Da 5 Bloods Movie Review

This is an article “Da 5 Bloods” by Marc Primo

Release date: 12 June 2020 (USA)

Director: Spike Lee

Language: English

Production Companies: 40 Acres and a Mule, Filmworks, Rahway Road, Lloyd Levin/Beatriz Levin Productions

Producers: Jon Kilik, Spike Lee, Beatriz Levin, Lloyd Levin

SPOILER ALERT—Spike Lee’s epic war film Da 5 Bloods, which is streaming now on Netflix, comes at a time when the issues it tackles have become relevant all over again. Despite having been set during the Vietnam war, the film somehow becomes a good establishing point as to why there are protests hounding the country left and right today, once again. War, money, and politics are just some of the main course topics discussed here, but its sides of spicy dialogue and the realization that we are all fighting the same fight over and over again serve audiences a perfect but unsavory dish of reality.

Headlined by Wakanda poster boy Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther, Avengers series), who gives us one of his most promising performances that’s worthy of an Oscar nod, Da 5 Bloods intersperse actual footage with well-crafted scenes, profound monologues, and the occasional breaking the fourth wall inserts that make for a compelling 154 minutes of tension, realization, and entertainment.

Lee has again proven himself to be one of the most admired filmmakers today, only this time proving that he’s still a force to be reckoned with as in today’s cinema. Last year’s awards frontrunner BlacKkKlansman already gave us a taste of Lee’s unparalleled eloquence on social subjects that continue to hound us to this day. With Da 5 Bloods, he further waxes poetic by speaking in a louder voice that lets everyone share their inner agitation.

Culling from the past, the film gives us a retrospect of the Vietnam war through the eyes of war veterans Paul (Delroy Lindo), Melvin (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.), Eddie (Norm Lewis), and Otis (Clarke Peters) as they search for the body of their squad leader Stormin’ Norman (Bosewick). What adds to the complication are the lost gold bricks which were intended to be a bribe for rebels during the war.

Audiences will want to embark with the four on a journey that can both heal them from the past scars of war while making them rich in the process as its consolation. But if there’s one thing that’s very much predictable in all treasure hunt quests, we soon see greed set in and cast an ominous division among the heroes.

Flashbacks revisiting the war presents viewers with a basis for the metamorphosis and maturity that the heroes are about to discover amongst themselves. Having the four play both their young and old selves certainly tells us that Lee’s vision anchors on a theme that draws more nostalgic drama from the experiences of his characters.

Da 5 Bloods is a film you’d want to watch over and over again just for the sake of enjoying it. It’s not too deep and audiences won’t have to try so hard to plant themselves in the characters’ combat boots. For one thing, it successfully sets itself apart from other war epics like the Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, or Full Metal Jacket. With great cinematography that shifts aspect ratios for timeline effect, a tight script, and very interesting characters, Lee’s genius shines yet again with a unique war story that (perhaps after all of today’s social dust settles), really deserves a big screen premiere.

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