BlacKkKlansman: A Very Expensive Middle Finger

Rating: 7/10 (29 August 2018)

BlacKkKlansman was an interesting movie to me. For one, I, a person of mixed race, saw it with my mother and her boyfriend, both of whom are black, and I brought my friend, who happens to be white, along with us. The movie revolves around this rookie cop, the first black officer in the history of his town's department, going undercover along with a partner to infiltrate their town's chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. From the beginning of the film, the movie keeps up a vivacious and infectious energy, with an enjoyable soundtrack and, in my opinion, killer theme song (which admittedly gets played a bit too much) that keeps your attention focused solely on the screen. The camerawork is slick and the dialogue is smart and witty, truly marking it as A Spike Lee Joint. The actors do a fine job for the most part (sans the chief), and they are truly able to sell their characters as people that exist in a community rocked with political discourse and fraught with racial tension. For all the film has going for it though, there are some elements of the film that I'm not a fan of. For instance, there are several moments in the film where the plot has to take a grinding halt so that the audience can get the reference Spike Lee is trying to make through dialogue (LIGHT SPOILER: There's one particularly memorable scene where the main character is talking to a seargant and he says something along the lines of "Do you really think that somebody like David Duke could get elected President of the United States?" The whole back-and-forth is quite funny, but there are quite a few moments like that in BlacKkKlansman, where what's happening in the story has to take a backseat to some sort of joke or stance Spike Lee wants his characters to make. While the film does have an infectious energy, is does waver in intensity. There are moments where the tension is so powerful you don't even breathe. and then there are moments where you could easily check your phone or eat your theater snack for a few moments and not miss a single thing. The movie does have a slight habit of repeating information that's already been given to us before, not quite to the point where it's annoying, but certainly at a noticeable level. There are a couple shots, especially towards the back half of the film, that seem to linger for just a second too long, as if Spike Lee thinks that the only way the message will be impactful is if it's on screen for an entire act of the movie. But probably my biggest gripe, and it's moreso personal than anything else really, is that there are several large scenes dedicated to showing black folk rising up and demanding equality and respect from their white peers, echoing in the footsteps of Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party, and while I understand why Spike Lee includes it in the film and how it adds to the overall narrative and helps to create a dichotomy and a better understanding of how people thought at the time, I personally just felt like it took away from the overall story. They hardly affect the investigation at all, doesn't really add much plot-wise, and while the organization itself gets targeted quite a lot by the Klan in the film, the specific actions of those involved and what the group does doesn't really add much to what's happening. If those scenes were cut out from the film and replaced with more scenes of the investigation, or maybe some character development for the main character, the other cops in the precinct, and even the Klan members, I might've favored the film more. The Klan members in particular seem to have the least depth in the movie, lots of times being reduced to silly dialogue that makes them sound like they belong in a PSA about racism given out to college students. I understand that racism isn't logical in the slightest, and is built on a lot of resentment and anger and faulty history lessons, but none of the Klan members seemed to even have somewhat of an understandable reason for acting the way they do. With all of that being said, the movie was quite fun, I'd definitely watch it again if I got the chance, and I give this a low 7.5/10.