“Da 5 Bloods” Movie Review

    It hasn’t been an easy few months for us film buffs thanks to the global pandemic which has sadly affected much of the world and has taken far too many lives.  Longing for the days of going to the theater seems a bit selfish and unrealistic at the moment.  Luckily, we can all enjoy a little bit of normalcy in the form of original streaming content.  While a great deal of the films that premiere on the streaming services are on the subpar side, occasionally acclaimed filmmakers decide to try their hands at more non-traditional filmmaking using Netflix or Hulu.  One such filmmaker with a film hitting Netflix recently was the controversial Spike Lee.

    The film focuses on four aging African Americans who return to Ho Chi Minh City for the first time since the Vietnam War.  The men were members of a unit of American soldiers self dubbed “the bloods” which was led by their now deceased squad leader Norman.  The men are searching for gold they left buried there during the war.  Unfortunately, the quest for the lost treasure ends up tearing the friends apart and the men may not make it out of Vietnam this time.

    With a predominately African American cast, this film has been released at an important time in modern politics with the Black Lives Matter movement becoming an increasingly powerful and moving voice in the United States.  It also illustrated the fact that the horrors of war knows no race.  War doesn’t discriminate and scars any race, religion, and side it touches.

    My father was a Vietnam veteran who suffered mildly from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and this film did a good job depicting the impact it has on some veterans.  Sadly, you can take the men out of the war but you can’t always take the war out of the men sometimes.  Spike Lee’s handling of PTSD was handled very well through the film in my opinion.

    The film wasn’t perfect despite some interesting concepts.  The editing is some scenes was bit rough and could have been handled a bit better especially during the battle scenes.  The score was also rather bland for a war film.

    While the cast of actors did a magnificent job in their roles, I wasn’t a fan of Lee using the same older actors in flashbacks.  I found this to be very distracting and I would have used younger actors to be younger versions of them.

    “Da 5 Bloods” is a film about how sometimes war never ends for some soldiers.  It is also a film which explores the brotherhood of a group of African American soldiers living through a war no American should have been involved with.

GRADE: B+

“Angel Has Fallen” Movie Review

    Despite the fact that “White House Down” came out the same year as “Olympus Has Fallen” in 2013 and everyone was sure “White House Down” would be the bigger winner in the showdown between films with similar subject matters, “Olympus Had Fallen” proved to be the victor in the epic showdown of the two films.  The film went on to spawn two sequels, “London Has Fallen” and the newly released “Angel Has Fallen”.

    The last film of the trilogy follows Mike Banning as he is faced with the choice of staying a Secret Service agent or accept a promotion and become the new Secret Service director.  Before Mike is even given the chance to think about rather he wants to give up on his action packed job in exchange for a pay raise, President Trumbull and Mike are left the only two survivors in an attack that appears to point at Mike being the prime suspect.  Now Mike Banning is on the run to clear his name and find the person responsible for attacking the President and for framing him.

    The film is an enjoyable popcorn flick much like the other installments.  While there isn’t much character development in the film and the story is rather simplistic, the action set pieces are pretty fun.  This is a film series that is supposed to harken back to 80s action films like “Die Hard” and “Cobra”.  In this regard, I feel the film (and the film series as a whole) is fairly successful.

    The film features Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman returning to their previous roles.  Butler seems to enjoy playing Banning and it shows.  Morgan Freeman literally sleeps his way through most of the film but Freeman is one of the few actors who can still excel while napping.  The real breakout new addition to the franchise is screen legend Nick Nolte as Clay Banning, Mike’s father.  Nolte’s grizzled Vietnam veteran gives the film the levity it was lacking before he shows up.

    “Angel Has Fallen” may not a heady awards contender and it may not leave you thinking after you exit the theater, but it does a good job of providing an enjoyable movie going experience and in the end, sometimes we just need some escapism.

Grade: B-

”The A-Team” Movie Review

    “The A-Team” was a film based on one of my favorite television shows as a kid.  It was a fun show and it clicked with audiences in the 1980s.  I remember having A-Team toys and Mr. T seemed like he was everywhere, he was even on cereal boxes!  The cultural impact of “The A-Team” can’t be ignored.

    The basic story of the movie tells the origins of The A-Team which was narrated over the opening credits of the television show.  A small group of soldiers were ordered to do an illegal mission, the mission backfired and then they were convicted of a crime they didn’t commit.  The soldiers promptly escaped and set out on a mission to clear their name.

    The cast is led by Liam Neeson who takes over the role of Hannibal, the leader of the team.  He looks the role and has a natural command over the audience so you believe he could be a Colonel.  Bradley Cooper portrays Lieutenant“Faceman” Peck.  For such a skilled actor, Cooper doesn’t do much to make the character feel layered.  “District 9” breakout Sharlto Copley gives the film’s most faithful performance as “Howling Mad” Murdock.  His unstable performance seems lifted straight out of the show.  As for B.A. Baracus, UFC fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson took over the role from Mr. T.  The problem with the character of B.A. Baracus is that Mr. T was so closely associated with the role that it’s hard to separate the actor from the character.  Jackson doesn’t have the screen presence Mr. T had.  Jackson also isn’t the best actor for a lead role.

  The modern setting is part of the problem with the movie in my opinion.  In a post Vietnam world of the 1980s, potentially living under the radar was more feasible. It was unrealistic that a group of ex-soldiers could survive as “soldiers of fortune” in the underground even back then. It is practically impossible nowadays.  The Vietnam War setting was also important because it acted as a sort of allegory to how all the veterans of that war felt.  They came home and felt out of place, accused of being criminals over a conflict they were forced to participate in.  Now, veterans are considered heroes, there is no draft, and generally speaking, there are a lot of good programs out there to help veterans out.  We live in a different world today partly because of Vietnam.

    The television show wisely skipped over the part depicting the team’s “crimes” because that isn’t, for the most part, what the show wanted to focus on.  It was a show about a group of misfits who help the helpless.  The movie should have followed suit.

Grade: C