Da 5 Bloods

"Da 5 Bloods is a vintage Spike Lee Joint. Lee still has the moves, the rage, the humour and the urgency he brought to his movies 40 years ago."

"Entertainment journalists have taken to describing “Da 5 Bloods” as “timely” because its release coincides with the nationwide protests that spontaneously arose following the murder of George Floyd. That is true, but let’s be clear: Lee has always been ahead-of-his-timely."

"This loose, caustic look at aging Vietnam vets is a Spike Lee joint that illustrates the rarity of an American filmmaker so confident in his sensibilities and style that nothing can slow them down."

"There's a lot of plot unpacked in the 2.5-hour movie's first half, but Lee shuffles through it with fluidity and verve, aided by the tetchy but mostly genial group's camaraderie."

"OK, so the ‘Nam firefights are more routine than we’d expect from Lee and the treasure hunt element almost feels it belongs to a different film, but this is a frequently fierce, fascinating picture. The world needs it right now."

"With a story that straddles two generations and stretches from Trump’s United States to the Vietnam jungle, Da 5 Bloods is one of Spike Lee’s most expansive films to date."

"This is, of course, still an American film set in Vietnam, but it’s one that tells the story from a viewpoint too often minimised."

"It’s all so inventively bizarre that you could treat it simply as a black comedy, but in the final 15 minutes there is an amazing crescendo of emotion."

"One of the greatest films Spike Lee has ever made."

"Lee is just the trailblazer to bring passion and clarity to his presentation of the bloods as patriots who suffered disproportionate combat losses in an immoral war that wasn’t theirs, then came home to a country that denied them civil rights and left them alienated and adrift."

"The historical signposts would be clumsy in most hands, but they are part of Lee’s aesthetic, and he knows just how and when to use them."