Da 5 Bloods Netflix Movie Review

Da 5 Bloods (2020)

Watch Da 5 Bloods on Netflix
Written by: Danny Bilson & Paul De Meo and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee (written by)
Directed by: Spike Lee
Starring: Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Jean Reno, Chadwick Boseman, Norm Lewis
Rated: R
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More Information

Plot
Vietnam veterans return to the Vietnam jungle to find the remains of their fallen squad leader and the promise of buried treasure. The men battle the forces of man and nature while confronting the Vietnam war.

Verdict
I like multiple aspects of this movie, but overall it doesn't come together. Once the guys find the treasure, the story falters. It has a lot of the Spike Lee hallmarks, and while I appreciate the points made, at the end of the movie I'm ambivalent. This starts with veterans revisiting the past as a drama and ends as some kind of action movie. The last half isn't as engaging as the first half.
It depends.

Review
What is this movie? It combines the genres of heist, nostalgia trip, and social commentary but Da 5 Bloods doesn't manage it as well as BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee's previous movie. Part of that is the humor, and part of it is the story. BlacKkKlansman is an absurd premise, though the humor helps bolster the point the movie is making. Both movies have a lot in common and focus on similar themes. It just works better and has more impact in BlacKkKlansman because of a stronger story.
I like that this movie introduces influential black figures from history, and makes the point that black lives are seen as expendable. There isn't that much distance from slavery to soldiering.

The story focuses on Vietnam veterans, the good and bad of what that means. They have a great camaraderie, their fallen squad leader still acting as their leader in some ways. They call themselves the Bloods, and they are returning to Vietnam to retrieve a treasure they buried that was originally lost when the jungle was napalmed. It's just now resurfaced and brought the men back together.

Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and
Norm Lewis play four of "Da Bloods."

The flashbacks to Vietnam have the look and style of '70s movies, great soundtrack too. In a time where many movies employ extensive CGI to de-age actors, the flashbacks feature the Bloods as they look now. They is no makeup or younger actors used. That's an interesting choice that fits the story. These guys, decades out of the war, are still soldiers. They may have aged, but they never left that past behind them.

Delroy Lindo and Jonathan Majors play Paul and his son David.

Delroy Lindo does a great job as Paul. It's part performance and part character. It's easy for outsiders to dismiss Vietnam as a long time ago, but for Paul and all of them it doesn't feel that long ago. Paul never overcame the trauma.
Paul's son is on the trip to and that provides a great look at how things have changed a generation later.

There's one gruesome scene that shifts the tone of the movie. This is a movie that introduced historically important black people while also linking the struggle for equality in the '60s with the Vietnam War and to struggles today. Once that scene happens, the movie doesn't have the same depth. The movie doesn't have as much to say in the second half. Maybe that's because it was said in the first half, but the line it draws from slavery to being a soldier doesn't resolve in a memorable way. Maybe that's the point, that the struggles and contributions of black people are forgotten, but that feels like a stretch on my part.