‘Jaw-dropping.’ See what critics say about Chadwick Boseman’s last role
The last movie featuring Chadwick Boseman is now on Netflix — and the critics love it.
Boseman, who portrayed the title character in Marvel’s “Black Panther” as well as many other critically acclaimed roles, died in August of colon cancer. He was 43 years old.
His most recent movie, Netflix’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” is the last acting role he was in before he died.
Starring Viola Davis alongside Boseman, the movie set in 1920s Chicago follows the tensions “when fiery, fearless blues singer Ma Rainey (Davis) joins her band for a recording session.”
The movie has received a 99% through Rotten Tomatoes’ composite of movie reviews.
What do critics think of Boseman’s final performance?
Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service: “Boseman gives his all and then some, as trumpeter Levee. It’s a jaw-dropping display of his unmatched talent, in a role that allows him to show off the full range of his skill, from joyous singing and dancing to powerfully dramatic oration and cathartically expressed emotion.”
Aisha Harris, NPR: “It is impossible to watch him revel in such a layered and exciting performance and not be struck by a profound sense of sadness over what more he could have done. After playing a string of dignified and stately roles — Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, King T’Challa — the hot-headed Levee is closer in spirit to his exuberant spin on James Brown in ‘Get on Up’ and further proof of his ability to inhabit a multitude of characterizations and personas.”
Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: When Boseman posthumously receives a best actor nomination, it will be difficult to imagine anyone who actually saw the performance will believe the accolade was boosted by sentiment. This work stands on its own as the best of Boseman’s career and one of the most transcendent performances of the year.”
Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post: “He might have been best known for playing a superhero in ‘Black Panther,’ but the effortlessness with which he inhabits Levee reminds viewers of just how profound and still-untapped his talents were.”
Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press: “It goes without saying that the performance is brilliant, and yes, electric, but it’s also heroic. If there had to be a final role, what a gift that it was this, an exclamation point to a career that seems ever more momentous.”
Karen Han, Slate: “It’s a fitting, heartbreaking swan song for Boseman, who, with Levee, makes his most notable break from the icons he’d played before, demonstrating that he was capable of even more than we knew — that he was just getting started.”
Peter Travers, ABC News: “Boseman is simply off-the-charts in a display of acting prowess that will be talked about for years. Whether he’s playing the ladies’ man in his snazzy new shoes, buying into false promises from white employers or cursing an absent God for allowing the brutal attack on his mother that scarred his childhood, Boseman hits the screen with hurricane force.”
This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 11:29 AM with the headline "‘Jaw-dropping.’ See what critics say about Chadwick Boseman’s last role."