Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Ever since exploding onto the screen as Moses, a teen gang leader who saves his South London council estate from an alien invasion in Attack the Block, John Boyega’s star power has been undeniable. That’s what made his sidelining in the Star Wars sequel trilogy so frustrating.
Despite beating out Tom Holland for the lead role of Finn, a stormtrooper turned Resistance freedom fighter in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Boyega’s presence was not only diminished in each passing film until his became an ancillary character, but he became the target of far-right Star Wars trolls unhappy with the series’ newfound diversity.
Fortunately for us, Boyega is back in the lead in Breaking, the feature directorial debut of Abi Damaris Corbin. He plays Lance Corporal Brian Brown-Easley, a real-life veteran of the Marines who, suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and facing homelessness after being unfairly denied his disability checks from the Veterans Administration, walked into a Wells Fargo Bank one day and said he had a bomb. It’s a dynamite turn from Boyega, who commands every inch of the screen as the despairing Brown-Easley, a man chewed up and spit out by the country he fought to protect. He’s joined by Nicole Beharie and Selenis Leyva, who impress as the bank employees he holds hostage, and the late great Michael K. Williams as a hostage negotiator (his second-to-last role).