Post by Eλευθερί on Mar 13, 2021 7:15:15 GMT
Jul 1, 2020 16:38:54 GMT Vits said:
DA 5 BLOODS is well-actedUh, no it's not.
First, I did not know it was a Spike Lee film until I watched the end credits roll. If others who rated it in the Rate Movies board knew that it was a Spike Lee joint from the beginning, maybe that influenced their judgments.
Second, I went into it thinking that it was going to be a pretty serious action drama. Only toward the end did I realize it was intended as an action comedy. A kind of parody of the Arnold Schwarzenneger/Sylvester Stallone, rah-rah War! / USA! USA! movies genre, but with biting sociopolitical critique from a specifically black perspective. Maybe if I'd recognized that at the beginning, I would have appreciated the film more. (The casting of Isiah Whitlock Jr should have been a huge hint that this was meant to be an action comedy, but the giveaway was Whitlock being cast in combination with Jean Reno's casting.)
I was familiar with the acting ability of several of the performers from their other work. Chadwick Boseman from Gods of Egypt (I haven't seen Black Panther yet). Jonathan Majors from Lovecraft Country. Delroy Lindo from Malcolm X and The Core. Clarke Peters from The Wire. The legendary Jean Reno of Leon The Professional. Clearly, these are some people who can act well if given the right material and good direction. Not sure they had that with this production. Norm Lewis was someone I had not previously seen performing, and, sadly, he just wasn't up to the task of his particular role. His climax scene was ruined because he didn't seem to be believable as the character at all in that moment.
Incidentally, Melanie Thierry was miscast, imo, as a sexy young French woman. She might have been a decent choice for that role 10 yrs ago, when she did Pu-239 (excellent) and The Princess of Montpensier. I think she's a bit past that kind of role now, especially since she was supposedly the object of the affections of Jonathan Majors' character, who seemed to be about 10 yrs younger.
Jul 1, 2020 16:38:54 GMT Vits said:
Chadwick Boseman (who's noticeably younger than them) plays a character that only appears in flashbacks. Was there some meaning behind all this?Good question.
Maybe that that image of him was the same in all their memories and that they all remembered Vietnam just the same as when they had left it all those years before.
Jul 1, 2020 16:38:54 GMT Vits said:
the use of old photographs in the middle of conversations ... different aspect ratios in different scenes can work if you don't draw attention to it. This movie unfortunately shows the transition.I thought that was the director's intention. To point out the shifts in when events were occurring. (Other filmmakers have used color shifts for this, going from color for the present to black-and-white for the past, or using psychedelic colors or hazy images for hallucinations or dreams, for example.)
Overall, the film was kind of a mess. It seemed to start out promisingly enough. But I found the music overbearing (and I was shocked when the end credits rolled and I saw that the composer was Terence Blanchard. Blanchard and Lee have been an amazing team in other productions, like the Katrina documentary and 25th Hour).
One positive was actor Johnny Nguyen, who I had not noticed onscreen before. Hopefully, he'll get more roles in major productions. Too bad there still aren't a lot of opportunities for Asian actors in US films & tv.
5.5/10