Runtime: 156 minutes
This was a Spike Lee joint
Starring: Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., Chadwick Boseman
From: Netflix
The large role that Jonathan Majors has bears no impact on my rating. It was the first thing I’ve ever seen him in and acting-wise, no complaints. As a human being… most signs suggest he’s an abusive clod who also is afflicted w/ self-importance. He was not the main reason why I selected the film on Netflix. Feeling like I should see some more Spike Lee joints was more important for me. So was a Chadwick Boseman role that wasn’t in the MCU.
It was a long yet compelling journey as four veterans of the Vietnam War return to the country after decades to find the remains of their fallen comrade Boseman… and locate the gold they found back then; circumstances allowed them to finally find the loot again. I should try and track down interviews or at least quotes where Lee discusses the old movies or plays he is a fan of. After all, he adapted the Greek play Lysistrata into Chi-Raq (not one of his most popular films), remade Oldboy-most say it’s his worst movie-will put his spin on Kurosawa’s High and Low soon, & Bloods was his riff on The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Of course the idea of avarice corrupting people was handled with the lens of how the Black characters were treated throughout their lives-they were flawed even before their return-one having PTSD and guilt that hasn’t lessened through the decades, Vietnam’s world changing so drastically, they have an Apocalypse Now bar, and the character’s decision on how to distribute-or not-the millions of dollars. I’ve only seen a small amount of his filmography but Spike’s unique, in your face style has been apparent since the beginning. Here, there are a few occasions where photos are shown in the middle of a scene, the aspect ratio changes a few times, a character delivers a soliloquy to the camera for what seemed like five minutes, the flashbacks are done in a unique yet effective manner, and Lee made his hatred of Trump readily apparent at least a few times.
There’s more than one misstep along the way… in fact, you could say the film stepped on a landmine. In totality, the film was still pretty good. It kept my interest through more than 2 ½ hours, after all. The cast as a whole was fine, although Delroy Lindo was the highlight for reasons I won’t reveal; as many have noted, he should have at least been nominated for awards w/ the performance. The soundtrack-full of Marvin Gaye songs-worked for me as it set the retro tone. It was also nice seeing Jean Reno in a GOOD Netflix original picture.
As a dumb white guy, the movie’s themes still had an impact due to presentation; it was also a reminder that I would be well-served to see more Spike Lee joints, many of which have higher ratings than Da 5 Bloods.
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