I'm not a professional film critic or anything, and I'm not trying to comment like one, but I've got something I'm pretty sure on why some movies are so great: They simply never stop on get better as the runtime go.
I saw the movie because of its reputation. I knew its something good and i wanted to find out why everyone can't stop praising it. So when Henry Fonda pulled out that switch blade and stuck it on the table, i thought "oh thats it, that's why they say this movie is great, a huge twist". And then came the old guy with great insights about the old man downstairs and the woman across the street, they were on 2 to 10; And then there was the man who shouts his hate for people from the slumps, everyone in the room showed him how ignorant he was, they were tied on 6/6; And finally, the last man teared up his photo with his son he haven't seen in 2 years, sobbingly say "not guilty" ... Everything built up like a pile of random acts at first, but as the movie progresses everything fell into place like a luxury box of Belgium chocolates. I'm not saying you need to be keep on getting better to be a great movie, a lot of classics don't work the same way (or even the opposite), but if a movie can build up like 12 Angry Men, you just can't be bad.
I've been quite tentative on recent Spike Lee outings, maybe he doesn't have it any more I said.
I watched the trailer for this and knew I had already been proving wrong.
The story of 4 black soldiers who served in Vietnam going back to reclaim many things they lost, love, gold and much more.
While the cast was all excellent, Delroy Lindo as Paul STOLE the show in what is probably his greatest performance.
From the very start you can tell he's a PTSD powder keg ready to explode and boy does he ever.
The hurt, the anger, the bitterness, even the psychosis is on full display as he presents to the audience a truly broken man, if he's not atleast up for an oscar it will be highway robbery.
Chadwick Boseman shines in what is slightly more than a cameo as Stormin Norman.
I'm assuming they shot on location in Vietnam, if not they did a heck of a job recreating vietnam because everything looks very authentic, especially the jungles.
Lastly even though there's not a whole lot of it, the gore effects are SUPERB, there's one scene and you'll know when you see it where someone dies and it's just disgusting yet beautiful at the same time.
The acapella Marvin Gaye soundtrack interwoven with real life solders who wouldn't otherwise get mention was the cherry on top.
Bravo to all involved, Spike Lee is back.
