Review:
*Originally written August 29th, 2018*
Spike Lee is a director I'm not the most familiar with, I've seen his least critically acclaimed films, the average American remake of Oldboy and the decent (From what I remember) Inside Man, I've yet to see his truly great films, Malcolm X and Do the Right Thing. I went into this with quite high expectations and I was not disappointed. BlacKkKlansman is an angry, angry provocative work of art and possibly the most important film of the year. I left the screening with that same cold feeling of silence I got after seeing Detroit last year.
The story is a fascinating one. A young black cop Ron Stallworth (John David Washington, son of Denzel) goes undercover in the Ku Klux Klan, despite his race. It's an engrossing ride from start to finish and one of the most interesting undercover cop films I've seen in quite some time. Every scene is either tense or has something interesting going on in it, but I was surprised at how genuinely funny it could be at times. Stallworth's phone conversations with David Duke (The Grand Wizard of the KKK) are some of the funniest things I've watched in a while and has a wonderful payoff in the end.
Obviously with Stallworth being black, they have to send in a white cop for the face to face stuff, which leads to some really tense moments. Adam Driver does a wonderful job in these moments and he really is one of the best actors of our generation, I just wish his character had more of an arc, he's more just a tool of the investigation than a real character, which is fine, as this film is more or less all Washington's story. And he puts in an amazing performance, equal parts charming, genuine and cocky, he really lives up to his father's legacy and even has his voice.
What's sad about BlacKkKlansman is just how relevant it is, despite the events happening over 30 years ago. There's a lot of references to Trump's America that fit in well and feel organic while giving the film a real emotional punch. A scene that cuts between a KKK meeting and a Black Power meeting is truly one of the best scenes of the year and the final credit montage is one of ballsiest and powerful endings I can think of. I just did not expect it, but it knocked me down a punch.
Lee really captures the time too, it's filled with references and soul music from the time. There's a little moment where Stallworth and his girlfriend are debating blacksplotation films of the day and it really made me realise I need to check out more of that stuff. Oh, and the clothes and hairstyles are just a joy to look at. We need a resurgence of those in real life.
A lot of what make BlacKkKlansman work is how real it feels. I know it's based on a true story, but I was a little worried they'd do something like turn the KKK into cartoony racists that just say the N word a lot, but they don't. These white supremacists feel like real people and that's a lot scarier. The stuff they say is horrifying and truly awful, it makes me sick that people like this exist. That there are people that believe black people are actually sub-human and that the Holocaust never happened.
BlacKkKlansman is truly amazing, one of the angriest, political films of the year with excellent performances from everyone and a deep engaging story that leaves you devastated by the end. Fuck racism.
9/10 Dans
BlacKkKlansman is out now in cinemas in the UK
Watch the trailer below:
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