SSP Thinks Film

Following the bold BLACKKKLANSMAN, DA 5 BLOODS is again Spike Lee on fine form, with plenty to say. I loved the choice to not de-age the leads for the flashbacks, that in looking back it’s s them as they are now putting themselves in the place of how they were then. I loved most of the performances, especially Delroy Lindo as Paul, whose fiery and hurt speeches to camera have to be some of the standout sequences of 2020 film. I liked the measured pacing, the time spent to build the characters, their relationships and how they deal or do not with their wartime experience. What I wasn’t so keen on was the film’s final shootout, a trashy action scene where the surviving Bloods fight a small army of mercenaries lead by Jean Reno who’s running around looking an awful lot like Donald Trump. It cheapens everything that comes before and the message of the story is lost in the chaos. SSP