Da 5 Bloods

In a modern era communities all over not only have to worry about a destructive COVID-19 global pandemic but also various forms of heinous disruptive actions against their own. There has always been talks about how we've progressed past the misdeeds against black people and other people of other races, but current actions that have occurred around the time of this review say otherwise. One way to communicate a type of message to the public is via cinema. If there is a black filmmaker who's not afraid to be blunt in this area during his own projects, it would be Spike Lee. He has shown up on this blog before in my past review of BlackKklansman (2018), which demonstrates that type of strength of his (alongside another famous film he directed Do the Right Thing (1989)). Admittedly my experience with his works is very limited to those 2 entries (yes...I haven't even seen Malcolm X (1992)). This brings us to Da 5 Bloods, his newest film (following his success with BlackKklansman) that has been digitally released onto Netflix. Similar to Extraction, this is yet another movie on that streaming platform that I haven't heard of until it had been reviewed by YouTube cinephiles I rely on. It was distributed by Netflix on June 12th and since I was making my 2020 watchlist in the order of what I remembered had come out this year, it wasn't my priority until this past week. I went in completely blind having avoided the trailers but expected something somewhat similar in quality to BlackKklansman and after watching it, I enjoyed it but can't ignore some sloppy issues.  

What's it about? The story follows a group of black Vietnam War veterans reuniting to search for their fallen comrades remains and something else of value while dealing with internal/external strife. The director went for a number of choices to convey what his intentions are with his war drama and there are definitely benefits that strengthened the story quality. It's not afraid to directly mention how lives for African American troops have been affected upon their return from wars alongside experiencing the shock of tragic events that occurred in the states while in another country. It's very clear how its main focus is on how the friends are affected by the actions caused by the PTSD paranoia from one of their own, which is a well-done story arc. The well-intention message is an endearing one to check out, especially given how it's needed in our modern age. 

There are some drawbacks in the script that stumble the momentum of the story that are hard to ignore. With much of the attention on the PTSD and item worth a lot of money, it causes a ripple effect of unimportant characters to do things just for the sake of pushing the plot forward. This makes of those people a lot with other extras to feel like unnecessary salad dressing that all pile on and lower the quality (this is the most evident in the final third). While most of the films length is warranted and feels relatively smooth, that type of sloppiness unintentionally prevents this from reaching all around greatness.

Stylistic choices: Due to the fair number of Vietnam War flashbacks, the movie changes aspect ratios to help the audience tell the difference between the past and present. This is necessary due to the choice of opting not to recast the actors as their younger selves nor digitally de-age them for those segment but rather have them portray those parts themselves (it makes sense why later on). There's also old footage and photos from that time period spread throughout that's shocking at times to see but is good to have to inform the audience about those bits of history. 

 

How are the actors? In regards to story importance, the people to focus on are Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, and Clarke Peters. Delroy is the MVP of the cast due to his amazing performance in this central role he has where you don't what he's going to do in his mentally unstable state that's worth watching for alone. Jonathan is also great due to how her interacts with Delroy in a disorderly father-son relationship while attempting to find a way out of later emerging predicaments. Clarke is a delight performer here as someone attempting to be some sort of peacekeeper diving into a simple missions that erupts into an unpredictable conundrum. It should be noted that the cast in the veteran group (Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, and Isiah Whitlock Jr) have scenes of engaging chemistry with one another, it's just that only a few of them are more of a central focus than the other. 

Honorable mentions go to Melanie Thierry and Chadwick Boseman with the former having decent chemistry with Jonathan (despite her plot part feeling sloppy) while the latter gives a solid performance regardless of his limit screen time. 

Overall Consensus: Da 5 Bloods is a fascinating war drama that thrives on its great acting, well-intended message, commentary on history, and a captivating main arc, despite faltering on unnecessary plot details that stumble some of the execution. ⭑⭑⭑⭑ Runtime: 2 hours 34 minutes R 

Reasons to watch it: You are a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Spike Lee. You want to see a black veterans perspective on their treatment during wars. You want to see what kind of creative choices or film influences Spike Lee injects here. You don't mind one of the protagonists being a Trump supporter and are curious about the few comments that are made about him (the movie itself is not that political though so don't worry about that part). You don't mind seeing older actors as themselves during past events (not being de-aged nor played by younger ones). You enjoy seeing paranoia PTSD driven storylines affect dynamics. 

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't a fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Spike Lee. You dislike war dramas in general. You have a problem with seeing older actors as themselves during past events (not being de-aged nor played by younger ones). You have an issue with 2.5 hour long features.