Black Dynamite

Black Dynamite (2009) is a movie I recently watched on HBOMAX. The storyline follows a multitalented 70s like Black Man who represented the streets. When a criminal organization kills his only brother he springs into action to bring the crime organization down. This movie is directed by Scott Sanders (Thick as Thieves) and stars Michael Jai White (Spawn), Arsenio Hall (Coming to America), Tommy Davidson (Bamboozled), Obba Babatundé (Life) and William Bassett (The Karate Kid). White was absolutely perfectly cast for this character and was entertaining throughout this movie. I actually liked this better than similar films that try to deliver an appreciation for this era like Undercover Brother, Super Fly and Pooty Tang. The action scenes were fun and have some great one-liners mixed in. The script as a whole was pretty good. The setting and backdrops were also well presented. Overall this is an entertaining movie worth a viewing that I would recommend seeing once. I'd score this a 6.5/10.

Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White)'s only brother Jimmy is killed. The Man is pushing new deadly drugs and suspected Jimmy to be an undercover cop. Black Dynamite is an ex-CIA agent still haunted by a little Chinese boy in Nam. He encounters many characters including Cream Corn (Tommy Davidson), Chicago Wind (Mykelti Williamson), and Tasty Freeze (Arsenio Hall). His police friend O'Leary confirms something that takes him all the way to Honky House.

This is a loving spoof of the 70s blaxsploitation genre. There is good deadpan humor. While it is repetitive, it does hit the spot every once in awhile. Too many of the actors are trying to do the same black trope character. They need to have more differences. Black Dynamite needs some fun specific side kicks. The Greek talk is fun because the other guys get to participate. It has some good fun moments although I wish it has a few more different comedy bits.

I had the great good pleasure of experiencing the full force of Black Dynamite at a midnight showing (at the Castro...one of The Last Great Movie Palaces). I had high expectations going in (based on the YouTube trailer). They were met, exceeded, and blown the F away. I don't remember betting a gut busted so hard in ages.

BD is an absolutely perfect movie. It somehow manages to be a parody and the thing that it is parodying at the same time. You are watching this alternate universe (a fantasy of the 70s, filtered through the lens of Blaxploitation) and the characters are REAL and they believe in the fantasy. But you are also constantly reminded that you are watching a FILM, an intentionally bad one at that. All the things professional filmmakers try to avoid, they do on purpose: Boom mike hitting actor's head, obvious continuity errors, reusing the same shot to save money (exploding car flying off cliff), replacing a stunt actor in mid-sequence... The effect is delightful and hilarious.

Kudos to the crew and actors for really "getting it" and going for it. (I think the only movie I've seen recently where the actors were having so much fun was Tropic Thunder.)

Oh, and the soundtrack; Man, I need to get me some of dat.

It's not often that I enjoy a movie to the point of laughing out loud – but Black Dynamite had me belly-laughing more than once. For those of us who are old enough to remember the joys of 1970's cinema this movie brings back all that was best (and worst) of those slightly grainy, scratched, funk and wow-wow pedal laden classics. The deliberate continuity errors and goofs are hilarious. The dialogue and stock characters could be drawn from any of those wonderful blacksploitation movies that were so exciting for a young lad living in rainy (and then almost 100% white) Ireland. So dig out your wide-collar shirt, pendant and platform boots and enjoy this gem.

Michael Jay White is "Black Dynamite" (if you have seen the movie, imagine the music, when saying that)! You might have seen him in "Spawn" or as one of the evil doers in "Dark Knight". Or if you are into some "B-Action" movies, there are quite a few he made (some of them even quite good).

Unfortunately he hasn't had his big break yet. Unfortunately and kinda surprisingly, at least for me. Even before watching Black Dynamite, I thought of him as a great actor. And when you watch this you will feel the same way. And you don't even have to be a "Blax-ploitation" expert to enjoy the comedy, that is displayed here!

The movie avoids getting big celebrities in major roles (Arsenio Hall being one of the "biggest" names), which actually makes the movie feel like it could have been shot back in the height of the Blax-ploitation movement! And it's rather a celebration of this "sub-genre" (if you want to call it that), than trying to make it ridiculous! A must-see movie! So full of crazy ideas and great (silly) performances, I can only hope there will be more movies like this in the future!