Heck, I’ll even throw in Nick Cannon attempting to rap, even though he’s only considered to be old by Hollywood’s standards. Cannon should only be allowed to rap if R. Kelly is doing the hook while also wearing his trademark Zorro mask from his peeing on underage girls days (Gigolo). Now I will however give Cannon this, he’s still in incredible shape and the song that someone else wrote for him to be the theme for Chi-Raq actually is fairly decent, that is until you realize it’s him on the track. But seriously, was Vic Mensa’s touring schedule too busy for him to write and record this song? Couldn’t DMX play the role of a rapper who’s also a gang leader? I mean, he could use a break from impersonating federal agents at local airports couldn’t he?
Well having said all that, Spike Lee, another old person who’s trying to regain his youth, has just released a new movie called Chi-Raq and it has stirred quite a bit of controversy in these past few weeks. Can satire really be used to bring awareness to the alarming death tolls that are the result of Chicago’s gang violence? Should he have consulted with the people of Chicago before making this film? And why does Samuel L. Jackson look younger today than he did 19 years ago when he yelled in A Time to Kill "Yes they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!"?
Well anyone who has even remotely followed Lee’s career knows that he is well past his prime and that he will never make another Do the Right Thing or Malcolm X again. But after last night, I do have to say that Chi-Raq comes as close as you can realistically expect from him at this point. This movie is based off of the Greek comedy Lysistrata, a funny take on one woman’s attempt to end the Peloponnesian War by asking all women to refuse their husbands sex until a peace treaty is signed.
And that’s essentially the plot of this movie. Fed up with the fact her boyfriend Chi-Raq (Cannon) will eventually die at the hands of rival gangster Cyclops (Wesley Snipes), due to their long running and bloody feud, Lysistrata decides to unite the women of Chicago by starting a sex strike. She starts off small by first approaching the women that are close to her but the movement takes on a life of its own after the gang violence takes the life of a little girl in the community. The next thing you know, the entire world has jumped on board with this strike and men everywhere are starting to get frustrated.
Now since it is a 15th century Greek comedy, its material can be over the top to say the least. And when you combine the fact that Lee isn’t known for subtlety himself, this film has quite a few moments that are borderline absurd. But thankfully those scenes never completely distract you from what he is ultimately trying to accomplish with this film. Lee takes on a number of subjects in this two hour masterpiece and he expertly does so by seamlessly changing the tone of the film whenever necessary.
One moment you’re laughing at man who has literally lost his mind because all he has on the brain is booty and the next you’re crying alongside a mother who has to wash up the blood of her dead daughter. It’s like Lee said in a recent interview "you have to laugh to keep from crying".
It does take you a while to get used to the lyrical language of the film as Lee for the most part keeps the poetic style of the play, and this of course leads to a few scenes that come off as silly. But the number times where he literally makes you laugh out loud far outweighs the few times you find yourself rolling your eyes. I know that I give Cannon a hard time but he actually turned in a fairly decent performance in this film, that is until its most pivotal scene. But I’ll just equate that moment with the final shot in He Got Game; why o why did Denzel have to throw that basketball?
Snipes is having a blast playing the role of the rival Cyclops and some of the cameos in this film will leave you absolutely floored but the woman who took complete charge of this film was Teyonah Parris (Lysistrata). Her evolution from being the naïve girlfriend to a revolutionary visionary is one for the ages and should help catapult her career. She manages to be smart, sexy, ambitious, and fragile all in one and it made me want to instantly propose to her.
It takes some time for you to properly digets everything that happens in this film but once you do, you’ll realize that Lee actually still has a little talent in him and he put all out for display in Chi-Raq. I rate this movie as FRESH!
No comments:
Post a Comment