Antebellum – An Unsubtle Misfire (Early Review)

I may sound like a broken record at this point but here is another film affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Antebellum is another film to have its release date shifted several times before finally being awarded an upcoming VOD release. That being said, it is easy to wonder if the wait will be worth it. While that is not necessarily an easy question to answer, fans of Janelle Monáe will certainly be thrilled but the majority of the film that surrounded her was disappointing to say the least. Perhaps the worst part of the film was how pointless it was. Though it may mean well, it all adds up to an incoherent mess that is more frustrating than thrilling or scary to watch.

Those who have seen any of the film’s promotional material probably already have a good idea of what to expect but for anyone else, Antebellum saw a successful doctor and author named Victoria Henley (Monáe) in a precarious situation where she was essentially relegated to being a slave working on a mysterious Civil War era plantation alongside several other African-American slaves. She and the other slaves were often subjected to torture as the film never seemed to rise above the idea that slavery and racism are bad, beating us over the head with its lack of subtly. After a while, this repetitiveness of it becomes tiresome. That, along with any kind of depth or profoundness whatsoever, will surely lead some viewers to tune the film out, long before its ridiculous ending. Therefore any kind of sentimentality or emotion that could have occurred will be difficult.

If there’s one good thing that could be said about Antebellum, the aforementioned Monáe does indeed deliver a stellar performance as Victoria, taking charge in a few exciting albeit unearned moments, but in the end, she could only do so much. Meanwhile, Lange and Jack Huston are pretty much stereotypes as the sinister Him and Captain Jasper respectively. Malone, however, does steal a few scenes thanks to her unintentionally hilarious southern accent as the equally sinister Elizabeth.

At the end of the day, Antebellum is an unfortunate failure that should still find an audience but beware.

still courtesy of Lionsgate

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.