Right on Time: Da 5 Bloods Review

Da 5 Bloods is an intense look at the particular duality present in Black American psychology. The film drops at a time when the country is being forced to face how it has treated its marginalized masses. It follows a group of Black Vietnam veterans as they return ‘in-country’ to make good on their promise to retrieve the remains of their fallen squad leader and the treasure buried with him. New Blood By no means is Da 5 Bloods a quintessential ‘Spike Lee joint’. There were four writers, including Spike, Oscar-winner Kevin Willmott, and video game industry legends Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo. Varied presentations of character and exposition throughout underscore the writing collaboration. To call the cast an all-star assembly would be a disservice to their performances. This is a Dream Team of melanated talent drawn from the annals of the last two decades of stage and screen. Clarke Peters (The Wire, Treme), Norm Lewis (Phantom Of The Opera), Isiah Whitlock Jr (The Wire, 25th Hour), Delroy Lindo (Malcolm X, Crooklyn), Chadwick Boseman (42, Black Panther) and relative newcomer Jonathan Majors (Last Black Man in San Francisco). DA 5 BLOODS (L to R) ISIAH WHITLOCK JR. as MELVIN, NORM LEWIS as EDDIE, DELROY LINDO as PAUL, CLARKE PETERS as OTIS and JONATHAN MAJORS as DAVID in DA 5 BLOODS Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2020 What’s Good, Blood? The film stitches a clever patchwork of the Black experience at large by examining one of its’ most polarizing intersections: being Black in the …