Black Dynamite . . . “Cracker!”

Like a “jive turkey.”  That is how I felt in delaying over a month to screen Scott Sanders’s new 1970’s spoof blaxploitation film Black Dynamite.  For the record, waiting was one of the biggest mistakes I have made in my pop culture review career because the film was a slap jack smack clap pimp flip spoof worthy of being official selections at the Toronto, Sundance, Edinburgh,  TriBeca and American Black film festivals.  If you have not seen this film, then you are missing one of the funniest and most creatively developed throwback homage films since the Grindhouse/Death Proof double feature.

Don’t worry if you have not heard about this film, I hadn’t either until a couple of months ago and its my job to know.  Dawning the militant cap of my co-host Double Edge, I chalked up the lack of publicity to some underground Twitter, Facebook, or black yuppie guerrilla advertising that would build into a grand opening weekend.  But much like the filming miscues spoofed in the movie, it seems some “folk”  just couldn’t get their marketing plan straight so much so they neglected to open a blacksploitation spoof film in Washington, D.C., the original “Chocolate City.”  When Poptimal.com inquired why it was not opening in D.C., the marketing firm responsible replied “we had to open where there would be a market for this type of film.”   FYI – they opened in Portland, Oregon (Listen to the next episode of the Jone Dome to hear the entire conversation.) That’s Whack . . . on to the movie.

Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White – Spawn) is a former special forces member who served in Vietnam/former C.I.A. agent and is now an inner city pimp.  While we do not know when he obtained his martial arts expertise, he kicks and punches just about every person in the film male or female, including First Lady Pat Nixon (Nicole Sullivan – Mad TV).   After his younger brother dies during a busted drug transaction, Black Dynamite takes it upon himself to clean up his community.  In doing so, he uncovers The White Man’s secret plan to wipe out the black race – “dick shrinking malt-liquor.”

Look, ignore the plot.  It is not important.  If you go into this movie expecting a beginning, middle and end, or Spielberg type narrative, you will be disappointed; more importantly you will miss the entire point of the movie.  Black Dynamite is a tongue-and-cheek homage to the style of film, low budget quality with which they were made, and fledgling actors who played in those pictures.  Scott and White did a fantastic job in this respect and painted a throw back menagerie similar to that in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s double feature Grindhouse/Death Proof.  It is just a shame it was not billed the same way.

The movie’s strength lies in the cleverly drafted dialogue and the repetitive pokes of fun at the miscues and poor editing that these types of low budget films where known for during the genre’s heyday.  Unlike recent blacksploitation spoofs like Undercover Brother, I did not walk away from this movie feeling like the jokes were coonish or Jigga-Boo-esque (this means you Eddie Griffin).  This is especially impressive when I learned that Tommy Davidson and Arsenio Hall were playing the part of Cream Corn and Tasty Freeze, respectively.

Whether it was the black militant who mistakenly read his stage directions as part of his lines, the microphone boom that was too low smacking Black Dynamite in the Afro, or the car chase scene that starts in inner city but after two blocks is in the middle of the dessert, Black Dynamite will keep you in righteous stitches.  And . . . much to my delight . . . Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Eureka) plays the super hot main love interest, Gloria.  Often a frenetic character – first a black panther leader, then orphanage house mother – she does an excellent job playing against White’s often robotic and almost too cool presence (I may be biased because I had a quality sit down interview with her during this year’s Comic-Con.  Although she said she would do our show the Jone Dome when she came to DC and we have yet to hear from her.  Salli . . . come do the show!).

I would be remiss if I did not mention the litany of famous actors that had appearances in the movie:  Kevin Chapman, Sean Christopher, Brian McKnight, John Salley and Bokeem Woodbine.

If this movie is playing in your area, it is a must see in the theater.  If you are in the DC Area, stay tuned, Poptimal.com is trying to help get it here to you.  Because that’s what we do.

Message From Editor:

Poptimal.com, its management, and other writers do not in any way condone the term used in the above title.  It is not directed at anyone or meant to demean any person. It was used selectively here by this writer because it is directly relates to the film in that it is used in the film frequently and used in the genre described in the article.

The Poptimal.com community takes great pains to weigh artistic expression with good taste.  We are open to the artistic expression of all people and remain committed to our goals of diversity.

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