Da 5 Bloods (2020) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

They say that a trip to the past will bring solace to what troubles one soul, but there’s no guarantee on how the cost will turn out. 


PLOT


Da 5 Bloods follows four close friends who were 1st Infantry Division soldiers in the Vietnam War: Paul, Otis, Melvin & Eddie. They reunite in Ho Chi Minh City as they discovered a landslide had uncovered the tail of a crashed plane that had golden bars they hid and vowed to come back for. Through Otis’ ex girlfriend Tiên (Lê Y Lan) does she arrange them to meet French businessman Desroche who offers to help them smuggle the gold once they retrieve it. Before departing does the group meet Paul’s son David who joins them and must split his share with his dad. Their tour guide Vinh takes them to the countryside, but an encounter with a local merchant forces Paul to admit he’s got PTSD from what happened in Nam. Vinh drops them off and promises to pick them up in a few days. The group finds the gold at the crash site, but they also find the remains of their fallen brother, Stormin Norman who was their leader and dubbed them as the Bloods. As they hike out after retrieving the gold, Eddie admits he’s been broke due to excessive spending and as he berates how money is the root of all evil, he dies when walking into a minefield. David steps onto one of his own but with the assist of LAMB founder Hedy who he met at a bar, along with her volunteers Simon & Seppo, the Bloods are able to save him from death. Despite the assist, Paul holds them hostage, paranoid they’ll report them to authorities. When Seppo escapes at night, David and the Bloods disarm Paul. By morning do they meet Vinh as planned, but a group of militia demand all the gold in exchange for Seppo. This leads to a shootout where David gets wounded and Seppo gets killed in a landmine. Assuming Desroche to be responsible, Vinh suggests for everyone to retreat to a nearby temple better defend themselves from reinforcements. Not able to trust Vinh, Paul splits with his share further into the jungle. For their trouble, the Bloods offer shares to Vinh and LAMB. When recuperating, David opens to Hedy that his dad blames him for his mom’s death who died giving birth to him. Elsewhere, Paul has another breakdown to where he sees Norman’s spirit. Flashbacks confirm he had shot him on accident in a firefight and he tells him to let go of his guilt. With one gunman to have survived and fled, he tracks Paul down with reinforcements and shoots him, taking his gold in the process. Desroche confirms to be responsible when taking Paul’s MAGA hat upon finding the temple the group hides at. The remaining Bloods are able to pull off a successful ambush with Vinh, at the cost of Otis getting injured and Melvin sacrificing himself by leaping on top of a grenade. The film then cuts to an epilogue showing what happened after this standoff: Melvin’s widow takes his share of the gold and Eddie’s goes to a Black Lives Matter organization while Hedy & Simon donate theirs to LAMB. As Otis meets his daughter Michon (Sandy Húóng Pham) for the first time, the film ends with David reading a letter left from Paul, apologizing on how they never saw eye to eye but always loved him. 


