Chi-Raq (Spike Lee)

[Philip J. Fry]

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[transmogrifier]

The best Spike Lee joint since, what....The 25th Hour, I guess? It is a peculiar mix of anger, sentimentality, melodrama, farce, and slapstick....and it works, almost right up until the end, where it leans too heavily on Nick Cannon, and he can't really carry the weight. Teyonah Parris, however, is electric and deserves to be a star.

[D_Davis]

Can't wait to see this. I'll probably check it out on Amazon this weekend.

Looks incredible.

[ledfloyd]

It doesn't work completely, but it has more integrity than hundreds of movies that do. It's an uncompromised artistic vision for better and worse. Interesting and provoking as hell.

[Grouchy]

It's pretty crazy that this is an absurd, on-your-face comedy about child killings. The ending and the plot in general are its weakest points, and Lee has never excelled on good plotting, truth be told. The best moments by contrast are those which simply use the characters as mouthpieces for Lee's thoughts. And it's a great ensemble he has put together here (Dave Chapelle is in this!) to the extent that I can imagine a movie like this becoming completely aggravating with an acting group that wasn't so brilliant.

By the way, I spent a large chunk of the film thinking Angela Bassett was LaDonna from Treme. Shame on me.

[Grouchy]

And speaking of connections with David Simon shows, I had no idea the guy who played Clay Davis in The Wire had created his catchphrase "shiiiiiiiiiiiit" for his appearances on Spike Lee joints. I thought that was all The Wire. I even saw the guy on 25th Hour on TV recently and thought "oh, Spike is a fan".

[Ezee E]

And speaking of connections with David Simon shows, I had no idea the guy who played Clay Davis in The Wire had created his catchphrase "shiiiiiiiiiiiit" for his appearances on Spike Lee joints. I thought that was all The Wire. I even saw the guy on 25th Hour on TV recently and thought "oh, Spike is a fan".

It came from The 25th Hour right?

I don't think he used shiiiiiiit until the final season where he basically became a cartoon.

[Grouchy]

This movie has - I think - his longest "shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiit" yet. It doesn't even end.

[Philip J. Fry]

It came from The 25th Hour right?

I don't think he used shiiiiiiit until the final season where he basically became a cartoon.

I recall him using it on the third one, even earlier.

[Spinal]

Wasn't sure about this early on, but was ultimately won over. It may have some flaws, but it's the best kind of flawed movie - ambitious, daring, and deeply personal. I love the way Lee incorporates overt theatricality and passionate sermonizing. The broad comedy in service of some deeply serious philosophizing is very much in keeping with his ancient source material. The choreography is slick and creative and it mostly had me smiling or chuckling throughout. Teyonah Parris is hugely charismatic. Sam Jackson and Wesley Snipes get nice comedic supporting roles. Jennifer Hudson and Angela Bassett get a little bit hammy at times, but they're fine. The verse works better in some scenes than in others. When it flies, it soars. When it stumbles, the dialogue can occasionally seem clunky and frivolous. The overall impact is there though and I was very moved by the ending.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Whenever the film threatens to fall into eye-rolling camp, there's some slick bit of editing or sideways gag to plug you back into its strange and compelling electricity. One of my favorite bits had a character appropriate the Warriors cry of "Come out to play!" followed by someone else immediately bowdlerizing Mario Savio (not least of which because Warriors villain David Patrick Kelley appears earlier in the film as General King Kong, which goes back to Strangelove, and so the hyper-literacy of the film pretzels back on itself). There's a twist at the end that should surprised nobody, but what did surprise me was how much I smiled and laughed with the film, not just at its wide assortment of gags (including a juvenile nod to Oedipus), but also at the confidence of the film as it barreled from sincere melodrama into farce and camp before slapping me across the face with real names, real tragedies. In the end, the film seems scattered, its theme broad, but its anger, bemusement, and empathy hold it together. Should the film have expanded itself so far beyond the borders of Chicago, beyond the gang violence it depicted? I don't know. The problem is you can't talk about gang violence without talking about gun violence, and you can't talk about guns in America without talking about poverty and race and the American war mind. Real issues complicate and diffuse and overlap. Maybe the broadness is what makes the film feel so true.