And the Vietnamese characters fit stereotypes too: some paramilitary guys looking like the hapless losers seen in most American movies (check); the one woman, a wartime prostitute (check). Bloods trots out every caricature of Viet Nam War figures that you can imagine, beginning with American veterans of the war. Vinh helps the surviving Bloods share out the gold. [1], Upon release, it was the top-streamed film in its first weekend,[21] before falling to sixth place in its second. While the message it is trying to convey is of course important, spike lee obviously forgot to craft a decent movie around it. "[1], Da 5 Bloods uses four aspect ratios as framing devices which distinguish between the film's different time periods and locations. Yet “Da 5 Bloods” is a poor vehicle for these ideas. Da 5 Bloods Review “Da 5 Bloods” is a movie about the participation of blacks in the Vietnam War. With Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis. 9 months ago. The initial batch of reviews are in for Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods. Desroche wounds Otis and tries to finish him off with a hand grenade, but Melvin sacrifices himself by leaping on top of it. “Da 5 Bloods” jumps back and forth, though not too many times, between the Bloods’ tours of duty and the present day. David also steps on a mine but does not trigger it, just as Hedy and two other volunteers from LAMB, Simon and Seppo, show up. Most returned quietly to their workplaces and schools like veterans of any other generation. From Spike Lee. With a production budget of $35–45 million, it is among Lee's most expensive films. What’s Left for a Biographer? Many others, politicized and empowered by their wartime experience, joined the antiwar movement. In the film, veterans played by Norm […] When the Bloods regroup with Vinh, a group of gunmen shows up demanding the gold in exchange for Seppo, whom they have captured. The image of traumatized veterans was a Hollywood staple even before PTSD was canonized in the 1980 DSM. [1], Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Giancarlo Esposito, and John David Washington were initially cast in the lead roles but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. [37], 2020 American war drama film by Spike Lee, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, Military history of African Americans in the Vietnam War, "Spike Lee's Forever War: How the Vietnam War epic Da 5 Bloods became one of the most ambitious films of his career", "Spike Lee on the Challenge of Bringing Netflix's 'Da 5 Bloods' to the Screen", "Delroy Lindo: I Think Of 'Da 5 Bloods' As 'A Love Story, "Chadwick Boseman Joins Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods' At Netflix", "Jonathan Majors In Talks For Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods' At Netflix", "Spike Lee & Netflix's Vietnam Pic 'Da 5 Bloods' Adds Cast Including Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr & Mélanie Thierry", "BlacKkKlansman Actor Reuniting With Spike Lee For Da 5 Bloods", "Chadwick Boseman to Star in Spike Lee's New Movie, Vietnam Veteran Drama Da 5 Bloods", "Terence Blanchard Scoring Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods, "Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods' to Stream on Netflix in June, but It's Still Eligible for Oscars", "Netflix Debuts Trailer for Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods, "Box Office: 'The King of Staten Island' & The Most-Watched Movies At Home This Weekend", "Box Office: A Polish Erotic Drama Is Among The Most Watched Movies Of The Weekend", "Netflix Reveals Strong Viewership Numbers For Mindy Kaling's 'Never Have I Ever' & Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods' In Earnings Report", "DATA: 'BORAT 2' SECOND ONLY TO 'HAMILTON' IN MOST-WATCHED U.S. SVOD MOVIES OF 2020", "Data: Which 2021 Netflix Oscar-Nominated Films Were Most", "Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods," Reviewed: Vietnam and the Never-Ending War of Being Black in America", "Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods' on Netflix: Film Review", "Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods' may not be perfect, but it arrives at a time when it feels necessary", "Da 5 Bloods review – Spike Lee goes all out in Vietnam", "Review: Da 5 Bloods Is a Vibrant, Messy Blend of Genre Film and Political Essay", "Best of 2020: Film Critic Top Ten Lists", "The 2020 Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA) Winners", "Artios Awards Film Nominations: 'Borat', 'Da 5 Bloods', 'Chicago 7', 'One Night In Miami' & More Up For Casting Society Prizes", "The 2020 Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) Winners", "Critics Choice Awards: 'Mank' Leads With 12 Nominations, Netflix Makes History With Four Best Picture Nominees", "The 2020 Florida Film Critics Circle (FFCC) Winners", "The 2020 Greater Western New York Film Critics Association (GWNYFCA) Winners", "The 2020 Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) Winners", "The 2020 Music City Film Critics Association (MCFCA) Nominations", "Netflix, HBO Lead NAACP Image Awards 2021 Nominations", "The 2020 New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) Winners", "The 2020 North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA) Nominations", "25th Satellite Awards Nominees for Motion Pictures and Television Announced", "2021 SAG Awards: The Complete Nominations List", "VES Awards Nominations: 'Tenet', 'Midnight Sky', 'Extraction', 'Soul' & 'Mandalorian' Among Titles In Visual Effects Hunt", If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise, Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall, National Board of Review Award for Best Film, National Board of Review Award for Best Ensemble Cast, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Seattle Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Cast, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Da_5_Bloods&oldid=1016421657, Films about post-traumatic stress disorder, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Jon Kilik, Spike Lee, Beatriz Levin, and Lloyd Levin, Greater Western New York Film Critics Association, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture, Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, Randall Balsmeyer, James Cooper, Watcharachai "Sam" Panichsuk, This page was last edited on 7 April 2021, at 02:25. [24] In March 2021, Variety reported the film was among Netflix's most-watched Oscar-nominated titles, and assigned it an "audience appeal score" of 81 out 100. Official Discussion - Da 5 Bloods [SPOILERS] Discussion. [27], Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper gave the film