Four African American vets return to Vietnam in search of the remains of their fallen comrade and a stash of buried gold in Spike Lee’s latest all-star adventure Da 5 Bloods
Director – Spike Lee, Cast – Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Chadwick Boseman, Jonathan Majors, Jean Reno
From Academy Award Winner Spike Lee comes a new joint Da 5 Bloods : the story of four African American Vets – Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis), and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.) – who return to Vietnam for the first time since the war. They did so, together Paul’s concerned son (Jonathan Majors), to retrieve the remains of their fallen Squad Leader (Chadwick Boseman) as well as the treasure they buried while serving there.
With such an all-star cast and the directing talents of Spike Lee behind the helm, you could almost expect the movie to be something special. At face value it definitely is, but it doesn’t truly get into its groove until about halfway through.
The first act of the movie, which sees the audience introduced to the characters, can be a bit slow and, in typical Spike Lee fashion, is quite a bit opinionated. This first Act also goes on for a fair bit longer than it should have and some of the dialogue also comes off as a bit forced. From the second act onwards, however, the movie truly comes into its own. The pacing from here onwards is spot on and the story ramps up all the way to 11. It is also in this act where you will find a surprising number of firefights in the movie, something I wasn’t really expecting given the type of movie this was supposed to be.
Throughout, the movie truly tackles some dark themes and the lasting ravages of the immorality of the Vietnam war. They are however, executed extremely well. Furthermore, the movie itself is a masterpiece in filmmaking. The movie is structured into three distinct sequences, city scenes, flashbacks, and sequences when the cast reaches the jungles of Vietnam. Spike Lee’s choice of using a different aspect ration when filming each of these sequences was a great choice that does its job of giving each its own distinct identity.
In terms of acting, the cast does a great job of portraying their characters throughout the movie. Delroy Lindo in particular was phenomenal. He truly gives his all and you could even so far as to say, this move is worth a watch even if only to see his performance.
Da 5 Bloods is available to watch on Netflix
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