A blazing, vital Spike Lee Joint for these turbulent times.

Boy, does the world need a Spike Lee Joint right now. As the world reels in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement gains unprecedented momentum, Spike Lee’s latest effort couldn’t be timelier if it tried.

With racism and bigoted brutalities in the public consciousness like never before, Spike’s brand of righteous, forthright storytelling is as important now as it has ever been, and while the legendary director’s films have always fizzed with a potent socio-political relevance, the arrival of Da 5 Bloods on Netflix is so pertinent it hurts.

Returning to Vietnam for the first time since the war, four African American veterans are drawn back in the hope of locating the remains of their fallen squad leader Stormin’ Norman (Chadwick Boseman) and the promise of buried treasure. The four remaining ‘Bloods’ – Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis), and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) – together with Paul’s concerned son David (Jonathan Majors), must battle man, nature, and their own personal demons to locate the gold and bring their fallen brother back home.

Believe the hype. BlacKkKlansman was no fluke. Spike Lee is back and he’s still swinging.

After a fair few years of inconsistency, the knockout punch of BlacKkKlansman put the indomitable filmmaker’s career back on track, yet, while awards and critical acclaim were forthcoming, the ups and downs of Spike’s latter filmography raised questions as to whether the fine form would continue. Have no fear however, as Da 5 Bloods not only lives up to the high standards of its predecessor, in many ways, it blows it up.

No doubt about it, this is one of the finest Spike Lee Joints going and a genuine highlight in the director’s long and lauded career. Brimming with Spike’s patented brand of virtuous fury, age has clearly not softened the edges of his message, yet, what it has done is allow him to bloom into a true all-round filmmaker, as Da 5 Bloods proves to be one of his most satisfying efforts to date.

Bringing absolutely everything to the table, the film is a tonal Molotov Cocktail that bounces around from brutal war film to action adventure to dark comedy to poignant drama in the blink of an eye. Although the shifts in tone and genre can be disorientating, the trademark Spike Lee energy is always there as he wrangles several disparate tones into one singular message.

While as deeply personal as Spike Lee is ever going to get, Da 5 Bloods is no less urgent because of it. As a volatile, passionate, and lacerating portrait of Black lives used as cannon fodder by the country they fought for, the film is a dagger to the heart of American’s fractured relationship with race that places one muddy boot in the Vietnam war and the other firmly in the here and now.

Like BlacKkKlansman before it, Da 5 Bloods is a (partial) period-piece grenade lobbed into a present day where the notion of expendable African American lives is all too real. Decades after the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, and the Civil Rights Movement, Spike Lee is as ready as he’s ever been to pull the pin and launch his film into a modern America in which everything and nothing has changed.

As one might expect, Da 5 Bloods is a film dripping with anger and pain as it peels back the deep-rooted, institutionalised disregard for Black lives, but what elevates the film above pure fury is its focus on the very personal toll this history has taken. As all four of the aging ‘Bloods’ dwell on their past and present, the feelings of loss, rage, and regret are palpable.

Showcasing a maturity that has blossomed in the latter part of his career, Spike Lee engages with the complex subject and the nuanced emotions of his protagonists across the decades, tying them all into the Black Lives Matter movement in a thoroughly satisfying way. Framing the film in two key, explosive moments in US history is certainly no fluke, with a bold and bloody line drawn between Vietnam, the Civil Rights unrest, and Trump-era America.

Long and meandering but never less than engaging, the plot clicks through the gears swiftly, making what is a hefty 155-minute running time fly by. Going from emotionally rousing to bleakly graphic at a rapid pace, the tonal shifts are certainly bewildering at times, but its steadily tightening grip is inescapable.

Helping hammer home the message, Da 5 Bloods’ core ensemble of veterans are faultless. Led by a Delroy Lindo performance for the ages, each one of Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, and Isiah Whitlock Jr. put in the shift of their careers as they traverse a sweltering Vietnamese landscape that would test actors half their age.

Together with relative rookie Jonathan Majors and the flashback spectre of the always impeccable Chadwick Boseman, the four protagonists have the natural chemistry of lifelong brothers-in-arms, combining testosterone-fuelled banter with an aching, haunted fragility. While it may sound odd considering their advancing years, there’s a strong coming-of-age feel to the story with a vibe hitting somewhere between Apocalypse Now and an old man Stand By Me.

In a rare move, Spike Lee injects a huge slab of grandiose into proceedings, taking all the flicks, tricks, and dolly shots we’ve grown accustom to, while ramping the scale up to eleven. With not so subtle nods to the war epics of Hollywood past, Da 5 Bloods feels huge as it flits between harrowing 16mm jungle battles and beautifully framed modern Vietnam landscapes.

Helped along by Terence Blanchard’s rousing and redolent score and a soundtrack led by a haunting rendition of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’, the film encapsulates the internal and external conflicts of its protagonists wonderfully. Mixing the glory and bombast seen in many a war epic with the shocking, scandalously underrepresented realities of life as a Black Vietnam vet, Da 5 Bloods is a potent, volatile, and vital viewing experience.

While there are certainly pacing and plotting problems at times, the forceful energy that Da 5 Bloods exudes is more than enough for it to power through any minor stumbles. With Spike at his dynamic best, Da 5 Bloods involves a lot of ticks and quirks that would derail a lesser film, but while narrative flights of fancy like the constant shifting of aspect ratios and shooting styles might sound overwhelming, that’s part of the fun, as Spike stuffs his story so full of ideas that it’s hard not to just give in to the wild ride.

Every Spike Lee Joint ever has been an all too rare chance for a singular Black filmmaker to right historical wrongs and represent the under/misrepresented, and Da 5 Bloods is no exception. Of course, Spike’s voice has always been relevant and righteous, but as recent events in America bring the Black Lives Matter movement into sharp focus, this may be one of the most vital entries in his career.

Bolstered by Spike Lee’s patented boisterous energy and a bulldozing, Oscar-worthy performance from Delroy Lindo, Da 5 Bloods comes out all guns blazing in an all-out assault on racism, politics, family trauma, and the enduring consequences of the Vietnam War on Black America. Packed full of rage, scope, genres, and wild filmmaking ideas, Da 5 Bloods is not only one of Spike’s most ambitious efforts to date, it may just be his finest.

Da 5 Bloods is available to stream on Netflix now.