When drug dealers take out his kid brother, ex-CIA agent Black Dynamite (Spawn's Michael Jai White) makes like a karate-chopping dynamo to track them down. Armed with a .44 Magnum, a set of nunchucks, and a sexy 'stache, Big D starts out in the City of Angels, where his buddies Cream Corn (In Living Color's Tommy Davidson), a hustler, and Bullhorn (co-writer Byron Minns), a club owner, offer to lend a hand. The deeper Dynamite digs, the more endangered his life becomes as he uncovers a conspiracy to keep the black man down by flooding the streets with malt liquor and filling the country's orphanages with smack. Since the smooth operator has a way with the ladies, he also enlists Gloria (I Am Legend's Salli Richardson-Whitfield), a socially-conscious soul sister, to aid in his clean-up campaign. Director Scott Sanders and White, who co-wrote the script, collaborated on 1998's Thick as Thieves, and their chemistry shines through. If the supporting cast can be a little wooden, White gives Shaft's Richard Roundtree a run for the money with his cool-cat charisma. Set in 1972, Black Dynamite doesn't just act like a movie from the Superfly era, it looks and sounds like one, too, courtesy Adrian Younge's old-school funk score, Shawn Maurer's 16mm cinematography, a cartoon credit sequence, and some carefully choreographed boom mic appearances. And dig those crazy cameos: Arsenio Hall as Tasty Freeze, Brian McKnight as Sweet Meat, and NBA veteran John Salley as Kotex. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Black Dynamite
|
 Hilarious and clever take on the '70s blaxploitation film |
| Review Date: July 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Nathan Andersen, Florida |
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R13CS6IG6RA47F I saw this during its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival - and was lucky enough to run into the director, Scott Sanders and the incredibly talented composer and editor Adrian Younge in line at another screening. This video combines moments from the trailer with bits from my conversation with the filmmakers - all captured on a handy Flip Mino Camcorder.
Back in the day, films like Shaft, Foxy Brown and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song styled funkalicious jazzy soundtracks, tough black heroes and heroines and corrupt white cops and politicians. A new genre was born, both celebrating and exploiting black culture, targeting urban African-American audiences with its style and subject matter. Some of the best of these films have become cult favorites, and have influenced new filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, whose Jackie Brown paid explicit homage to the genre he'd grown up on and loved. Shaft was recently remade in slick Hollywood style by John Singleton; but for the original low budget style and campy flair you had to go to the bargain bin dvd versions, until now.
Created by Scott Sanders and Michael Jai White, Black Dynamite tells the tale of a righteous brother, who's got kung fu skills and knows just how to please the ladies. What he can't do is what he promised his mother on her death bed: protect his brother from the drug lords that are destroying the inner city. Upon hearing that his brother was killed, he swears revenge and sets out on a quest to discover those responsible. It turns out this was no simple hit - his brother's assassination was part of a vast conspiracy to disempower blacks by hitting them where it hurts the worst, and the conspiracy goes all the way to the top: President Richard Nixon himself, who, it turns out, has some sweet kung fu moves all his own.
The film is hilarious, taking all of the absurd, campy, raunchy and cool elements of traditional 70's blaxploitation films like Superfly and Dolemite, and tying them together into an absurdly funny epic revenge and save-the-world flick.
Part of the appeal is that the film mimics the on-the-fly imperfection of the old B-movie style Blaxploitation. Boom mikes occasionally appear in the shot, distracting the actor; obvious continuity problems (a woman whose tear of sadness appears and then disappears and reappears as the camera cuts back and forth between her and the big BD; an actor is suddenly replaced by a stand-in mid-scuffle, after he is obviously injured by a punch) add to the overall lightheartedness of the endeavor.
What impressed me, though, was that the film was not mocking blaxploitation, but rather paying homage. The filmmakers clearly know and love these films. Best of all, though, is Michael Jai White's absolute immersion in character as a tough-as-nails crusader whose soft heart and shy demeanor only occasionally surfaces. I haven't laughed out loud this much during a film in a very long time. Highly recommended, but not for the timid. |
Funniest movie in 5 years!
|
| Review Date: November 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jose Shaffernafferquez, Philadelphia, PA - United States |
Wow. All i can say is Wow. This movie was so damn funny that I started crying in the theater. I had to wipe my eyes of the tears of laughter because I was missing the next scene. If you like the Naked Gun film series, or "I'm gonna git U sucka!" Then Black Dynamite should be right up your alley. So impeccably made to resemble the 1970's Blacksploitation films while incredibly tongue-in-cheek, Black Dynamite is just a non-stop laugh fest of obscure sight gags & goofy dialogue. When the boom mic hits Black in the afro in the 1st 10 minutes I knew we were in for a good time!
