The Best New Release This Year So Far

Rating: 9/10 (12 June 2020)

Da 5 Bloods is one of the best and most powerful films I've seen in a while. It's not a perfect film but it's really close to being one.
It tells a story relevant to everyone today, it has some of the best performances of the last three years. It's got a tremendous screenplay and brilliant cinematography.
I got to talk about the performances first because they are sublime. Delroy Lindo gives a career-best performance as Paul. Lindo steals every scene he is in with his ferocious and sometimes vicious performance which will stay in the front of your mind for weeks after the film is over. There's something so haunting, yet beautiful about this performance and this character. I seriously doubt there will be a better performance this year, the academy better get this blood his oscar. In his limited screentime, Chadwick Boseman is terrific. His performance is empowering and it wouldn't surprise me if his character grows to the iconicity of Radio Raheem in the future. Some of the supporting cast, unfortunately, isn't great, especially some of the Vietnamese and French characters. They don't deliver their dialogue with the slickness that other characters do and it makes them stand out in a film full of great performances.
The screenplay is a haunting and somewhat upbeat statement about war and love. The film reminded me of Radio Raheem's iconic speech about love and hate in Lee's most well-known and praised picture, Do The Right Thing. The screenplay is brilliant if not a bit messy, but I can forgive the messiness for the bigger picture that the film is trying to convey.
The cinematography is bleak and disturbing. I'll say off the bat, there is a lot of bloodshed in Da 5 Bloods, all of it is terrifying. I've never seen a film where death is shown in such a real, graphic and terrifying way. It almost makes you feel like you're back in the war, like our main characters. When entering a flashback the film changes its aspect ratio to one commonly seen in the '60s. I am a huge fan of this choice and it adds to the style of the film.
In finality, Da 5 Bloods is a really great film. Aside from its flaws, it is a truly great film that will spark a shit-ton of conversation.