Review: Da 5 Bloods
The relaxed rules of streaming can make a filmmaker forget that the film still needs to be watchable (looking at you, The Last Days Of American Crime).
While Spike Lee's latest - currently showing on Netflix - clocks in at 2½ hours, it packs in the content.
This is one of his most striking films, with a standout performance from Delroy Lindo.
Lindo's Paul is one of four combat veterans returning to Vietnam to retrieve the body of their fallen comrade (Chadwick Boseman), though their sights are primarily focused on retrieving a cache of CIA gold they left behind 40-something years ago. The adventure crackles as friendships fracture, paranoia divides and bullets fly.
Of course, Lee has more to say and the adventure is wrapped in a commentary on race and the treatment of Vietnam vets, specifically African Americans sent to fight. Making Paul a Trump supporter - complete with MAGA hat - might seem an odd choice, but Lindo makes it sensible.
The use of newsreel footage and shocking pictures is unflinching and gives the viewer a lesson in history we sadly see repeating in today's headlines.
We need more directors to be this bold.
Score: 4/5
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