BlacKkKlansman (2018) Reviews

• Totally Recognizable Villany

  normando402019-01-08

  A terrific Spike Lee film with humor and gut wrenching truths. My first reaction was that the villains were too one dimensional, caricaturesque. It was impossible to stay with them for more than a few seconds - even that outrageous scene of connubial bliss where she expresses her willingness, in the most romantic terms, to kill Blacks. I recoiled in horror and kind of laughing nervously - what is this, a satire? And then, I realized - the real life villanis are one dimensional, they are caricaturesque, they are their own satire. John David Washinton is great and sounds just like his father. Adam Driver brings a presence that is nothing short of compelling, The final real life images are devastating, I highly recommend it.

• Incredible true story comes with a lot of fictional baggage

  tkmcc-087802018-08-20

  There's much good about this movie, starting with Ron Stallworth's incredible deception of the Klu Klux Klan. Racism in all its ugliness is powerfully shown. There's a lot of humor at the expense of some really dumb people. Unfortunately, there's a lot wrong with the movie too. Most of this is because the director embellished the true story. I'm not a big fan of directors tinkering with what really happened in order to add their own touch, and then still claim "based on a true story". The result of the tinkering is a very uneven movie, particularly in the apparently "easy" parts of infiltrating the KKK and the "hard" parts where things go wrong. The "easy" parts are, remarkably, mostly the true story. Apparently this wasn't dramatic enough, so a lot of fictional "hard" parts were added to build tension including whole characters and situations. That's bad enough, but the added parts often made no sense, such as having no real origin (like one character's intense suspicions) and no resolution to the dilemma presented - they just seem to go away, are forgotten or have no effect on the inevitable story arc. Many seem to have been thrown in only to make already duped people look even more ridiculous. The characters themselves are, with a few exceptions, just caricatures. It's not hard to figure out what's next since they do exactly what you expect. Eventually the movie just got boring since it all moved to an inevitable and very easy to see end. Ultimately, the movie is maybe an hour of an amazing true and humorous story marred by over an hour of superfluous and poorly executed fiction.

• Based on real events in 1970s Colorado, a black police officer joins the KKK.

  TxMike2018-11-16

  My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library. Although it runs a bit long at just over 2 hours it is such an interesting story, well-told, that it never seemed too long. The whole story is based on the 2014 book by Ron Stallworth, of his experiences in the 1970s in Colorado Springs as a fresh police officer, and the first black man to that position in that city. The character is very well played by John David Washington. In real life Stallworth had been an achiever in high school and wanted to make a difference as a police officer. On a whim he notices an ad which was recruiting members for a new KKK chapter in the Colorado Springs area. Having a phone voice and speaking manner not easily identified as black he successfully applied for membership, and at one point even speaking directly to David Duke in New Orleans. Ron would not have gotten very far in his ruse without a white man to replace him in live encounters, for this he recruited the help of fellow police officer, Adam Driver as Flip Zimmerman who happened to be Jewish, another ethnic target of the KKK. Together they thwarted some serious KKK mischief planned. For a very serious subject the movie director Spike Lee injects a fair share of humor, all very appropriate. Near the end the events of the 1970s are intercut with modern events and protests, showing that white supremacy activities are far from over.

• One hell of a movie

  EnoVarma2018-07-31

  Spike Lee has created an almost unimaginably uneven career in films, but it has never been in doubt, that he is one of the most talented American filmmakers of his generation. And should you have forgotten that, now you can remind yourself by watching the amazing "BlacKkKlansman", which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in May. "BlacKkKlansman" tells the true story of a rookie African American police officer who in the 70's infiltrated in the KKK, but that's certainly not what the movie is about. Lee tackles head-on the contemporary hot topics of racism, the police killing black Americans, and white supremacy to create an overwhelming pamphlet about the American identity - which has been hurled into a state of great confusion after the last presidential election. Movies don't come much more political as this one. In a way, "BlacKkKlansman" is a companion piece to "The Post" - a movie that similarly discussed the current political climate in a 70's setting - but with loads more of blackness, humour, anger and attitude. It's a better movie, too. Though not perfect. Form-wise, "BlacKkKlansman" is sometimes paced oddly and feels needlessly long: not overlong, exactly, because you're not going to be bored for a minute. Visually it could have used a little more of the delicious textures typical of those 70's blacksploitations it makes references to. But Lee is such a virile storyteller, that you can't help but get sucked in it all. And he has SO much to say. "BlacKkKlansman" is at its savage best when putting in perspective the official holier-than-thou image of the white Americans: Harry Belafonte cameos as an eye-witness of the beastly lynching of Jesse Washington in 1916. Actors in "BlacKkKlansman" are great. John David Washington excels in the lead role. Adam Driver signs what is arguably his best role to date. Ryan Eggold is terrific as the local boss of the KKK, and the Finnish Jasper Pääkkönen impresses as his right hand man. The biggest surprise of all is Topher Grace, who is near-ingenious as David Duke, a well-mannered bag of sleaze in a three-piece. "BlacKkKlansman" is an incredibly rich and stirring piece of contemporary cinema with enough stuff to fuel a conversation for hours. Or days. You can get a lot less with a price of a movie ticket these days.

• Terribly dissappointed at film and annoyed at marketing

  tallard2018-09-12

  I've generally liked Spike Lee films over the years. I had high expectations or this one, given the awards. Many negative reviews have already covered issues of pacing and writing and editing, which I generally agree with. As a person who's been an anti-racism activist my entire life, I felt this film was heavy handed and propagandist. If a woke person can feel this is heavy handed, imagine how those not on board with the topic can be totally feel propagandised, how futile is it in regards to effectiveness at creating social change? On the point of marketing, speaking points, and the ridiculous opening line about being based on a true story. So many reviews here state their amazement and how impressed they are at a Jewish person and a black person working together like this. This is a lie, there is no Jewish partner in the book, it is completely fictionalised. Furthermore, confounding race issues with religious issues is truly a non starter. But most of the film is fictionalised. The majority of the book is about his undercover work AGAINST black activists, which he spent over three years on. Given the actual facts as laid out in the book, this film really goes down in ratings. The false marketing is the saddest statement about our society. When people are more interested in virtue-signalling than the truth. Had the production values been better, at least it might have been enjoyable as a stand alone, without the pretence of being based on the book, but I kept falling asleep, idiot conversations droned on endlessly and completely took me out of the film. So it's a fail both on production values and TRUTH. The high rating says a lot about how important virtue-signalling has become in our society.