At over 150 minutes, Da 5
Bloods follows the pattern of auteur-driven
Netflix originals that
could use some editorial pruning.
That said, I’m not sure what
you would cut out here. Its issues
aren’t so much pacing as the
arm-wrestling match that seems
to be constantly playing out between
what feels like Bilson and
De Meo’s generic Kelly’s Heroesesque
battlefield heist movie and
Lee and Willmott’s barber shop
with landmines hang out movie.
The two strands never quite gel
organically, and you might wish
a third party had been enlisted
to smooth out the narrative more
naturally. But there’s enough
here to fill out a bloated-bellied
Sunday afternoon on the couch
with your old man, and veterans
of combat may find themselves
raising a glass in memory of their
own Normans.
•
Da 5 Bloods
3 ½ Stars out of 5
Directed by: Spike Lee
Starring: Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm
Lewis, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., Chadwick Boseman,
Jonathan Majors, Mélanie Thierry, Jean
Reno, Paul Walter Hauser, Jasper Pääkkönen
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 72
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