A Mixed Bag (yet still compelling)

Rating: 7/10 (21 June 2020)

Da 5 Bloods is the new movie by director Spike Lee. The film has been very divisive since its release as I've seen some people claiming it as the best film of the year, and others claiming it is just plain pretentious schlock. Me, I would fall into around the middle of these two, feeling just a bit more positive to the movie, but not loving it.
The movie is about 4 Vietnam veterans as they go back to find the gold they hid so many years ago. They also go back to find the body of their old friend (Stormin' Norman) who was killed in the war. The film explores themes of racism in the Vietnam war, and much more social commentary within it as well.
I will say that this might be Spike Lee's most ambitious movie as it delves into so many themes and different genres. However, the movie falls under its own ambition far too much. Due to how many things Lee is trying to do, some of it feels very unfocused and jumbled together. The first half of this movie is another thing people are really criticizing as well. I actually enjoyed the first half to a certain extent, but it is extremely heavy handed and it was frustrating that Lee felt the need to tell us everything the characters were feeling and every message he wanted the audience to receive. It's not even really a case of a movie "telling not showing" because here the movie is doing both. It's showing us enough for us to understand the characters and the themes but it decides to add a unneeded monologues that explains it to us. The first half of the movie does set up quite well for the second half.
For the most part I do think the protagonist are pretty good. Two of the main 4 protagonist however are kind of underwritten (Eddie and Melvin). They are given minimal character qualities...especially Eddie. However, Otis and Paul were very interesting the whole way through, especially Paul played in glorious fashion by Delroy Lindo. Even though there hasn't been very many movies to release in 2020, so far as of June 2020 Delroy Lindo is my choice for best performance of the year. He dominates every second of his screen time and Lee uses this great performance to his advantage and it is a real reoccurring highlight in the movie. I also really like Clarke Peters' performance as Otis. One thing that kind of annoyed me however is that the characters don't always react naturally to some events that happen in the film. The scene that kickstarts the second half of the movie (I won't spoil it but if you've seen it you probably know the one I mean) should've gotten a bigger reaction from the characters but they never really mention it after the sequence is over. This happens to a smaller extent multiple times within the film as well.
I have been criticizing it a lot so far, but there is definitely a lot to like in this movie. I really like the second half of the movie for the most part. It ramps up the intensity to full volume and we lose the heavy handiness from the first half. There is also an extremely touching scene towards the end with Chadwick Boseman's character (Stromin' Norman) and Delroy Lindo's character (Paul). The scene is pretty beautiful and I've already found myself rewatching that one scene. That's another thing that's really good about the movie, just Chadwick Boseman in general. They hype up the character of Norman a lot, and his performance makes us believe why they were so connected to him. Towards the end we also just start getting a lot of really good scenes. The climax I do find to be really generic. The antagonist who is revealed towards the end is just plain cartoonish. The resolution I find to be okay. It's not bad but I wasn't completely satisfied or anything.
By the end of the film I was just kind of mixed. I liked a lot of things about it as I was interested in most of the film. I also really liked the thought provoking themes (even if they were a bit heavy handed). However, there is a lot holding this movie back. It feels decently unfocused most of the way through, and at times feels like multiple genres and multiple movies at the same time. I don't know exactly what to feel about this movie as I think I like the movie enough, but it's frustrating to see what could've been a great movie just turn out kind of decent.
7.5/10