Based On 'Faster Than The Speed of Love' By Brian Griffin.

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 2020)

I watched this movie because it sounded like another great plot about the Vietnam Conflict, the soldiers who lived in it, and (for whatever reason) the ones that returned. It sounded like an simple tale with great analogies about the lives of black people that never seems to change. Spike Lee probably wanted to offer an enlightened take on black people in Vietnam by comparison with black people today in the US. But it seemed to me that he took this movie and edited in references that belong to another script: This movie has it good points and it's finer moments, but Spike Lee is a lazy director who can't seem to ever escape the cliche formats of student films. Archive footage forced upon out-of-context direction just to amplify current events. If you want to speak about Black Lives Matter then why would you not make a film about Black Lives Matters? Why take a completely separate script and edit in bits & pieces of things that have little meaning to the plot?
Secondly, the end of the film (without spoiling anything) has these beautiful shots; straight out of a museum quality landscapes, whereas there's a complete lack of that in the actual movie. This film had a $35-45 million budget. It is among Spike Lee's most expensive films and it looked cheap ... dirt cheap. I will admit, I have a bias with Spike Lee, but it's because he is so demanding of award for his accomplishments and yet he's only got 4 good movies in his 31 year career. I'd say, 'Do The Right Thing', 'Malcolm X', 'BlackkKlansMan', the 'Old Boy' remake are his best work. Yet he complains every single Oscar Season that another crap movie of his wasn't nominated and he blames it on being black in Hollywood. People don't cater to excuses in this business, Mr Lee. They want results.
Anyway ... 'Da 5 Bloods' is decent enough, it's not great, there's a lot of predictable happenings, but it is watchable simply based on the actors. Delroy Lindo is one of my favorite actors and one of the few actors with the ability to have a famous face and still draw you into scenes with his character performances. Clarke Peters is in so many of my favorite tv series, I was incredibly happy to watch him have a role to flourish in. Norm Lewis, who I almost didn't recognize, but is a profound Broadway actor - in fact Mr Lewis is the first African-American to play the lead of The Phantom on Broadway. Isiah Whitlock Jr. who I'm not familiar with but do remember him popping up on 'The Chappelle Show', he was equally funny and genuine in this role. I appreciate the use of older more refined actors in movies, specifically when it comes to the portrayal of friendships or comradely. Watch this movie just for the acting, is my best suggestion for this film.