Review: Antebellum an Amazon Prime Original

First, it helps to know what antebellum means – which I didn’t before I
started the movie. It means “before a war” – specifically the
American Civil War.

Now… here’s what I will say. Janelle Monae is god damn force of nature. I
thought her performance was stellar. I can’t say enough. She was wonderful and
believable.

Gabourey Sidibe (from Precious) returns(?) to the big screen, well movies (I
hadn’t heard about her being in anything since Precious) and is pretty great in
a small supporting role (THANKS BECKY! YOU’RE DOING A GREAT JOB!) That line and
her delivery killed me.

Everyone else is stock racists, even Jena Malone, whom I adore as an
actress, is given a simple one dimensional villain that she tries real hard to
breathe life into.

The story is good. Slavery revenge. I’m down. Fuck those slavers. Except
everything feels really heavy handed. I can’t say much more without going into
spoilers and revealing the twist, which I should have seen coming but didn’t.

It’s an important story, and a worthy entry into Black Horror, but it’s
message is lost in story (characters don’t have room to become fully realized),
some shot choices that again, like Midnight Sky, drag on for too long, and I
felt the villain was weak.

This is a horror, make no mistake. The first 45mins are hard to watch, on
purpose, but the real horror is when you realize wtf is actually going on. I
recommend it. You won’t be blown away, but you won’t hate it either… unless
you’re a racist. Also it’s for a black audience, so take all of this in the
context of a white dude who hates racism and loves film.