GO SEE BLACK DYNAMITE IN THEATRES NOW!
‘Black Dynamite’ is all kinds of wrong funny.
There is definitely some shit I laughed at in this movie that God will be sending me to hell for. Even OG blaxploitation flicks weren’t this exploitative of the Blacks. This may be the reason I haven’t called this movie a classic. There are tons of laugh out loud moments throughout the movie and the themes they address are highlighted with humor, but in the end I was missing the big payback (no Richard Roundtree).
It’s not easy to parody stereotype without becoming that which you are mocking. ‘Black Dynamite’ reflects the cinema aesthetic for the 1970’s era so accurately that it almost becomes that itself. The problem with that is the fact that we are living in 2009 and the reality of those that view the film today will not be consistent with the people that watched a film like this in 1975. I like to laugh as much as anyone else, but I also need to be engaged with my eyes on the prize.
Doing parody is one of the most difficult tricks in the business of making comedy. You have to constantly remind the viewer that you are actively crafting the joke. Black Dynamite is a parody not just of the blaxploitation genre of movies but of the gangsta rap lifestyle and mindset that is now indelibly attached to Black culture. One of my favorite scenes is where the ensemble cast of actors and comedians does a rambling bit on African American numerical mysticism all the while inspiring Roscoe to sell chicken and waffles in his restaurant.
Black Dynamite is filled with wild action and homemade special effects all of which adds to the comedy. It felt like all the kung fu and crazy pimp flicks I had watched long ago. The movie’s writers and producers were definitely fans of the genre as well. You have to be an O.G. to catch some of their references. To a kid those will just be funny scenes but to some of us older fans we will remember the movie where we first saw that scene. Like I said earlier, parody is hard as hell especially with Black films because if you slip from the fine line you become baseless coonery.
Black Dynamite is a cross between I’m Gonna Git’ You Sucka and Original Gangstas. The laughs come fast and furious and sometimes at the expense of the storyline. I was hoping that Black Dynamite would be more like Bamboozled or the classic Black Hollywood experience parody film – Hollywood Shuffle. The fact that Black Dynamite falls short of the distinction of ‘classic’ doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth seeing, especially if you got a blunt of that good good beforehand.
Black Dynamite will tell you that even though drugs are fun they don’t belong in the hands of children.
I co-sign that message to the fullest.
Out of a 4 retahd rating sytem I give ‘Black Dynamite’ 3 retahds.
