Why So Blu?

I just finished this -- it's gonna get a nominated for a shitload of Oscars no doubt. I want Delroy Lindo to get nominated -- he was fucking phenomenal! Great film, too!

Artman

Felt like the various threads just kinda went haywire... I'm sure it will garner Oscar nominations... I just don't think it's anywhere close to Blakkklanasman.

Barth

I wasn’t left all that impressed. It wasn’t bad but I took a few breaks during it because I just wasn’t getting engaged in it. I can’t put my finger on why it fell flat for me, maybe I overhyped it in my own head after I first read about it.

GoldenJCJ

I agree with this. I thought it was still a really good movie and will probably end up in my top 10 list this year but it felt like Spike got lost a bit in the story he was trying to tell. By the end, I wasn’t sure exactly what point(s) he was trying to make.

Delroy Lindo was very good though, and deserves legitimate Oscar consideration.

Dr. DVD

Black KKKlansman was way better IMO. That said, this appeared to be an interesting re-imagining of Treasure of Sierra Madre and Lee made a lot of interesting ratio changes throughout to fit the setting. I felt the ending was a bit too Hollywood compared to the rest of the movie, but damn...Delroy Lindo gave a performance for the books. If he doesn't get any kind of recognition for this movie something is truly wrong.

GoldenJCJ

I agree. I thought the shifting aspects ratios worked really well throughout and only enhanced the atmosphere.

Another decision Spike made that I really appreciated, and this may be more of an unpopular opinion, was that he used the older actors for the Vietnam scenes, with no attempts at de-aging them. It felt jarring at first but the more the movie went on the more I thought it played into the “we left but never really left” aspect of the movie. I think it was the right choice over either having different actors portraying their younger selves or spending millions upon millions (which I’m sure Spike didn’t have the budget for) to de-age them with CGI a la The Irishman.

Dr. DVD

I feel the same. I think it also plays into the notion that whenever someone tells you a story, you tend to picture them the way you know them and not the way they actually were at the time. Lee kind of acknowledges that when he shows what appears to be a de-aged photo near the end.

Osiris3657

Was surprised to see the divide between critics and regular moviegoers. RT: 92% critic, 61% fan. I haven't watched the movie yet, wonder what that's all about. Lack of action?

GoldenJCJ

It’s a pretty politically divisive film. The majority of it plays as a treasure hunt/healing old war wounds film but in typical Spike Lee fashion he sprinkles plenty of current events into the movie. It’s actually a pretty crazy coincidence that this film was released now with everything going on in the world. It definitely has a political message as to what’s going on right now.

I don’t imagine a bunch of Trump loving people are seeking this movie out but depending what one’s thoughts are about current events could affect how one perceives this movie.

Dr. DVD

I highly doubt it's lack of action, as the movie isn't really sold as being such and Spike Lee movies in general aren't known as action heavy. However, I have a feeling there is quite a bit of difference between the average Netflix subscriber and the kind of movie goer who would make a trip to the theater to see a Spike Lee movie. I also found it interesting that ..(not really a spoiler, but)

OldBoy

i popped this on for about 20 minutes and loved what i saw so far. absolutely loved. if it weren't for time i would have watched throughout. gonna finish soon, but this is so far really good.

Noonan

Enjoyed this quite a bit although I'm not sure if I'll ever want to watch it again. There's a very quick end credit "scene" that's worth waiting for.

Hokeyboy

Spike Lee as a filmmaker has his moments of wielding a sledgehammer when simple nuance will do, and with all its scope and ambition the film is a bit overlong and chaotic. But god DAMN is Da 5 Bloods a powerful, thought-provoking, and engaging movie. And certainly never more timely. A solid 4 out of 5 from me.

Between this and BlacKkKlansman, Lee is firing on all cylinders lately.

sauce07

Agreed, he's on a different level as a filmmaker with a purpose. That scene that references My Lai...

asianxcore

Just finished watching the film and feel the same way. Even though I know the script was re-worked from a 2013 script written by Danny Bilson & Paul De Meo, it's not as consistently focused like some of Lee's best films.

Knowing that script was re-worked, I'm curious if the parts of it I didn't care for were leftover from the older script, such as (yet another) Vietnam War film that sometimes vilifies Vietnamese people or sketches them in incredibly thin lines. Thought we were done with that after ingesting Rambo & Missing In Action 1 & 2. I felt like this film (as you mentioned) has a lot of identities because of the lack of focus. Again, there's some really wonderful stuff here, I just with there was more focus.

I'll echo that Delroy Lindo was fantastic in this and I enjoyed the performances from the main cast. I enjoyed much of the Cinematography as well, especially in the earlier parts of the film.

It was also great to see Veronica Ngo in this!

I'm part Vietnamese and traveled to Vietnam for the first time last year with my family, so a lot of the archival footage, photographs and current footage of Vietnam really resonated with me, even if a good amount of it was tough to watch.

The Antipodean

Best movie of the year so far (OK, it's a weird year, admittedly). Yeah, it's sprawling and busy, but I find Spike's approach works well on a statement about how America continues to wrestle with its past. It hits a lot of the traditional Vietnam movie beats but the energy and unpredictability of it keeps it fresh. It's not quite as tight as BlackKklansman but it's vastly entertaining and Delroy Lindo sure as hell better be nominated for Best Supporting Actor (if not Actor). Loved this movie and can't stop thinking about it.

(Also, I loved how we got a mini-Wire reunion with Clarke Peters and Isiah Whitlock. Both some of my favorite actors from that show and really enjoyed seeing them in the spotlight. And we got an all-time classic "Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeee-it" from Isiah.)

Osiris3657

Finished this today. It was alright. Had better individual scenes than it was as a whole.

Mabuse

Toughest part of my suspension was having to wait to rave about this movie.

I don’t know where to begin. Amazingly up to the minute and topical, similar to his great Get on the Bus. But on top of that he brings all his topical insights under an umbrella of a genre film. A Vietnam combat film and a coming back story. Some supremely suspenseful moments. When I realized it was following the pattern of Treasure of the Sierra Madre I thought it was brilliant and I knew things were gonna get bad.

Delroy Lindo blew me the hell away. Absolutely terrifying performance. Like a wounded animal. You can’t make up your mind if you like him at first, then he becomes dangerous, then brave, then selfish, then mad, and ultimately pitiful and tragic.

EinCB

JeffTheAlpaca

I assume this will get a DVD or Criterion release like the Irishmnan?