02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
‘40 Acres' reinvigorates an old action genre with provocative new blood
'40 Acres' is a genre movie the way genre movies are supposed to be but rarely are. It invigorates an old premise with fresh ideas, layers well-crafted action with thematic richness, boasts committed performances and is so taut with tension that the audience might snap before the characters do. Best of all, it features the brilliant actress Danielle Deadwyler as a ferocious postapocalyptic Mother Courage. Deadwyler should have been Oscar-nominated for playing Emmett Till's mother in 'Till' (2022) and as the sister in 'The Piano Lesson' (2024); she's a stage-trained artist who brings riveting emotional authenticity to whatever she does, whether it's classy, like those two earlier movies, or mean and lowdown, like this new one.
