If there’s someone who can pull off a heart wrenching raw action/drama, then it’s Spike Lee. The story starts with the reunion of four African American vets in Vietnam who are trying to return the remains of their late squad leader and pull off a robbery at the same time. Despite the plot being chaotic and all over the place, the movie surprisingly isn’t. The characters’ outlandish decisions and plot twists were smoothly pulled off. I liked the relationship between the friends and even more between them and their families. Spike Lee’s need for a father-son conflict dynamic in his films really shines in this one, and it’s heartbreaking. Some of the action scenes are very disturbing, but the meaning behind them is even more so. The film jumps from sequences harshly, yet the stylistic documentary style they went with makes the jumps look more seamless than they are. I hated the obvious age of the squad during the flashbacks, a problem easily fixed with CGI if the budget was higher, or new younger cast at least. The script is the one thing that had me conflicted, it had great moments, and some cringe-worthy ones, there is something to be said about the actors doing such a phenomenal performance with it. The cast, despite the age issue, played their roles to the T, especially Delroy Lindo. I could almost smell the Oscar from my small computer screen. Lindo was in his element, relaxed yet crazy, his performance is easily the best in his career so far. Jonathan Majors performance started off rather shaky, but just like his character he quickly built his depth and blew it out the water. I was surprised by Chadwick Boseman performance, even though he wasn’t given a lot but he could’ve done better. I loved the homage paid to the African-American culture even though I didn’t understand all of it at first. Without the necessary knowledge you would simply miss the importance of the music used, and the timing of it too. You would miss the side of the war that wasn’t explored in a million different ways in movies. Spike Lee’s films are always a love letter to his culture, and this one is no different. While it’s not his best film to date, it is certainly a career milestone that will be remembered.
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