Is God Is Review: Blaxploitation Riff Has Fun Performances, Style, but Underwhelming Screenplay

Once picked up by A24 but dropped by the indie studio and moved to Orion Pictures, Aleshea Harris’s Is God Is seems on paper like a massive home run for genre film fans. Although it has some strong performances that keep it from being totally uninteresting, Is God Is isn’t the fresh take on the genre that the premise and pedigree promise.

What is Is God Is about?

Is God Is follows two twin sisters who receive a letter from their estranged mother, asking them to avenge her for the pain caused to all of them by her abusive ex, their father. Adapted from Harris’s play of the same name, the movie plays out like a road movie by way of Blaxploitation, but it doesn’t live up to its full potential.

Is God Is Review

Kara Young stars as Racine and Mallori Johnson as Anaia in IS GOD IS, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Patti Perret. © 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.

While this seems like it might be an interesting opportunity to explore important themes like domestic abuse, this is merely the film’s way into a relatively straightforward revenge storyline. For something that is ostensibly a modernization of these tropes, failing to explore these more modern themes is one of the biggest disappointments.

But the biggest issue with Is God Is is that it’s not a particularly fun movie. This isn’t an action-packed throwback a la Tarantino, nor should it be. But for something ‌adapted from a play, the dialogue shockingly lacks the snappiness that would make a project like this work. Instead, the movie feels as if it is labored to get from one encounter to the next.

Like many exploitation films, Is God Is coasts on the charisma of its leads, and Harris’s script gives us two compelling antiheroines. While their character arcs veer into conventionality in the third act, there is a lot of nuance in how they are introduced at the beginning of the movie that gets the audience invested. Kara Young and Mallori Johnson also give very strong performances that ground the film in emotion.

The real star of the show, though, is Sterling K. Brown, who delivers a performance that would be top form in pretty much any other actor’s filmography, but stands out as just yet another highlight in his repertoire. While his villainous turn in the movie easily could have been painted in broad strokes, like many of those in the movies this is clearly referencing, Brown instead goes for something more nuanced that also ends up feeling infinitely more menacing.

Vivica A. Fox is also great in her role, although her turn feels like much more of a legacy play. Her scene-stealing performance — one scene at the beginning of the film — is packed with so much history of an actress who came up in the neo-exploitation movies that influenced this one, as she hands off the baton to the next generation of actresses. And her line delivery is spot-on, striking the perfect balance between camp and sincerity.

The rest of the supporting cast is fine, if nowhere near as memorable as Brown or Fox. The biggest sin of the film is that Mykelti Williamson’s character largely does not speak. Although he does well enough in the role, his jibe is sorely missed. Janelle Monáe is solid, but her role isn’t long enough to make much of an impression. Meanwhile, Erika Alexander gives one of the movie’s most exaggerated performances, but it accomplishes its goal. 

Kara Young stars as Racine, Vivica A. Fox as Ruby and Mallori Johnson as Anaia in IS GOD IS, from Amazon MGM Studios. Photo credit: Patti Perret. © 2026 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Aleshea Harris does bring a lot of personality to her directorial debut, keeping it from feeling entirely derivative of every other Blaxploitation riff we have seen in recent memory. However, despite there being some big swings in the cinematography and editing styles, more of them are misses than hits. Unlike many first features, Is God Is does not feel like the work of a novice trying to find their voice, but that of an assured and confident artist whose style just isn’t fully effective. 

Is Is God Is worth watching?

There are certainly things to like about Is God Is — namely excellent performances by Sterling K. Brown and Vivica A. Fox — but the movie as a whole ends up a disappointment. It just feels like a slog, which is one of the worst things that could happen to a riff on exploitation films.

Is God Is hits theaters on May 15.

Is God Is Review: Blaxploitation Riff Has Fun Performances, Style, but Underwhelming Screenplay