Release: Assata

 

Assata

Genre: Biography/Crime

Director: Ryan Coogler

Writer: Dawson Edwards

Cast: Teyonah Parris, Brian Tyree Henry, Tessa Thompson, Aldis Hodge, Wood Harris, Janelle Monae

Budget: $27,000,000

Domestic Box Office: $31,330,075

Foreign Box Office: $10,021,777

Total Profit: -$1,100,009

Reaction: Even with the lack of marquee names in this one, it still almost managed to break even at the box office so it's not the worst outcome.

“The strongest thing that Assata has going for it is Coogler’s vision behind the camera, leading to thrilling sequences of both tense dialogue and intense action. The entire film rides on the back of Teyonah Parris, who handles those duties well. In exchange, it felt like the supporting characters were hardly there–although her brief scenes with Bryan Tyree Henry are particularly strong. This is an inherent challenge with telling a story over the course of fifteen years, as some parts felt sped through in favor of the big set-pieces.” - Gregory Fletcher, Los Angeles Times-Journal

"Okay, so I didn’t know who Assata Shakur was before seeing this. Teyonah Parris is fire under direction of Ryan Coogler. Sure, it gets preachy at times, and something tells me it may play a little fast and loose with the facts, but you can’t deny how timely it feels. Whether you think she’s a hero or not, Assata turns the volume up on how we tell stories about power, resistance, and who gets to write the narrative." - Chuckie Smits, MovieCrush Daily 

"Ryan Coogler's Assata is undeniably well-crafted, but the film’s reverence for a convicted cop-killer is troubling. Teyonah Parris shows some star potential in the lead role, but the screenplay veers toward hagiography, glossing over the violence and legal complexities that define Assata Shakur’s real-life legacy. The film romanticizes revolutionary violence with little reflection, and in doing so, walks a morally precarious line. A more balanced take could have had a strong impact, but telling the story so one-sided left me confused by the filmmakers' take." - Brad Quinn, The National Review of Culture

Rated R for violence, language, and thematic material.