Black Dynamite

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.

The idiots responsible for Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans and Disaster Movie should be abducted and forced to watch Black Dynamite so they can see how a good spoof movie is done! While recent spoofs have focused on mimicking familiar film scenes or ripping off celebrities with the idiocy of a 10-year-old boy, Black Dynamite is a nostalgic throwback that simultaneously recreates and celebrates the trademarks of the 1970s blaxploitation genre - the jive pimps in garish outfits, the evil politicians, a funky R&B soundtrack, and dialogue laced with expletives, peculiar slang and ethnic slurs. A gleefully harebrained spoof of all things Shaft and Superfly that plays straight-up stupid with vintage film-making aesthetics, this is one of the most consistently hilarious and creative spoofs since the days of Airplane! and its brethren.

Michael Jai White plays the titular character of Black Dynamite; a muscular badass with a lot of guns, an expertise in kung fu and a knack for getting women into bed (or anywhere else that suits him). An evil presence in the city has committed the ultimate crime: they've killed Black Dynamite's kid brother. Dynamite goes on a rampage, tearing up the streets to find the perpetrators. During his quest to serve up payback he also tries to keep kids safe from drugs and protect his bitches from harm. This all leads to the discovery of a terrifying conspiracy against black men.

In tradition with '70s-era blaxploitation films, the protagonist is a noble ass-kicker who spouts odd slang, is very popular with the females and can make villains quake at the very sight of him, whereas the proceedings are coated with a colourful sheen of tacky clothes, crazy cars and hilariously over-the-top fight sequences. Black Dynamite is certainly knowing in its spoofing, but it rarely winks at the audience to signal any sort of self-aware comfort. The film has a fantastic poker face; committing to an enjoyably silly routine of mockery and homage without being too conscious. On top of the high batting average for laughs, the action set-pieces are pretty awesome as well. And, much like all the greatest spoofs in history, one doesn't need a thorough knowledge of the genre being sent up in order to understand the jokes. This is a major asset for Black Dynamite, because, let's be honest, how many '70s blaxploitation flicks has the average person actually seen? In a sense, Black Dynamite is to blaxploitation what the Austin Powers films are to '60s spy flicks. Not many young comedy fans would be familiar with anything like In Like Flint, but that didn't prevent Austin Powers from becoming an extremely popular franchise.

Black Dynamite looks spot-on; as if it were an honest-to-goodness blaxploitation picture that has been sitting in a vault for over thirty years. '70s blaxploitation pictures were low-budget affairs often made without a great deal of technical skill, and Black Dynamite recreates this film-making incompetency with astonishing, hilarious accuracy. Director Sanders replicates everything from the colour scheme to the cheesy zoom-ins; from the one-dimensional performances to the obvious editing mistakes. Rather than taking the Grindhouse route of aging the picture in post-production, cinematographer Shawn Maurer filmed on Super-16 colour reversal stock, which generates a high-contrast, richly saturated image that's well-augmented by the excellent imitations of '70s-style clunky camera-work and awkward framing. The sets are an absolute hoot (particularly the wonderfully chintzy White House interiors used during the climax), and the mood is further sold by Adrian Younge's utterly perfect, playful score loaded with funny trills as well as "Dynamite!" vocal hits whenever the titular character enters the room or kicks some ass.

Michael Jai White is pitch-perfect as Black Dynamite; coming across as a credible hero so tough, well-meaning and proud in his embrace of black masculinity that one could easily imagine him being perceived as a point of pride back in the '70s. White manoeuvres through the ridiculous action sequences splendidly, using his extreme physicality to punch villains through walls and brandish phallic weapons convincingly. Similar to the wonderfully obtuse Leslie Nielson (who was a crucial component for the success of the Naked Gun! series), White carries the entire movie and wins you over easily through sheer force of straight-faced absurdity. And that's the key to a great spoof: the characters can never be in on the joke. Black Dynamite nails this perspective with a satisfying consistency, which is particularly laudable when the actor has to deal with the crew's low-budget incompetence (such as a hysterical boom mic joke).

The art of cinematic spoofing has become so degraded by the likes of Date Movie and Epic Movie that it may take several minutes to recognise Black Dynamite as part of this once-brilliant genre. Some may perceive this movie as a simplistic one-joke affair (because it kind of is), and the film does have trouble sustaining its raucous energy, but the solid laughs and inventiveness manage to compensate for the minor blunders.

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.

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.

Michael Jay White is "Black Dynamite" (if you have seen the movie, imagine the music, when saying that)! You might have seen him in "Spawn" or as one of the evil doers in "Dark Knight". Or if you are into some "B-Action" movies, there are quite a few he made (some of them even quite good).

Unfortunately he hasn't had his big break yet. Unfortunately and kinda surprisingly, at least for me. Even before watching Black Dynamite, I thought of him as a great actor. And when you watch this you will feel the same way. And you don't even have to be a "Blax-ploitation" expert to enjoy the comedy, that is displayed here!

The movie avoids getting big celebrities in major roles (Arsenio Hall being one of the "biggest" names), which actually makes the movie feel like it could have been shot back in the height of the Blax-ploitation movement! And it's rather a celebration of this "sub-genre" (if you want to call it that), than trying to make it ridiculous! A must-see movie! So full of crazy ideas and great (silly) performances, I can only hope there will be more movies like this in the future!