Not Lee's best but still very moving and important

Rating: 9/10 (14 June 2020)

Challenging, thought provoking, and downright chaotic. Spike Lee's new joint Da 5 Bloods is a wild one, and he does not hold back any punches here. What starts off as a road trip/reunion film about a group of Vietnam vets looking for the remains of their old comrade and their treasure, turns into something brutal and raw. It's a war movie, but it's a movie about humanity too. It doesn't just signify the cost of war and the effects it has on the individual, but the hate that's created from it. What I love about Lee is his insistence on making the audience a part of the film and not just the "observer". When he wants you to see an image he really wants you to SEE it, and boy are there a lot of haunting images in this film. I think what people have to understand is this isn't just about the black experience of the war, it's the experience of being human and the path we walk. The character of Paul is a symbol of someone who chooses to walk the path of hate and how they refuse to stop walking that path. I'm a little bummed that Lee decided to make that character a straight up Trump Supporter as I find that to be less subtle and more likely to trigger people into turning on this movie since that could ignite it into a more politcal conversation. It's like Lee gave up some of the subtle tactics to ensure the audience is receiving what he's getting at but I honestly don't think he neeed too, the dialogue and the characters are profound enough to get that message across. Showing a MAGA hat becomes a little too on the nose and I know people are just gonna trash all over this movie for that reason, but hopefully I'm wrong. This isn't Lee's best film, but it's a deep and interesting one. I love how he cuts between different aspect ratios and makes the flashback scenes look 16MM it made it feel that much more immersive. I think he could've trimmed down the first half as it's at least 20 minutes too long, but that didn't stop me from really feeling moved by what he did here. It's a hard watch, but it's a necessary watch, and it only adds to the conversation right now of the black experience I can't stress that enough. It's a disturbing, violent, and graphic film, but it needs to be seen. 9/10.