THOUGHTS


It goes without saying Spike Lee is a legend to the industry with such provocative stories he’s wrote & directed that have stood the test of time since he made his breakthrough in the 80s. This is another film that blows me away because military based adventures are known to do just that. Apart from a good use of Marvin Gaye’s music, it is Terrence Blanchard’s score that rocks me to the core as it sets the tone how unpredictable the world is with dangers you can’t guarantee being prepared for, while still becoming melancholy the more you listen to it. While the cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel is so grand in expressing how wide open danger is in the jungle, the true authentic aspect in the Vietnam experience was having Veronica Ngo play real life radio personality Hanoi Hannah in the flashback scenes. As someone who did college radio, I got to learn how much of an important voice she was during the Vietnam War. Just hearing her say ‘Be safe’ gets me every time because that’s something we all gotta hear in our day to day lives and not just for going to war. In such a setting, this story hits like the rest of Spike’s joints because it’s one of reconciliation when it comes to wanting to have a better tomorrow. And when it comes to greed, don’t let that destroy you either otherwise you’ll be stuck where you don’t want to be. Through a fantastic ensemble, the message couldn’t be anymore louder. From the get go, I was more interested with Clarke Peters as Otis because due to being the army medic in the group, he was always trying to be most logistical when the going gets rough. Even though he seemed to be most content compared to the others, realizing so late in his life he had a daughter rightfully stunned him  because he never wanted to be the absent kind of parent. Understandably, Tiên couldn’t tell him because she didn’t want him to know the prejudice they went through in their youth, especially since Americans were still considered as enemies after the Vietnam war. Although he got his share of the gold, that dolly shot at the end symbolized his true treasure would be the life he created. With the smile he shared, there’s no doubt he would continue to enjoy the rest of his life with her. The saddest realization is that he is the only one of the Bloods is that he is the only one to have a happy ending, while his brethren never got to live to enjoy it. Norm Lewis did strike me as Eddie because he’s a guy who became grounded due to going through his own mistakes. He was embarrassed to have gone broke and he could’ve recovered if he kept the gold, but he chose to give back in his dying wish because he knew he wasn’t gonna break out of bad habits. His death was most terrifying to witness due to how it so unexpected and he dies much slowly than the others. Having said that, I know he’d be proud knowing his share would go to people who would need it more than him. I can laugh out how it’s still iconic hearing Isiah Whitlock Jr. saying ‘Shit’ again like he did in BlacKkKlansman and The Wire, but that’s not the best thing about Melvin. He stood out to me because while being most carefree, he knew when to get serious when danger occurs. Without his own observance, it’s hard to tell how far they’d be without him. The big standout of the story for me is everything revolving around Paul. Having seen his past movies, this feels like the best thing to come from Delroy Lindo because this is a man who has so much anger that he misplaces due to the trauma he carries with him. He was distant toward his son because losing his wife reminded him of his mistake and it only made him all the more fundamentally broken. Before the letter, there’s no doubt he still loved his son and just struggled to show it as shown in relief saving him from the minefield, but he still didn’t know how to save himself mentally. When he roams the jungle and starts talking to the screen, you just accept he’s lost it and ain’t coming back. What makes it sadder is that it took death for him to be healed. Chadwick Boseman was an actor I knew would fit into any Spike Lee joint because he’s a natural in being so charismatic while still being a fearless ideologist. That is why exactly why he’s so beloved as Stormin’ Norman because he was the only one who had a clear conscience in the most unpredictable setting that was around him. Knowing the truth of his death made me weep because we all wish it could’ve been avoided but you still accept you can’t guarantee an accident like that can happen. Had Paul gotten to figure that out on his own before returning to Nam, then maybe he would’ve not been so conflicted all this time. Jonathan Majors also impressed me as David because he wants to be the anchor his dad couldn’t be after all they’ve been through in advance. He wants to have just one connection with no matter the complication and although that came through loss, it doesn’t change the fact he still felt grateful getting an idea of his grief. The letter may not change anything, but that is what puts him in content more than the gold because he finally accepted the love he had deep down from the only family he had. While you can be relieved Vinh was a real one since Johnny Tri Nguyen portrayed him as knowledgeable to help the Bloods have a last stand, I was surprised to see how natural Jean Reno still is as a villain like Desroche. This guy definitely thought ahead with waiting for the Bloods to do the dirty work for him, but his ruthlessness made him oblivious to the fact he wasn’t the only one capable of strategizing, hence his demise. Mélanie Thierry was a good addition as Hedy because she was able to portray her resourceful enough to hold her own. She may have not been attracted to David the way he was feeling for her, but she definitely had sympathy for him when he opened up on why things were rocky with his dad. Lastly, it was pretty funny to me seeing Paul Walter Hauser & Jasper Pääkönen play softies here as Simon & Seppo compared to being intimidating figures in BlacKkKlansman because it’s a 180 I wasn’t expecting to see. I mean just seeing one try to be a little grounded while the other is too cynical for his own good. With everybody figuring things out after a life changing adventure, you can only hope this brings them all content going forward. In short, Da 5 Bloods is an incredible film from 2020 for just being so raw of an adventure that it makes you appreciate life as you sit though it. If you got Netflix and enjoy military adventures or just love a good Spike Lee joint, check this out. 
Chadwick, thank you.