It's really a damn shame that this movie fell on deaf ears, after 1 week in the theaters you couldn't even find local showtimes b/c it was bumped out but it is more than worth the little attention it received nationally. I'll be buying copies of this movie on DVD for all my friends for Christmas without a doubt. I predict that Black Dynamite will go down in film history as a great cult classic. Ten years from now every college kid will have Black Dynamite in their Blu-Ray collection. From the opening scene with Black Dynamite's brother Jimmy being found out as a rat, Black Dynamite hits the ground running & the audience hits the floor laughing.
I really can't say enough about Black Dynamite. It is undeniably the most fun I've had in theaters in the last 5 years! "Main Man Black Dynamite!" - "But Black Dynamite, I SELL DRUGS IN THE COMMUNITY!" - Classic comedy gold!
Buy Black Dynamite on DVD without a doubt that you will be entertained. Fans of the Simpsons, Mr. Show, Always Sunny in Philadelphia will all enjoy Black Dynamite. |
Hilarious Blaxploitation Satire
|
| Review Date: October 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Terence Allen, Atlanta, GA USA |
"Black Dynamite," starring actor, martial artist, and former stuntman Michael Jai White, is a riproaring but affectionate sendup of "blaxploitation" films, action films with black stars that started with "Shaft" in 1971 starring Richard Roundtree, and grew to be the greatest burst of black participation in Hollywood history. Black actors, writers, and directors worked as never before, and created films that drew massive black audiences. These films created heroes out of private eyes, pimps, Vietnam veterans, drug dealers, hustlers, and black revolutionaries. These films were cheaply made, and were often derided by film critics and scholars, but black audiences saw a Hollywood fantasy spin put on character types they knew, frustration they had being voiced, and perhaps most importantly, black people fighting and beating the system.
The plot involves White as Black Dynamite, a neighborhood enforcer whose brother gets killed by a unsavory alliance between drug dealers and the mob. Black Dynamite begins a rampage of vengeance, beating up the bad guys, and loving and charming women as he goes. The movie uses both broad and subtle humor to point out the silliness inherent in these films, but it is all done with love and affection.
Black Dynamite is a very funny film that harkens back to another place and time - when there wasn't huge blockbusters starring Will Smith and Jamie Foxx, and when the best entertainment in town was a film showing black people "sticking it to the man." |
FUNNIEST MOVIE I'VE SEEN IN MY LIFE.
|
| Review Date: January 10, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Cousin Hepcat, |
This is the FUNNIEST MOVIE I'VE SEEN IN MY LIFE. (And I've been around since the ACTUAL 1970's. And, I'm a MOVIE COLLECTOR.) There are a LOT of funny movies out there, and a lot of different kinds of comedy that I like, dating back to classics from the 1930's; but for ME, this is THE BEST OF THE BEST.
Simply put, watch the trailer, which you can find either on youtube, or right here on Amazon, on the main Black Dynamite DVD product page. Just below the product image of the DVD product, is a small video window with a trailer. The movie is JUST LIKE THE TRAILER. If you love the trailer, you'll love the movie. I don't know HOW they made the ENTIRE MOVIE every bit as good as the trailer, but they did! (usually the trailer is always "the best parts of the movie" - not here!).
Most importantly, BOTH the main actor, AND the guy who did the soundtrack, have an obvious un-deniable LOVE for what they were doing. It REALLY COMES THROUGH. You can tell they THOROUGHLY UNDERSTAND, and LOVE, this style of movie, and the classic 1960s-70s style of vintage soul music. This entire movie was actually the brainchild of the lead actor, Michael Jai White, who himself is an avid Blaxploitation movie collector, who would invite friends over for parties where they'd watch old Blaxploitation films - then he started Dressing The Part in '70s suits & the afro wig - and it grew from there.
Black Dynamite is a real LABOR OF LOVE, and it's FROM THE HEART... and it's DY-NO-MITE!! (Once you see the movie, you'll want to pick up the soundtrack album by multi-instrumentalist Adrian Younge, too!)
|
Hilariously spot on parody!
|
| Review Date: November 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Haystack, NY, NY |
If you have even a smidgen of Blaxploitation film viewing under your belt you will LOVE Black Dynamite. I had the pleasure of seeing this in NYC a month ago with my friends. We were constantly bowled over laughing ourselves silly. From the opening moment to the "sex" scene to the climax, Black Dynamite lovingly parodies the genre while making a film that clearly looked and sounded like it was from the Grindhouse era.
Michael Jai White is absolutely the MAN and his performance is perfect. Purposely stilted (as is everyone else around him), White unleashes Kung Fu and Jive-talking-Fu to his many enemies and friends. The film's payoff is one of the funniest I've seen in years.
I appreciate all the love and stupendous silliness put into the making of Black Dynamite and I, for, one would love to see Mr. White return as the title character.
I hope the dvd has all the Fight Smack in the Orphanage site clips, that "Ding Dong Roar" rip on Sesame Street was almost as funny as the film. |
|
No details are available for this product
No video reviews found for this product.
Top incoming search term for this post
color reversal film christmas footage -