Black Dynamite

Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White)'s only brother Jimmy is killed. The Man is pushing new deadly drugs and suspected Jimmy to be an undercover cop. Black Dynamite is an ex-CIA agent still haunted by a little Chinese boy in Nam. He encounters many characters including Cream Corn (Tommy Davidson), Chicago Wind (Mykelti Williamson), and Tasty Freeze (Arsenio Hall). His police friend O'Leary confirms something that takes him all the way to Honky House.

This is a loving spoof of the 70s blaxsploitation genre. There is good deadpan humor. While it is repetitive, it does hit the spot every once in awhile. Too many of the actors are trying to do the same black trope character. They need to have more differences. Black Dynamite needs some fun specific side kicks. The Greek talk is fun because the other guys get to participate. It has some good fun moments although I wish it has a few more different comedy bits.

Black Dynamite (2009) is a movie I recently watched on HBOMAX. The storyline follows a multitalented 70s like Black Man who represented the streets. When a criminal organization kills his only brother he springs into action to bring the crime organization down. This movie is directed by Scott Sanders (Thick as Thieves) and stars Michael Jai White (Spawn), Arsenio Hall (Coming to America), Tommy Davidson (Bamboozled), Obba Babatundé (Life) and William Bassett (The Karate Kid). White was absolutely perfectly cast for this character and was entertaining throughout this movie. I actually liked this better than similar films that try to deliver an appreciation for this era like Undercover Brother, Super Fly and Pooty Tang. The action scenes were fun and have some great one-liners mixed in. The script as a whole was pretty good. The setting and backdrops were also well presented. Overall this is an entertaining movie worth a viewing that I would recommend seeing once. I'd score this a 6.5/10.

It's not often that I enjoy a movie to the point of laughing out loud – but Black Dynamite had me belly-laughing more than once. For those of us who are old enough to remember the joys of 1970's cinema this movie brings back all that was best (and worst) of those slightly grainy, scratched, funk and wow-wow pedal laden classics. The deliberate continuity errors and goofs are hilarious. The dialogue and stock characters could be drawn from any of those wonderful blacksploitation movies that were so exciting for a young lad living in rainy (and then almost 100% white) Ireland. So dig out your wide-collar shirt, pendant and platform boots and enjoy this gem.

Here's a film that would have fit perfectly with the 2007 release of Grindhouse. I wish that Black Dynamite had been worked on enough so that a trailer would have been featured along with the faux trailers in Grindhouse. (Although one of those faux trailers, Machete, is being made into a full-length feature.) Michael Jai White (who is probably best known by many as Spawn or as the ill-fated gangster, Gambol, from The Dark Knight) is excellent as Black Dynamite. White is not only an excellent action star, but he's also got great comedic timing. His deadpan delivery mixed in with very impressive martial arts abilities are worth the price of admission for this flick. White channels Richard Roundtree, Robert Hooks, Fred Williamson, and yet he makes the role his own. How White hasn't become a prominent action star, much like Jason Statham, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jet Li, Tony Jaa, and so on is a complete mystery to me. I hope that this is a breakout role for him.

One of my favorite characters in this film is Bullhorn (played by Byron Minns). He's the film's answer to Rudy Ray Moore, rhymes and all. For those who have seen Dolemite, you'll know what I'm talking about. (He also narrated the hilarious trailers for the movie.) The film features a cast full of what's his faces. Richard Edson (Stranger than Paradise and Do the Right Thing) has a brief role in the film. Mykelti Williamson (Bubba from Forrest Gump) plays one of the villains, Chicago Wind. Mike Starr (Goodfellas and Dumb & Dumber) plays the mob leader. Arsenio Hall, of all people, plays a coked out hustler named Tasty Freeze. Tommy Davidson, with a head of curly hair, appears as one of Black Dyamite's sidekicks, Cream Corn.

This film is a throwback to the 70's, with the classics of Blaxploitation. It not only has a lot of laughs, but I also felt that the movie essentially became a Blaxploitation within a half-hour into the movie.

If you're a fan of Blaxploitation films, this will not disappoint. If you're in for a good comedy, check this one out. It will provide more laughs than a good majority of the comedies released this year.

This is what "Undercover Brother" and "Grindhouse" (minus the 'phony' trailers) wished they could have been but weren't: a tribute to a dismissed period of cinema that feels like it belongs (and comes from) its era.

But this isn't just a collection of random jokes or stabs at blaxploitation genre clichés without rhyme or reason. There is an actual story (convoluted and non-sensical but it's there, and even allows long scenes that advance the plot to unfold without a single obvious joke), there are real characters (over-the-top and cliché' but not two-dimensional walking cardboards) and there are action/fighting scenes (enhanced via the same seamless green screen/CG technology used in "Kung-Pow" a few years back) that make this an actual blaxpoitation movie that just happens to be funny because it's being so true and respectful to the genre it represents. Michael Jai White looks and inhabits his lead role like he stepped out of the 1970's; it's the best casting for a movie since Christopher Reeve got the Superman/Clark Kent role, and I'm not kidding. Supporting actors really get into their blaxpoitation roles (Arsenio Hall and Tommy Davidson are hilarious in too-brief cameos) but they don't overplay their OTT personalities or overstay their welcome. The way "Black Dynamite" gets around its 'R' rating to sneak in a graphic sex scene is not only genius but ties directly with the movie's best scene in which the 'heroes' crack the code in a cafeteria. And the orphanage scene has to be seen to be believed. :-P Only the overblown finale that pushes things way past the breaking point (think "Shoot 'Em Up" and yes, it's that big a misfire) betrays the cinematic illusion that this is a 70's flick that's been rotting in a vault somewhere.

I got my $12.50's worth and will gladly wait for the DVD because I'm sure there's a joke or two I missed. The one's that hit the mark are hilarious though. Don't listen to the DVD Talk reviewer on this one (they're usually right but this time he's way off), "Black Dynamite" is a winnah!