Lots of potential, lacking in delivery

Rating: 4/10 (13 June 2020)

This film has come out at a time when the life experiences of black Americans is under the microscope. Spike cuts news footage into the movie which hi lights when black Americans were fighting and sacrificing their lives for their country, fellow African Americans faced prejudice, hardship and the assassination of their leaders namely Dr King.
This worked well as did the shots/ scenes of Hanoi Hannah.
I really wanted to like this movie.
In 2020 this film has real relevance and resonance, however the film did not live up to expectations.
I found all of the actors were very good and they powerfully used the material they had, however the script/plot was lacking.
I found the film disjointed, I did not get into skin of any of the characters, there was insufficient character development.
We only slightly touched on the 5 bloods relationship with each other, how do we engage with them as people, how did they get on as a unit?
How have they changed since fighting as young men, this was not explored?
Who were these guys, what was there back story did they have the same experiences as young men before the conflict, we know nothing about Lindo, Lewis, Whitlock and Peters relationship.
Lindo and Majors (his son) had difficulties this was briefly dealt with at the end but this should have been explored in the movies more.
Lindo was a man with PTSD and huge guilt again this should have been explored and explained.
Boseman is the one character that the bloods all look up to, again this is not explained in sufficient detail and his supposedly strong relationship with Lindo.
I would have liked Boseman to have had more screen time and seen more character development.
Spikes direction was I felt weak, there was no tension, suspense.
Some of the shots lacked imagination and the film felt tired.
This in parts felt like a "made for TV movie".
My score for this movie is 4-5/10, however I leaned more towards 4.
Perhaps this is too harsh? Maybe a second view is warranted?
In my mind this film had all of the ingredients for a brilliant film, an excellent director, brilliant actors and a subject matter that is important and so relevant today, unfortunately the delivery was disappointing.
Looking forward to Spikes next project - from a fan.