Da 5 Bloods: Frères de sang

Since his first true feature film She's Gotta Have It in 1986, Spike Lee has remained one of the most passionate and hard-working filmmakers in the industry, with each of his projects being born from the mind of an outspoken individual who isn't afraid to tackle issues and subject matters others would do all they could to avoid.

While this passion has made for some outstanding individual results and moments, Lee has also continued to be one of the most eclectic directors when its comes to quality control, with audiences unsure whether they are getting a new masterpiece or a genuine dud, such is the wide ranging variation of his projects.

For every Do the Right Thing, The 25th Hour or BlacKKKlansman there's an Oldboy, Miracle at St. Anna or Red Hook Summer, works of an artist that sometimes loses focus on quality control in his quest to tackle the often controversial material his bringing to life.

One of his most high-profile releases of the last decade, Lee's first feature since the Oscar winning success of BlacKKKlansman is his long time coming Vietnam passion project Da 5 Bloods, a well-cast Netflix production that shines a light on black service man in the Vietnam war, whilst also offering a thrilling treasure hunt plot-line with aging African American veterans returning to the battlefields of the war torn country.

It's an incredibly intriguing set-up and one that allows Lee to explore topical race related scenarios while also operating in one of his biggest cinematic playgrounds yet but this two and a half hour exercise is the type of let-down of a film that is littered throughout Lee's career, as his poor pacing, editing, story developments and intrusively scored effort continually disappoints throughout.

Loaded up with a cast full of talent with Delroy Lindo, The Wire's Clark Peters and Isiah Whitlock Jr, Jean Reno and Black Panther himself Chadwick Boseman all involved, Da 5 Bloods appears on paper to be ripe for the best type of Lee film but with a collection of mostly unlikable characters, long in the tooth scenarios and situations and an abundance of atrocious plot contrivances (hello gold discovery during a toilet break), Lee's exercise has too many flaws to overlook and more often than not feels amateurish, not the work of an Oscar winning writer.

It's not to say the film is bereft of good ideas or moments, there are numerous touching scenes exploring the effect of war on these man, particularly in how they returned to a country that seemed to not value their services or still continued to judge them by their skin color and some of the interplay between the experienced actors makes for both funny and heartfelt viewing but too often than not Lee is hammering his audience over the head with the films topics with all the care of a sledgehammer, instead of refining his product into a polished offering it was so desperately in need of becoming.

Final Say -

A hugely disappointing effort from Lee, Da 5 Bloods may have found its share of critical acclaim but while its themes and subject matter should be commended, as a film; this Netflix release is as unpolished and unfocused as they come.

2 gold bars out of 5

Spike Lee is one of the most interesting filmmakers out there. His films have a lot to say and he isn't afraid to voice his opinions. I thought BlacKkKlansman was pretty good but this film is definitely a step down from that.

Da 5 Bloods is about four soldiers that return to Vietnam years after fighting in the Vietnam War and try to find their fallen squadron leader and the gold they all hid.

This film really put me on the fence. There are parts of it which I like and other areas which I didn't like. I get what Spike Lee was trying to convey relating to African Americans in the war and the problems with it but I feel his execution of the subject was lacklustre.

A few things I did enjoy were the four main cast members. At the very beginning of the film I really felt a sense of camaraderie between them and I especially liked watching Delroy Lindo's performance throughout. The use of archival footage added to the realism of the film with some creating a very intense and uncomfortable feeling to the viewer. I thought the changing aspect ratios worked for the most part. The war scenes that were shot in 4:3 seemed like footage that was actually filmed long ago.

Apart from that, the film is flawed. A huge technique which bothered me throughout was how Lee wanted to tell the audience the film's themes. There are many moments where the characters just talk about the film's themes without us trying to figure it out ourselves. It gets to a point where it feels preachy. Clearly subtlety is not a strong factor in this film. There's a sequence where a character miraculously finds something which seemed way too convenient for that to happen. The dialogue was pretty bland and I wasn't a fan of some of the editing choices. With a runtime of 2 hours 30 minutes, it could've been cut down to be a tad shorter as some scenes drag.

I don't think Da 5 Bloods is as bad as some people say it is or as good as some critics say it is. There are good parts to it but it's unfortunate Lee took a few bad decisions to convey a story that had potential. You can watch it if you want but I would skip out on this one.

I really wanted to like this movie, but the writing was all over the place and the pace was so boring. This is not a classic war movie, it's just a bunch of guys complaining how they got treated badly by the man. Just boring.

Looks like Spike got lazy and called this one in. Daughter conceived 50 years ago looks like a 25 year old, the mother looks 40, not 65. Gold got washed away in a mudslide but went uphill? Plot mimics Treasure of Sierra Madre, gold drives men to insanity due to selfishness. Hard to follow the flashbacks because the younger men looked like the older men. Would have been a 10 if final editing was not a rush job.

Whoa....this was a hell of a ride! Now, if you are expecting Da 5 Bloods to be a movie in the sense of a story with a beginning, a middle and an end, it might not work for you. I am not sure myself it worked for me but I didn't feel like I could just ignore it either. This is like a pile of political, emotional and historical statements not necessarily linked in one single bundle. At times it ends up being a Tarantino-like mess, but with relevance. It is surely timely, it is heavily politically loaded, it is emotional and intense, angered but also ironical and lighthearted at moments. Maybe not to be judged, let alone rated, but just to be absorbed.