four stars out of four, saying: "The picture, the script and director Lee all deserve nomination consideration, as does the lush and booming score by Lee's longtime collaborator Terence Blanchard... Whitlock, Lewis, Peters and Boseman deserve supporting actor conversation, while Delroy Lindo should be an instant contender for best actor. The Bloods decide to take the gold for themselves and bury it so they can retrieve it later. “Da 5 Bloods” is full of wonderful performances, and the warm, profane masculine banter among the bloods is a response to and a relief from the horror they have shared and still face. Melvin's widow receives his share, and Eddie's goes to a Black Lives Matter organization. The bloods come across as foulmouthed and uninformed about the war as they probably were when they were sent to fight it; the veteran-father of the Morehouse College man is an absent presence in his son’s life; and with the exception of Otis, who takes time in Ho Chi Minh City to find the daughter he fathered back in the day, the bloods are as disdainful of the Vietnamese as many GIs were at the time. [1] The two changed the film to an African-American perspective, added the film's flashback sequences and expanded the role of the Stormin' Norman character. The film's plot follows a group of four aging Vietnam War veterans who return to the country in search of the remains of their fallen squad leader, as well as the treasure they buried while serving there. [18], Da 5 Bloods was released on June 12, 2020, by Netflix. During their first night, Paul confiscates a pistol Otis had been secretly given by Tiên and becomes suspicious of his motives. Posted by. I was looking forward to watching Da 5 Bloods but found it difficult to even sit through it. Da 5 Bloods shows crucial revolutionary and political leader Hồ Chí Minh playing with children in 1955. "Da 5 bloods" is a terrible movie and only gets praise because of the current state of politics. "[1][13] Netflix executives initially were resistant to the proposal given the challenges it presented, but Lee was adamant and was eventually allowed to proceed. On the contrary, it feels compressed, bustling, and frenzied with its intellectual and dramatic energy. SJW libtard garbage! [11] Production lasted three months, mostly shooting in Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai. A Spike Lee Joint should always be the better option. "[26] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Structural flaws notwithstanding, this movie is a gift right now, and there's no other director that could have made it. Four African American veterans return to Vietnam decades after the war to find their squad leader's remains — and a stash of buried gold. Can America’s Problems Be Fixed By a President Who Loves Jon Meacham? Bloods trots out every caricature of Viet Nam War figures that you can imagine, beginning with American veterans of the war. The result is overlong and erratic, but also frequently surprising...propelled by an unforgettable turn from Delroy Lindo. Sometimes the best way to call attention to an historical injustice is through bold entertainment. 639. Moderator of r/movies Archived. But the main issue with Da 5 Bloods comes from the technical aspects of the film: crappy CGI effects, an overbearing and distracting score and a severe editing problem that suggests that Lee had to delete several scenes to make the whole thing shorter. The next day, Vinh drops off the group and tells them he will pick them up in a few days. This awful movie is also dangerous. Originally written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo in 2013, the script was re-worked by Lee and Kevin Willmott following the pair's successful collaboration in BlacKkKlansman (2018). Paul and the others manage to pull David off the mine safely. They also find Norman's remains and pray over them. As Desroche prepares to execute Otis, David shoots and kills him with Otis's gun. During the Vietnam War, a squad of Black US Army soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division,[3] Paul, Otis, Eddie, Melvin, and their squad leader Norman, who dub themselves the "Bloods," secure the site of a CIA airplane crash and recover its cargo, a locker of gold bars intended as payment for the Lahu people for their help in fighting the Viet Cong. Da 5 Bloods is a 2020 American war drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Spike … Fierce energy and ambition course through Da 5 Bloods, coming together to fuel one of Spike Lee's most urgent and impactful films. Lee’s troop meets up with a group of backpackers in-country to do Project Renew-type work. [...] It’s how the American public perceived the war. The film was originally a 2013 spec script by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo titled The Last Tour, with Mike Bundlie and Barry Levine Executive Producing and with Oliver Stone set to direct. Soon thereafter, they are joined by Paul's son David, who has a tempestuous relationship with his father. This is a big, fat, egregious lie. "[30], Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave the film a grade of "B" and wrote: "A loose, caustic look at the Vietnam war through the prism of black experiences, Da 5 Bloods wrestles with the specter of the past through the lens of a very confusing present, and settles into a fascinated jumble as messy and complicated as the world surrounding its release. [23] In November, Variety reported the film was the 16th-most watched straight-to-streaming title of 2020 up to that point. Da 5 Bloods, which is equal parts heist, war story, and bloody reckoning, follows four black US Army veterans who … During the night Seppo escapes while David and the others forcibly disarm Paul. "[33], Critic Mark Kermode called the film "a mixed bag". The film received numerous awards and nominations, including for the Academy Award for Best Original Score, and was named by the National Board of Review as the Best Film of 2020. With one blood wearing a MAGA hat, the loss of the war is attributed to home-front betrayal—upon return, we were called “baby killers,” says one of the four. Da 5 Bloods started its life as a 2013 spec script titled The Last Tour, written by The Rocketeer scribes Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo (and featuring a white cast). Paul then holds the three outsiders hostage with Otis's gun, paranoid that they will report them to the authorities. Working with three other writers (including the two showrunners behind 1990’s Flash TV series), Lee adroitly sets up Da 5 Bloods as a tense postwar drama whose final acts accelerate through commercial suspense-thriller mechanics while never stopping the commentary.