among the Oscar candidates this season of awards, as shown in the new trailer for Judas and the Black Messiah.
Kaluuya (Get Out) portrays iconic Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, who was betrayed by FBI informant William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), who infiltrated the group as part of a court settlement.
While he comes to power within the Black Panther party and is seen as a threat to the U.S. government, he is also preparing to raise a family with his pregnant fiancee Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback).
Black Messiah: Daniel Kaluuya offers a powerful performance that can put you among the Oscar candidates this season of awards, as shown in the new trailer for Judas and the Black Messiah
Judas: Kaluuya (Get Out) portrays iconic Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, who was betrayed by FBI informant William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), who infiltrated the group as part of a court settlement
The trailer begins with Deborah saying to Fred, ‘I want to share something with you’, as she begins to recite a poem for Fred.
“Like the masses, I was amazed when I first saw all the things that you are,” she begins, as we watch footage of Hampton arriving at an event where he delivers a powerful speech.
“When I heard that speech, I knew we were going to make noise. I just thought it would be on the streets, ‘she continues.
Poem: the trailer starts with Deborah saying to Fred, ‘I want to share something with you’, as she starts reciting a poem for Fred
Speech: ‘Like the masses, I was amazed when I first saw everything you are’, she begins, seeing images of Hampton arriving at an event in which he delivers a powerful speech
We also heard FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen) proclaim in front of a room full of agents that the Black Panthers’ are the biggest threat to our national security.
“Our counterintelligence program must prevent the emergence of a Black Messiah,” adds Hoover, as FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) watches the crowd.
Mitchell tells O’Neal in an interrogation room that he faces 18 months for the stolen car plus five years for impersonating a federal officer, “or you can go home.”
J. Edgar: We also heard FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen) proclaim in front of a room full of agents that the Black Panthers’ are the biggest threat to our national security
Threat: “Our counterintelligence program must prevent the rise of a Black Messiah,” adds Hoover, as FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) watches the crowd.
Interrogation: Mitchell tells O’Neal in an interrogation room that he faces 18 months for the stolen car plus five years for impersonating a federal officer, ‘or you can go home’
O’Neal becomes Mitchell’s eyes and ears in the Black Panther group, as he said, ‘approach Hampton’.
Hampton is seen making another exciting speech where he reveals that the Black Panther is, ‘forming a coalition of oppressed brothers and sisters of all colors’, while both blacks and whites respond to his message.
They are heard to say that Hampton is saying, ‘America is on fire now, and until the fire is extinguished, nothing else means absolutely nothing. Imagine what we can accomplish together. We can heal this entire city. ‘
Get closer: O’Neal becomes Mitchell’s eyes and ears within the Black Panther group, as he said, ‘approach Hampton’
Cure: Hampton is heard to be saying, ‘America is on fire now, and until the fire is extinguished, nothing else means anything. Imagine what we can accomplish together. We can heal this entire city ‘
O’Neal is seen in an interrogation room with Mitchell again, with O’Neal making it clear, ‘these are not terrorists.’
One of Hampton’s close associates then tells him, ‘We have a rat’, while O’Neal is concerned about being exposed, although Mitchell says, ‘No one knows his identity.’
Johnson continues his poem in the midst of a shootout with Chicago cops, poignantly adding: ‘We scream and scream and live up to that hymn / but it’s a power for people that is really worth the ransom.’
Non-terrorists: O’Neal is seen in an interrogation room with Mitchell again, with O’Neal making it clear, ‘these are not terrorists’
Hampton responds to the poem by saying to Johnson, ‘When I dedicate my life to people, I dedicate my life’, apparently knowing his fate before it happened.
Johnson argues that he manages to ‘go around and talk about a revolutionary death because you don’t have another person growing inside your body’.
The trailer ends with Hampton saying to O’Neal: ‘Wherever there are people, there is power’.
Life: Hampton responds to the poem by saying to Johnson: ‘When I dedicate my life to people, I dedicate my life’, apparently knowing his fate before it happened
Growing up: Johnson argues that he can ‘go out and talk about dying a revolutionary death because you don’t have someone else growing inside your body’
Hampton was just 21 when he was killed in December 1969 in a pre-dawn operation in his Chicago apartment, just 25 days before his son Fred Jr. was born.
Shaka King (newlyweds, high maintenance) directs from a script he co-wrote with Will Berson (Scrubs).
Warner Bros. will release Judas and the Black Messiah in theaters and on HBO Max’s streaming service simultaneously on February 12.
Death: Hampton was just 21 when he was killed in December 1969 in a pre-dawn attack at his Chicago apartment, just 25 days before the birth of his son Fred Jr.
Release: Warner Bros. will release Judas and the Black Messiah in theaters and on HBO Max’s streaming service simultaneously on February 12