Da 5 Bloods

Whoa....this was a hell of a ride! Now, if you are expecting Da 5 Bloods to be a movie in the sense of a story with a beginning, a middle and an end, it might not work for you. I am not sure myself it worked for me but I didn't feel like I could just ignore it either. This is like a pile of political, emotional and historical statements not necessarily linked in one single bundle. At times it ends up being a Tarantino-like mess, but with relevance. It is surely timely, it is heavily politically loaded, it is emotional and intense, angered but also ironical and lighthearted at moments. Maybe not to be judged, let alone rated, but just to be absorbed.

Much as I admire Spike Lee's talent and audacity, this film just didn't work for me. Too many preposterous plot points while the motivations (of everyone, it seemed) were never clear. The whole thing was just confusing.

And yes, disjointed.

There's a lot of really cool stuff going on in this movie, but the directing and writing gets in the way. Ultimately, the movie tries to link the Viet Nam war and racism, and fails miserably. In trying to fight the two different wars, it loses a lot.

There's a lot of issues with the movie, but they come down to three issues: 1) It needs to decide which movie it's remaking. It basically tries to combine Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Apocalypse Now, and Three Kings and fails at it because of how different the three movies are. 2) The length; this movie could have been told much more effectively in almost half the time. I know it's trying to combine three movies, but that's no excuse for just taking too much time on things. 3) The over-the-top racism. I know this is a weird call, but the movie could have been a lot more effective had it toned down the racism. Also, some of the incidents involved contribute to the length of the movie without really adding anything.

The apparent lack of any military knowledge on the part of Lee (the sheer number of military gaffes, such as salutes and ammunition) as well as the obvious call-backs to movies involved keep throwing watchers out of the movie.

This had the potential to be an incredible movie, especially as the acting is incredible and the cinematography is gorgeous, but it's just too long and too many issues to be even a satisfactory movie.

Nothing about "Da 5 Bloods" works. Nothing. In fact, it's so arrogant in it's premise and execution that it almost pulls off a sort of B-Movie charm. Not a complement. Here's a bunch of great actors with plenty of scenery to chew up and a script that assumes a certain weight that it can't quite deliver. What's left is a laughably self-serious movie that looks like garbage, is filled with leaden emotions, and betrays a couple of veterans actors slumming for the privilege of working with the ultimate hot/cold writer-director.

When Lee is on, he's one of the best filmmakers of the last fifty years - full of substance and style. But when he's off, you get overheated tripe like "Bloods" - a film that manages to be hilarious when it's supposed to be thinking, and deadly somber when we're supposed to be winking. Memorable only as a great misfire for everyone involved.

Spike Lee is one of the most interesting filmmakers out there. His films have a lot to say and he isn't afraid to voice his opinions. I thought BlacKkKlansman was pretty good but this film is definitely a step down from that.

Da 5 Bloods is about four soldiers that return to Vietnam years after fighting in the Vietnam War and try to find their fallen squadron leader and the gold they all hid.

This film really put me on the fence. There are parts of it which I like and other areas which I didn't like. I get what Spike Lee was trying to convey relating to African Americans in the war and the problems with it but I feel his execution of the subject was lacklustre.

A few things I did enjoy were the four main cast members. At the very beginning of the film I really felt a sense of camaraderie between them and I especially liked watching Delroy Lindo's performance throughout. The use of archival footage added to the realism of the film with some creating a very intense and uncomfortable feeling to the viewer. I thought the changing aspect ratios worked for the most part. The war scenes that were shot in 4:3 seemed like footage that was actually filmed long ago.

Apart from that, the film is flawed. A huge technique which bothered me throughout was how Lee wanted to tell the audience the film's themes. There are many moments where the characters just talk about the film's themes without us trying to figure it out ourselves. It gets to a point where it feels preachy. Clearly subtlety is not a strong factor in this film. There's a sequence where a character miraculously finds something which seemed way too convenient for that to happen. The dialogue was pretty bland and I wasn't a fan of some of the editing choices. With a runtime of 2 hours 30 minutes, it could've been cut down to be a tad shorter as some scenes drag.

I don't think Da 5 Bloods is as bad as some people say it is or as good as some critics say it is. There are good parts to it but it's unfortunate Lee took a few bad decisions to convey a story that had potential. You can watch it if you want but I would skip out on this one.