[Review] Da 5 Bloods (7/10)

Title - Da 5 Bloods
Studio - Netflix
Starring - Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isaiah Whitlock Jr., Paul Walter Hauser, John Reno, Jonathan Majors, Melanie Thierry, Chadwick Boseman
Writer - Spike Lee, Kevin Willmott, Danny Bilson, Paul DeMeo
Director - Spike Lee
Release - 12 June 2020

The movie is about 2.5 hours long, that's half an hour too long; 15 minutes at best.

I really enjoyed the way the screen changed from wide to the old square type, going back from present to the past.

It was also a brave choice to use the same senior actors as their younger self, instead of recasting or even deaging. A few clever cut-away choices and some body double work, and the action scenes were worked around.

I've always thought Delroy Lindo is a great actor, just that we don't see him much anymore. But the rest of the year would have to deliver even greater performances to keep him from a Best Actor nomination. This movie was almost 100% about his character and he carried it well.

But I never found out why he didn't like street or river peddlers. Did I miss something from the past, which I doubt as every time we jumped back it was in the jungle, or was that a creative choice? In which case I this would be where I disagreed with Spike Lee's storytelling.

It took a long time to get to where things got more interesting, which would be the third act. And the second act almost made me lose interest if it didn't change up the pace. While the scenes were there to set the mood and tone, and to capture Vietnam, I wondered if every scene was necessary or if they could be cut down.

There was a scene where a one legged Vietnamese ambushed the old-timers outside a pub, I thought Lindo's character was going to rain hell on him; instead we cut away immediately to the next scene. So what was that really for?

But that classic Spike Lee shock value really came to play in the final act. Though the first landmine was just too obvious and should have been done with a little more subtlety.

And I also wondered if this movie would look better on the silver screen instead of my small television at home.