‘Is God Is’ Is the Revenge Thriller Nobody Saw Coming, and Critics Are Already Calling It One of 2026’s Best
Playwright-turned-filmmaker Aleshea Harris has spent years building a reputation on stages across America, and her Obie Award-winning play ‘Is God Is’ has now made a striking leap to the big screen. Written and directed by Harris in her feature debut, the film is based on her own 2018 play and follows twin sisters pushed to extraordinary lengths after their bedridden mother orders them to kill the abusive father who scarred them as children.
The premise draws heavily from Greek mythology, Black culture, and the spirit of road trip revenge epics in the vein of Quentin Tarantino. Distributed by Amazon MGM Studios through the Orion Pictures banner, the film unites a powerhouse cast that includes Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Vivica A. Fox, Sterling K. Brown, and Janelle Monáe, with Tessa Thompson serving as one of its producers.
When the film opened in theaters on May 15, the critical response was immediate and overwhelming. ‘Is God Is’ earned a Certified Fresh designation on Rotten Tomatoes with a remarkable 98 percent score, marking a milestone for the film and the fearless new voice behind it. Over at Metacritic, early reviews placed it at an 84, a figure that signals near-universal enthusiasm from the critical community.
The reviews themselves read less like assessments and more like dispatches from something genuinely rare. Writing for The Wrap, critic Witney Seibold described the film as a “bolt from the blue” arrival from a new artist with a new voice, one that audiences and critics alike will look forward to hearing again. Over at IndieWire, the film earned an A-minus, with reviewer Alison Foreman writing that Harris perfectly navigates her characters’ unbearable suffering through dark humor, dream-like visuals, and a great soundtrack, ultimately delivering catharsis in what she called an “electric conclusion.”
Much of the praise has centered on Kara Young, a two-time Tony Award winner making her film lead debut alongside Mallori Johnson, with the pair drawing comparisons to all the justifiably angry Black women who deserved more than the world gave them. Sterling K. Brown plays the father figure, credited throughout only as “the Monster,” bringing a quietly menacing presence that shapes the film’s entire emotional register without a single moment of unnecessary bombast.
Beyond the performances, critics have flagged Harris’s command of tone as the film’s defining achievement, noting how she weaves spaghetti westerns, grindhouse extremism, and Greek tragedy into something that feels completely singular. Mashable’s Kristy Puchko described the filmmaking as “mythic, mesmerizing, and menacing” and called it easily one of the year’s best films.
For anyone who has not yet made it to a theater, a debut this precise and this punishing from a first-time director only comes around so often. If you have already seen ‘Is God Is’, we want to know where you stand on its most divisive question: did Racine and Anaia ultimately find the justice they were after, or did the film leave you with something far more complicated?
