Smash Cut

Tag: Spike Lee

  • ‘Da 5 Bloods’ is Spike Lee’s best-acted joint yet | review

    ‘Da 5 Bloods’ is Spike Lee’s best-acted joint yet | review

    Da 5 Bloods follows a squad of Vietnam veterans who return to the country to find a buried treasure and their fallen comrade

    Quick cut: On its surface, Da 5 Bloods is an exhilirating adventure filled with twists, turns, and Spike Lee’s iconic style. However, it’s also a depth-filled character study that his heartbreakingly prescient about our present moment.

    ★★★★★

    Though Spike Lee has a penchant for cinematic flourishes—direct-to-camera monologues, splicing in archival footage and photographs, and, of course, his famous double dolly shot—he’s not one to let style overcome the substance of a piece. Such is the case of his latest film Da 5 Bloods, which was released on Netflix this month. And as with his Oscar-winning previous effort BlacKkKlansman, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

    The five “bloods” that the title refers to are Vietnam veterans Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clark Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis), Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), and their fallen comrade Norman Earl “Stormin’ Norman” Holloway (Chadwick Boseman). During their stint in Vietnam, the squad was tasked with delivering a locker of gold bars to the Lahu people as a show of gratitude for their help fighting the Viet Cong. However, instead of delivering the bars as promised, the group conspires under Norm’s command to take the gold for themselves by burying it and retrieving it later.

    💌 Sign up for our weekly email newsletter with movie recommendations available to stream.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    In the present day, we learn that Norm was killed during the mission and a napalm strike of the area left them unable to locate the buried treasure. Now, with a lifetime behind them, the four surviving Bloods reunite to find the gold together. However, time—and society—has changed each of them. Not only that, their time in Vietnam still weighs heavily on their shoulders, especially Paul. 

    Lee’s greatest talent as a filmmaker is finding a way to remit thematic heftiness and deep character explorations while delivering a genuinely entertaining story with striking characters. Da 5 Bloods may be his greatest success in that aspect. As the squad, joined by Paul’s son David (Jonathan Majors), traverses the jungles of Vietnam and relive their past with the help of their local guide Vinh (Johnny Trí Nguyễn) and Otis’ old Vietnamese girlfriend Tiên (Lê Y Lan), insecurities from the past and present begin to haunt them. 

    In particular, Paul, who has become a devout Trump supporter—he unashamedly wears a “Make America Great Again” hat throughout the film—has become disillusioned. For him, Vietnam is still the enemy and the cause for all the pain in his life—including his PTSD and loss of his wife during childbirth. The squad’s return isn’t triumphant for him like it is for the other men.Da 5 Bloods, though packaged as a story of adventure—an actual treasure hunt—and one of friendship and nostalgia, is incredibly profound and prescient about the state of this country. Norman, portrayed as a Christ-like figure—Otis even says, “he was our Malcolm and our Martin”—delivers the film’s message.

    Da 5 Bloods Netflix
    DA 5 BLOODS (L to R) NORM LEWIS as EDDIE, CLARKE PETERS as OTIS, ISIAH WHITLOCK JR. as MELVIN and DELROY LINDO as PAUL in DA 5 BLOODS Cr. DAVID LEE/NETFLIX © 2020

    The treatment of Black people in Vietnam is nothing more than an amplification of the treatment of Black people in America. They’re underpaid, undervalued, and expected to subservient to their White commanders and the will of the country. The film even opens with a clip from Muhammad Ali: “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother … some poor hungry people living in the mud. Shoot them for what? They never called me a n—–. They never lynched me. They didn’t put no dogs on me.”

    Lindo’s performance as Paul—easily one of the best in a Spike Lee film since Denzel Washington’s Malcolm X—is heartbreaking to watch as it shows what could happen when an oppressed person is so traumatized that their only salvation is the thing oppressing them. The other Bloods find joy in the adventure, Paul only finds pain. 

    Da 5 Bloods is Lee’s most ambitious and impressive film to date. The sweeping cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel effortlessly switches between the vast Vietnam landscape of the present day and past to contribute to the narrative. As does Terence Blanchard’s score, which is as epic as a war film requires, but still find nuances to help the characters along. Still, it’s Lee’s steady directing at the helm that makes Da 5 Bloods breezily enjoyable while finding moments to poke at your emotional vulnerabilities. 

    On its surface, Da 5 Bloods is a war epic about four Vietnam veterans hunting for treasure and finding their fallen comrade to bring him home. They do find that fallen comrade’s remains and Lindo’s monologue—laced with relief and regret—tells you everything you need to know about the film. Under the exciting veneer of this adventure, there’s pain at the hands of society and self. And that pain is still here today. Black Lives Mattered then and they matter now. 

