AllMovie

Loosely based on a true story, director Jon S. Baird's Cass traces the evolution of one individual from an infant with slim prospects to one of the most respected and feared individuals in the United Kingdom. Nonso Alonzie stars as the title character, who begins life as a Jamaican baby bereft of his parents, but promptly witnesses his fate and future turn an unexpected corner with his adoption by an elderly Caucasian couple. Pummeled mercilessly and bullied with racist taunts as a boy, Cass instinctively takes matters into his own hands and thus discovers a source of power and control, in violent action, that he never knew he possessed. Eventually, however, this path comes back to bite him via a assassination attempt against him, that is - mercifully - unsuccessful. In time, Cass reaches a fork in the road, and must choose between continuing to embrace the violence that has shaped and colored his life, or opting for more controlled and thoughtful approach to conflict.