Black Dynamite

Black Dynamite (2009)

83% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 42 reviews)

Runtime: 90 minutes

Directed by: Scott Sanders

Starring: Michael Jai White, Arsenio Hall, Tommy Davidson, Kevin Chapman, Salli Richardson

From: Apparition/Destination Films/ARS Media/etc.

Here’s the last review I’ll post for at least another week, as the week I have in front of me is going to be pretty busy, I know that already.

Back last year I heard of this film called Black Dynamite and how it was a spoof of 70’s Blaxploitation films, a genre I know about but which I’ve seen far too little of. I followed it online to see if the limited release movie would make its way to Florida or not. It turned out that aside from playing late last year in Miami for two days when I couldn’t make it down there, I had to wait until this weekend (when it will be out 9 days from now) to see it, and it was at the Enzian, the “arty” theatre in the Orlando area which usually shows high brow and alternative faire and have nice couches/chairs to sit on and you can have food made for you, usually of the frou-frou variety. As always, interesting people show up there. It includes the likes of a middle-age guy with Frank Zappa facial hair and who was wearing a tophat, because… well, I have no idea. Also, there were guys with Tekken 6 and Zelda shirts, and a Super Mario Brother 3 trackjacket, with Raccoon Mario proud and center on the front. Like I said, what a crowd.

I had no idea how they would receive the film, but I know that the showing on Friday night and the one on this night (the only two dates they are having it, as both were midnight screenings… well, they went bananas for it, from the opening spoof ad all the way to the animated end credits and then the brief clips played at the very end. I mean, there was loud applause when the end credit started and that rarely happens when I go out to the cineplexes.

In short, this movie is about the title character (White) and the various exploits he goes through while, among other things, avenging the death of his brother, cleaning the local streets of “smack” and then fighting against a conspiracy against African-Americans. It’s over the top in the same way that those Blaxploitation films were, and it’s all hilarious. Like I said people were laughing almost the entire time at all the greatness we got to see. It’s in particular a loving homage to Dolemite, a movie that is technically awful (you see the boom mic multiple times, and not on purpose; in BD, you do see it once, and it was on purpose) but it great due to the late Rudy Ray Moore and his constant rapping; BD has a character named Bullhorn (Byron Minns) that raps the same exact way. Not only is it a laugh riot from beginning to end but it looks exactly as if it was a low-budget flick of the era from the early to mid 70’s, from the clothing to the vehicles to the general look of the film that was used. Also, the action scenes, which like in Dolemite were a lot of kung-fu and gunplay, were greatly done. So, if it sounds like something that you’d be interested in, then it’s something you should fall in love with.