Delroy Lindo Shines in Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2020)

Da 5 Bloods, the Spike Lee film exclusively available on Netflix, premiered in June of 2020, and lately I have been somewhat lacking in the film reviews because I think if I don't tackle it right away and put a review up within the films premiere that it's essentially old news. And I almost felt my review as old news as I started writing it. I became uninspired and quit the review altogether.
But then I scrolled through some movie forums and became inspired again, especially when I thought about the performance of lead actor Delroy Lindo, who plays Paul; one of four living Bloods who return to Vietnam to retrieve lost gold, where it is buried along with the remains of the deceased Blood, Norman, played by Chadwick Boseman.
Da 5 Bloods begins in a at times awkward first act, opening with all 5 Bloods in Vietnam and the ensuing helicopter crash which sets up the forthcoming adventure to seek the gold. We are then shifted into present with the four living bloods, Paul and his 3 other Vet buddies Otis, Eddie, and Melvin, played by Clarke Peters, Norman Lewis and Isiah Whitlock, Jr., respectively, arriving in Vietnam and begin to get re adjusted to their surroundings. Paul is later surprised at the hotel by his son David, played by Johnathon Majors, who appears throughout the film wearing Moorehouse attire.
Before Da Bloods head out on their adventure, some unfinished business needs to be settled between Melvin and a former lover, meanwhile Paul and David make a decision that David will get the deceased Blood's share of the gold if they are to retrieve it.
Da 5 Bloods gave me feelings of Apocalypse Now from the opening movie themed dance party, to the nostalgic soundtrack filled with songs from Marvin Gaye and others, to the technical aspects of the film: including shifting aspect ratios between the present and flashback footage of the younger Bloods in Vietnam and most importantly the powerful performance from Delroy Lindo, which evokes a often times 'decent into madness' as I like to call it, that needs to be mentioned along with other great performances.
With as much as I did like I did find some flaws with this film, as I mentioned before, the first act felt awkward to me. I would recommend having some patience, to give the story time to build. Spike Lee recently praised the composer of this film, however I felt the score, especially at the beginning of the film did not fit, it just jumped out at me and not in a good way.
I felt the flashback scenes should have had younger actors, with the only one being Chadwick Boseman. The makeup was not convincing, and as great as the performances were, it was another thing that jumped out as pretty noticeable to me.
For the flaws the film does have, I feel is redeemed by the end of the film. And most importantly I felt the film grow as it progressed. And when most of the time I feel, that films fizzle out especially during their middle act, Da 5 Bloods actually kept getting better and better. So thats why I say give the first act a chance because I feel it pays off in the end,

Spike Lee has been in an upward swing lately with Academy Award Winning 'BlacKKKlansman' from 2018 and 2020s Da 5 Bloods, which sees him tackling current political commentary and being able to blend it with past history grievances so well that even if you don't agree with his politics, it is impossible to deny his talent as a storyteller and filmmaker.