Black Dynamite
If “Jackie Brown” was the deconstrictionist homage to ’70s Blaxsploitation films, “Black Dynamite”- co-written and starring Michael Jai White- is the inevitable return to the form.
Jai White does a dazzling job of bringing it home in story and performance, with the long-time character actor (he was in “The Dark Knight,” as well as “Why Did I Get Married?” and “Spawn”) playing Black Dynamite, a man of the ’70s streets. Scarred Vietnam vet, betrayed by his country, trying to survive and keep the streets safe for the kids when he isn’t banging the babes.
All in the name of love fellas, although things get personal when his brother Jimmy is gunned down at a drug deal. The CIA agent on the case doesn’t know who he can trust. And he reinstates Black Dynamite’s License to Kill. Not that that would stop Black Dynamite anyway. A Kung Fu weapon, he doesn’t need a License to Kill to take out a room full of bad guys. And with sidekicks like Bullhorn (Byron Minns) and Cream Corn (Tommy Davidson), you can be sure the streets will be safer by the time BD faces off with Tricky Dick in a White House battle royale.
In all fairness, a part of me wants to get this movie on DVD just to hear the inevitable commentary by Jai White and his collaborators (including co-writer/director Scott Sanders). Whereas the QT/Robert Rodriguez joint “Grindhouse” brought back ’70s filmmaking with a wink and a smile, these guys play it straight, resulting in more resonate comedy, and more entertaining results. These guys bleed ’70s exploitation films in their veins, and these guys take it over the top with pitch-perfect style (did they find some old ’70s film stock?), and a script that plays like an original from that era. And did I mention the musical score by Adrian Younge that bleeds style and cool (I’d say it’s Oscar-worthy, except I don’t think the Academy would see it as original so much as culled from the era- it’s that good)? The costumes and makeup that just scream “decade of disco?” The gratuitous violence, of both the gun-splattering and kung fu fighting variety, and the even more gratuitous sex? The dialogue, which takes dizzying twists and turns that even I marveled at how well-written it was.
And then there’s the performances. If a white filmmaker tried to do this movie, they’d be hung two ways to Sunday by the NAACP and filmmakers like Spike Lee (who, it should be known, I think could do a movie like this just as well- I just sense that about him). But since the main creative man of the film is one of the best (and most memorable) black character actors around- and Michael Jai White should be an Oscar contender in a more just world- well, just let him have his moment in the artistic sun. This is a star-making project, and a clear labor of love.
And believe me, you will love it.
