Black Dynamite (2009) Review

 

Black Dynamite (2009)

Black Dynamite follows Black Dynamite, a kung fu fighting ex-CIA agent and Vietnam veteran, as he wages war on “The Man” for killing his brother and sending tainted liquor out onto the streets. 

How on Earth this spoof film isn’t talked about more is beyond me. Meant to be a parody on classics like Shaft and Dolemite (which is a parody in and of itself), Black Dynamite pays beautiful homage to the low-budget blaxploitation films of the 70s, chock full with incredible action, self-parody, jive-talking one liners, and deliberate mistakes meant to imitate the shoddy production values of those sexed up classics. In all of it’s kung fu treachery, up until the film gets really silly, you could easily believe that was made back in the 1970s, with the mistakes, look, and overall quality coming off as strikingly accurate to the time, due in part to shooting on Super-16 colour reversal stock, which generates a high-contrast, richly saturated image that's well-augmented by the excellent imitations of '70s-style clunky camera-work and awkward framing. 

On top of just how well (or poor?) it was made, we also get a story that is just as ridiculous, yet somehow coherent, that sees Black Dynamite fighting Richard Nixon, dealing with crack orphans, and protecting the black community’s manhoods from getting shrunk (the result of poisoned liquor no less), all of which is played off to perfection with a straight face. 

Dynamite sports a downright hilarious cast, starring Roger Yuan, Phil Morris, Bokeem Woodbine, Salli Richardson, Arsenio Hall, Kym Whitley, Byron Minns, Tommy Davidson, and Michael Jai White. White, who genuinely holds 7 black belts in various martial arts, is an absolute riot here, practically playing a 70s caricature of himself with his corny one liners and kung fu badassery. I genuinely don’t think anyone could have pulled off the borderline seriousness and physicality of this role quite like him; a perfect casting. 

Black Dynamite, directed by Scott Sanders, is one of the very rare cases where a spoof comedy is so faithful to its source material that it could gain just as much respect, as it will laughs (of which there are no shortage of). Genuinely one of the funniest & most entertaining movies I’ve seen in a long while, and a true credit to those it pays homage to. 

9/10