Da 5 Bloods (2020)

★★

With Spike Lee films, you can always expect to come out intrigued. Da 5 Bloods, although not wholly successful, is indeed a fascinating artifact for our time.

Da 5 Bloods is an anomaly. People don't make films centered around older black men. And people never make films about black Vietnam War veterans. It is notable that the film is being released on Netflix—Da Five Bloods probably would not exist otherwise. Traditional studios just don't take risks like this anymore. 

The plot revolves around four black men returning to Vietnam decades after the war to find the body of their fallen comrade and recover a lost treasure in the jungle. Lee weaves various subplots into his two-and-a-half-hour story: a tense relationship between father and son, a man finally meeting with ex-lover and adult daughter after decades away, and a MAGA hat-toting Trump supporter all play minor roles. 

Lee, as he often does, also plays with dramatic tonal shifts throughout the film. At first, the film seems like it will be a sort of Spielbergian feel-good adventure story. Then, about halfway through, it transforms into a tense '80s action thriller with scenes of shocking and intense violence. Although I'm not sure the transformation totally works, it does keep the viewer on their toes throughout. 

Lee's other unique creative choice includes having the older actors play themselves in the war flashbacks. Though somewhat controversial, I think this works well. People don't remember themselves as they were. Rather, they tend to place their current selves into their memories. If Lee had decided to use younger actors to play the older protagonists, it also probably would have confused viewers as to which character was which in the flashback. 

Although creative in its presentation, the film is held back by its underwhelming plot and dialogue. The concepts behind the plot have promise. Black men coming to Vietnam to claim a reward for their service to a country they feel betrayed them ever since the war—that's a killer premise! But Lee does not deliver anything more than a loosely connected collection of scenes. The film would be much better if it were a half-hour shorter and more focused on the relationships between the Bloods. Instead, the action scenes—rather than the characters—take center stage at the film's climax. The payoff fails to ring true despite what the film could have been.

The one exception to my dialogue critique is Delroy Lindo. He delivers a monologue toward the end of the film that, in my opinion, is one of the best of the last ten years. His character is also the most complex, as he portrays a black Trump supporter who, like his brothers, feels the country has left him behind. The intensity and power in his performance could very well earn Lindo an Oscar nod come next year.

Nothing about Da 5 Bloods is comfortable—and it's not supposed to be. It's shocking and bold, even if it fails to live up to its great potential.