Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods (Official Thread)

[The Devil's Advocate]

I'm crying at the reviewer who called the movie complicit wiith white supremacy and now vietnamese reviewers are calling an excellent take on the war



I thought it was great movie with really really good references to the time period . (except for the fact that the marvin gaye song they used was made after martin luther king but I only know that because Marvin my favorite artist of all time, so it's whatever) I think it gets bogged down by 2 things, neither of which are Spike's fault

The biggest problem I believe was the plot the movie was adapted from the main characters were suppose to be morally ambigious cacs. So, the movie could pivot more towards the greyness of the war and the shyt that American did (Agent Orange and whatnot) . In Da 5 Bloods, the characters have really good reasons to want that gold.

the second problem was netflix screwing the hell out of Spike Lee. This shyt was too much to be not a series. It was missing black women and character development. There's too much going on in Black America in the late 60s early 70s to have a good take that short. A series would have been perfect. I wish there a way for them delve more deeper into the shyt that happened before the war to affect theses characters as well. I don't remember when they deployed but using the first few episode to delve into the watts riot, the birmingham church bombing, and the multitude of fukked up shyt going on at that time would have helped set the tone for the series. I would like to see a longer pull from the speeches he pulled from during the movie, instead of the brief interlude he was forced to use for time. I (personally, I also would have liked to see muhammad ali referenced a lot more, which they could have done with more time and a bigger budget). I just feel the late 60s had a lot fukked up shyt going on and (seeing how cacs didn't know of black wall street) would have been a decent way to illuminate them.

Netflix didn't screw anyone.. Nobody was thinking about a series


The film was originally titled The Last Tour, and it was written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo; it was about four aging white vets who were heading back to Vietnam. Oliver Stone was attached to direct at one point but moved on. Producer Lloyd Levin read in an interview that Lee's favorite film is The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), and thought Lee would appreciate the similar elements in The Last Tour. Lee liked the premise, and he and his co-writer, Kevin Willmott, rewrote the script for to make it about black soldiers.

 

[6CertsAndAMovie]

Netflix didn't screw anyone.. Nobody was thinking about a series


The film was originally titled The Last Tour, and it was written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo; it was about four aging white vets who were heading back to Vietnam. Oliver Stone was attached to direct at one point but moved on. Producer Lloyd Levin read in an interview that Lee's favorite film is The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), and thought Lee would appreciate the similar elements in The Last Tour. Lee liked the premise, and he and his co-writer, Kevin Willmott, rewrote the script for to make it about black soldiers.

I meant budget wise Spike Lee Got Creative With Flashbacks In 'Da 5 Bloods': "I Was Not Getting $100 Million To De-Age Our Guys"

 

[Born2BKing]

Flabby head at my old job told me how black and latinos were on the front lines during wars and cacs were having melt downs n shyt but in movies they was the best soldiers ever lmao

Respect your elders young nikka.

 

[Born2BKing]

the movie was Spike Lee at his most Spike Lee

good flick but it has it's flaws...the first hour feels tedious but once the Bloods start looking for gold, things pick up a whole lot, but then the ending was predictable (called what happened between Norman & Paul before we ever got to the flashback) but I don't have a problem with that. Really my only real problem with the film is how all the other bloods were kept looking old while back in the War scenes

The ending was predictable? You predicted 3 out of the 5 would die?

 

[pete clemenza]

Good movie. Not sure if I would mix in today's storylines with this but it turned out ok at the end. The scoring was old school and I can see some people not liking it

 

[Sohh_lifted]

Movie was trash yall. Easily one of Spikes worst flicks (although not as as his remake of oldboy)


Movie was disjointed as hell. Poor dialogue. The cutouts barely offered any context. And the ending?

I suppose if you have low expectations, it's somewhat entertaining. It's your standard Netflix movie that you have on in the background during a Saturday afternoon. But it's no where near Spikes more notable catalog.

lol yall fukkinn wildin bro, the movie isnt a master piece but really?

 

[K-ZOE]

Fourth wall?

Bad tonal shifts?

Misplaced monologues?

Man take that shyt back to your bullshyt film class and "have a dialogue" or "important conversation".
FOH. The movie was good. An Oscar for Delroy. I knew everything I needed to know about Whitlock's and Norm Lewis' characters to move the story along.
You film school valedictorians really think all 4 Bloods needed deep backstory revelations to flesh them out? You need to be beat over the head with a reason why these men would return for gold and a comrade?
Wow. But I have my theories on your thoughts...

 

[Mʀ2ᴋDᴇᴇᴢ]

Just went on a google , wow never knew French had its toe all the way in Asia.

The french ran the world in cac supremacy for a hot minute. I keep forgetting

Invaded Vietnam in 1858, occupied til early 50s

 

[daemonova]

 

[Nero Christ]

The ending was predictable? You predicted 3 out of the 5 would die?

Spoiler

I predicted Paul was the one who killed Norman when he was insistent on a gook doing it

& because of how Paul was antagonistic and how movies work, I also figured he would die & when Desroche he showed up at the end, clearly he was gonna die too, especially with how the shot was framed

but no, I didn't see Melvin & Eddie dying (one of which wasn't even around for the final shootout)

 

[8WON6]

Movie was pretty good.

 

[Big Boss]

 

[Vandelay]

Watching now. It's pretty good.

 

[Khalil's_Black_Excellence]

As great as this movie is as is, I would've KILLED for that version.

 

[Lootha VanDraws]

A family friend, Emory Douglas, did the art for this movie. He was the Minister of Culture for the BPP back in the day. Nice to see him getting some mainstream shine.





This is a book of his art along with tons of info about the BPP, that Spike had him sign at the end of that video. One of my most cherished possessions. I always recommend it to folks, but I think it may be out of print because the lowest price I'm finding it online now is over $650. I remember being able to find the paperback on amazon for ~$20 when it was still available. If anyone ever goes to a BPP museum exhibit, check out the gift shop because the last one I went to that featured him also had his book for sale there. The hard cover I got is only $35, which is an absolute bargain.

I have this book. I really like his work.