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Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield give award-worthy performances as party leader Fred Hampton and the man who betrayed him
In the Oscar-tipped current release The United States vs Billie Holiday, a federal agent with deeply divided loyalties is dispatched to infiltrate and undermine a powerful voice of civil rights. That scenario is echoed in this superior “Inspired By True Events” drama from director and co-writer Shaka King, in which Lakeith Stanfield plays a petty car thief strong-armed into spying on prominent Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, charismatically portrayed by dead-cert Oscar contender Daniel Kaluuya.
“A badge is scarier than a gun,” explains William O’Neal (Stanfield) when he’s arrested for impersonating an FBI agent to steal a flashy ride. “It’s like you got a whole damn army behind you.” Instead, he now has agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) on his case, offering him a choice between several years in prison or becoming an informant. At the specific instruction of J Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen, sporting Dracula-like makeup), the bureau has set its sights on Hampton, who is forging allegiances with a rainbow coalition of partners (“rednecks and Puerto Ricans!”) as the Panthers’ influence expands. Continue reading...