Da 5 Bloods

Rating: 10/10 (21 June 2020)

Da 5 bloods
2020
15
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock jr, Melanie Thierry, Chadwick Boseman etc.
Overall rating 100/100
Da 5 bloods is about four black Vietnam war veterans, who return to Vietnam many years later, in order to find the remains of their deceased squad leader and to the millions of dollars of gold that has been hidden for many years. Wow what a masterfully crafter movie, with such powerful moments let's start hyping up this movie.
First of all, I loved the cultural references and the powerful and emotional beginning. I loved all the different movie references that were scattered throughout the movie. Whether it was Rambo or Apocalypse now I loved the nods to many classics that were linked to this particular films set of characters. I also loved how powerful and emotional the opening was, I loved Spike lee's direction here, having real life footage and flashbacks, of the history of racism and the horrifying things black people as a race have had to go through really hit me hard especially with the Black lives matter movement, so this resignated well with today's issues.
My next two positives would be the chemistry between the characters and the humour. I thought the chemistry between all the actors here was perfect, you instantly believed their friendships as soon as they were on screen, they were all infectious to watch, and their friendships were believable and felt natural considering what they had been through together, and the humour between all the characters was also great, the dark humour, and the brutal honesty between everyone was infectious to watch and just made the characters even more likeable.
My next two positives would be the clever links between past and present and the fantastic action with a tense tone. The movie cut between past and present with the main characters, they spent a perfect amount of time between tenses, it really made you understand the characters more and what they have been through, and whenever there was a loophole in the present between the characters or within the plot, it was explained in detail in the flashbacks to the Vietnam war. The action was also excellent, the movie also had excellent action sequences, showing the nightmare that the soldiers had to go through not knowing when they were going to be ambushed, the gore despite being hard to look at was also well executed and added to the impact of the scenes. The movie also executed a very tense tone, the film had you on the edge of your seat throughout a lot of it's action scenes or sudden plot twists, when the main characters were trapped in a mine field it was incredibly tense not knowing when something would go off, showing that I cared for the characters due to Spike Lee's masterful character work.
My next few positives would be the surprising plot twists and added depth, the performances and character development. The film had excellent plot twists, that I did not see coming at all which really surprised and made me enjoy the movie even more, the fact that Paul (Delroy Lindo) had such severe PTSD because of the guilt of killing the squad leader in Vietnam played by Chadwick Boseman was an incredible twist that I didn't see coming, it made you understand why he was acting the way he was and added so much more depth to the film, there was also so many surprise deaths that I didn't see coming. The performances from everybody was also fantastic. Delroy Lindo was absolutely fantastic, his acting was so realistic that his slow mental breakdown was incredibly uncomfortable to watch which proves his performance left an impact, all the main characters were great as well, Chadwick boseman also played his role perfectly and his performance was powerful, proving he can have an acting career outside marvel. The character development was fantastic, the character work was just excellent. There was an equal amount of depth and development to all of the main characters which is very rare in films. You understood all the characters and what they were going through, so the film masterfully developed all the performances and characters to make you deeply care for everyone involved.
My next two positives would be the cinematography and the deep and powerful themes and messages. I thought the films cinematography was excellent. Some of the shots during the flashbacks to the Vietnam war were stunning, with excellent use of colour to make the scenes pop out on screen and this same craft was used throughout. The films themes and messages was extremely powerful as well, the subject matter of racism was tackled very well, and Spike was not afraid to speak his opinions on the subject and the leader of America which I respected. The movie was really educational especially for what's still happening in todays society, so this was very important for the black lives matter movement, but the movie was also about brotherhood, which became more and more the central theme alongside racism which I loved, as you cared for all the characters to much after what they went through together, I really connected and loved the brotherhood that they all had throughout even in death where they died protecting their country and to save each other.
My final two positives would be the films incredible script and powerful and moving ending. Wow the films script will stick with me for a long time, the powerful lines tackling issues with racism in the past and to this day, all the characters with their fantastic performances delivered them perfectly, and the script was moving and powerful. The ending was extremely powerful, as they changed the main theme to brotherhood, it was extremely emotional and heart-warming that everyone was honoured for their service and sacrifices. And the fact that the only surviving character Otis (Clarke Peters) gave his sum of the money to his daughter that he never knew he had, and the rest was used to support the black lives matter movement which was very powerful, and despite this being filmed before the sickening events recently it's almost like Spike Lee knew that this movement would come to light so hats off to Spike for making a powerful piece of art.
Overall, Da 5 bloods is a close to perfect that you are going to get with a movie. Masterfully written script and character work. Fantastic performances, as well as being educational and empowering the message of what the black lives matter movement is all about.