892 movie review: John Boyega delivers career best performance

My 2022 Sundance Film Festival journey continues with 892, a film starring John Boyega and the last from the late Michael Kenneth Williams.

An opening sequence of the film is a father having a conversation with his daughter that is subtlety coming to an end as his phone is running out of minutes. I can’t think of a more poignant way to open the film because of the events that followed.

On July 7, 2017, former Marine Brian Brown-Easley (John Boyega) walked into an Atlanta area Wells Fargo bank claiming to possess a bomb. He allowed everyone to leave but two ladies. Brian had recently battle with the Veteran Affairs over $892 (where the film’s title comes from) and he intended one way or another to attempt to expose them for what they did to him.

John Boyega gives one of the best performances in 892

Soldiers are groomed to listen, take orders, shoot and kill, but never taught how to handle life after all of it happens. Director Abi Damaris Corbin highlights the disparity of what goes on within our system post-solider-life for these men and women. It exposes Veteran Affairs for their lack of empathy for those who fought for the freedom we live with every day.

I can’t imagine it was easy for John Boyega to get into the headspace of Brian, but how he portrayed this Marine was devastating. Boyega captures the emotions needed to make us feel everything the character does. There were some incredible moments, you see him genuinely rip your heart out, but the subtle moments of sincerity are where he really showed that deep down Brian was just a human being trying to protect his family. We are incredibly early on in the year, but I am not sure we will see many performances better than this.

Every time I would see Michael Kenneth Williams pop up in a movie, I would get a smile on my face and while I did smile, I was also sad because I knew this would be the last time I see him in a film. Nevertheless, I thought it was a touching role to round up a fantastic career.

With the tight director work, the incredible performance and a truly heartbreaking story, 892 is one movie you won’t want to miss.