    Da 5 Bloods is now streaming on Netflix.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    More movies, less problems

    Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

    💌 Sign up for our weekly email newsletter with movie recommendations available to stream.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    💌 Sign up for our weekly email newsletter with movie recommendations available to stream.

    ADVERTISEMENT
  • ‘BlacKkKlansman’ review — Spike Lee’s response to Trump and hate

    ‘BlacKkKlansman’ review — Spike Lee’s response to Trump and hate

    BlacKkKlansman is an astonishing and often ridiculous true story that is terrifyingly relevant today

    BlacKkKlansman begins with a clip of Gone with the Wind where Vivian Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara navigates thousands of bodies during the aftermath of a Civil War battle. Then, it abruptly cuts to a Dr. Kennebrew Beaureguard (Alec Baldwin essentially assuming his SNL Trump persona) as he films—attempts to, at least—a PSA that explains why “scientifically” the white race is superior. It’s an off-kilter way to begin a movie that explores such a serious topic, but that’s just the way that Spike Lee operates. When Lee adds style to his films, it’s to also add substance. That’s what makes the film’s ending knock the breath out of you.

    One of the highlights of the film is an early scene where Ron Stallworth (John David Washington)—he is the first black detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department—is assigned to infiltrate a rally where civil rights activist and leader Kwame Ture (Corey Hawkins with an incredible one-scene performance) is delivering a speech. Since it is his first real assignment—he was been working in the records room taking racists taunts mostly from Landers (Fred Weller)—Stallworth is the consummate professional.

    In the speech, Ture emphasizes the importance of black pride in the fight for equality and the liberation of black people. “We have to stop being ashamed of being black. A broad nose, a thick lip and nappy hair is us and we are going to call that beautiful whether they like it or not,” he says. And all throughout his speech, images of the black faces that are listening intently with fire and hope in their eyes fade in and out of frame. It’s thrilling and emotional. Stallworth seems to be affected by the speech too. Most movies are lucky to have one of those moments. Lee is able to pull off several in BlacKkKlansman.

    Eventually, Stallworth is promoted to the intelligence division where he responds to an ad in the paper promotion the Ku Klux Klan. He calls the number listed and speaks with Walter Breachway (Ryan Eggold), the local president of the chapter. Stallworth is sure to list every race, religion, and people that the KKK despise and using their colorful language to describe each group. Impressed, Breachway invites Stallworth to meet. Of course, he can’t actually meet him, which is why Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) steps in as the physical embodiment of Stallworth.

    “Stop running away from being black.”

    — Kuame Ture (Corey Hawkins), BlacKkKlansman

    Whenever we see the Klan members, Lee portrays them like they are in a minstrel show. Some of what happens is slapstick and darkly hilarious. At one point, Felix (Jasper Pääkkönen), one of the more aggressive members of the chapter, forces Zimmerman—who is still posing as Stallworth and slowly making bonds in the group—to take a lie detector test. The ensuing scene between the two is some of the most sharply hilarious dialogue I’ve seen in a film all year. Another member, Ivanhoe (Paul Walter Hauser), might as well be wearing a dunce cap.

    However, the threat they pose is not underplayed. Felix, along with his wife Connie (Ashlie Atkinson, a standout), are planning an attack on the Black Student Union led by Stallworth’s love interest and activist Patrice (a criminally underused Laura Harrier from Spider-Man: Homecoming). Elsewhere, the Grand Wizard of the Klan David Duke (Topher Grace)—eventually Stallworth has several conversations with him and Zimmerman eventually meets—has political ambitions that terrifyingly mirrors our world today too closely. As one character puts it, it’s “another way to sell hate.”

    However, Lee also explores this true story based on Ron Stallworth’s memoir—he took creative liberties in several places—on the character level. Specifically, he explores identity as Stallworth tries to figure out how to both be a black man and a cop—a fact that Patrice finds hard to get over—and Zimmerman attempts to accept his Jewish heritage.

    In the end, BlacKkKlansman is greater than the sum of its parts. Though it comes in at a robust 135 minutes, I almost wish it was a little bit longer to tie up some of the plot threads that we pick up and drop along the way. However, the power of the story can’t be underplayed and that’s all thanks to Spike Lee’s masterful execution and knockout performances by Washington and Driver—both Oscar-worthy. After the truly stunning final sequence, an upside down American flag appears before fading to black and white. It’s Lee’s way of saying—and what one character says at a point in the film—”why don’t you wake up?” 

    BlacKkKlansman is available to rent or buy on Amazon!

    Karl’s rating: