REVIEW: Black Dynamite (2009)

Martial arts star Michael Jai White (SPAWN, UNDISPUTED II) has found his true calling as a creator, comic writer and action comedy hero in BLACK DYNAMITE, a super smart, super funny and super bad homage to the Blaxploitation action films of the 1970s. It’s a high-concept movie that places White in the role of a fictitious Blaxploitation star acting in a typical, low-budget Blaxploitation movie. What we see are countless original gags, nods to ’70s grindhouse classics and both subtle and not-so-subtle moments suggesting that we’re watching a clever movie within an intentionally bad movie. BLACK DYNAMITE is part BLAZING SADDLES, KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE and AUSTIN POWERS with a measure of Bruce Lee and Dolemite thrown in. If that’s not a recipe for action comedy excellence I don’t know what is.

BLACK DYNAMITE originates from the mind of White, who came up with the idea for a Blaxploitation comedy while working on Isaac Florentine’s UNDISPUTED II. White co-wrote the film along with director Scott Sanders who previously worked with him on the 1998 crime drama THICK AS THIEVES starring Alec Baldwin. White and Sanders were joined in the screenwriting phase by actor Byron Minns (UNDISPUTED) who also plays the role of a pimp.

The film’s plot is an amalgam of Blaxploitation clichés stitched together with tight pacing and choice comic timing that keeps steadily feeding laughs without overplaying most of its gags. The genius of this film is that it underscores many of the jokes that are hilarious when found but may require repeat viewings to catch in full. For the perceptive viewer who does clue into the nuances the first time around – and this requires some knowledge of Blaxploitation cinema and a sharp eye – there are virtually no breaks in the comedy on offer.

The local orphanage has turned into a dope den while corrupt local politicians and the U.S. government have conspired to flood the streets with tainted malt liquor that shrinks black men’s penises (in reference to a racial stereotype I should not have to elaborate on). The only man who can stop these scourges is Black Dynamite (White), a Vietnam veteran and former CIA operative with righteous indignation, fists and feet of fury, and a killer combination of magnetic personality and insatiable libido. After his brother is murdered, Dynamite teams up with a Black militant group and an attractive community activist (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) to seek vengeance while cleaning up the streets. Their mission uncovers the sinister government plot that leads them to an offshore, secret base on “Kung Fu Island” where the Fiendish Dr. Wu (Roger Yuan) is conducting experiments in male enhancement and its reversal. With the same nonsensical abandon that drove the plots of countless Blaxploitation movies, Dynamite fights his way through armed thugs and “kung fu treachery” on a trail that leads him straight to the White House and a nunchaku-wielding “Tricky Dick” Nixon.

It’s hard to find fault with BLACK DYNAMITE unless you simply don’t appreciate the humor and if so I pity you. It strikes the perfect tone, balancing mockery with affection for the Blaxploitation genre. It’s a low-budget, indie production that gets enormous mileage out of creative costume design from the Oscar-nominated Ruth Carter (MALCOM X, AMISTAD), ’70s-looking location use and seamlessly integrated stock footage from Sony’s library that includes unused scenes from Chuck Norris’ MISSING IN ACTION II, TV pilots and other studio leftovers.

There is a ’70s-era car chase sequence on a highway that’s embedded into the film that had my jaw on the floor wondering how in the hell they managed to pull it off until I realized the film was using stock footage, which becomes more intentionally obvious as the film progresses. Whoever scouted locations for the movie deserves an award because some of the interiors used in the film look more ’70s than movies made in the ’70s do.

This effort to maintain period authenticity in the production design extends to the dialogue with its slang terms like “Can you dig it?” It would have been easy to intentionally slip in more contemporary language to sort of wink at the audience but the film is very careful to maintain the concept that we’re watching actors from the 1970s acting in a movie from that era and this only adds to the entertainment value and professional presentation of the production.

Action in the film is also authentic to the era which means that White actually tones down his real abilities to match the modest martial arts fighting typically used in Blaxploitation movies. Screen fighting is mostly played for laughs. White gets into a classic kung fu exchange with Roger Yuan, who doubles as the film’s fight coordinator alongside his brother and fellow coordinator Ron Yuan. The film climaxes with White taking out Secret Service members before engaging in a surreal nunchaku duel with President Richard Nixon (James McManus). White performs a couple upscale moves, particularly in a scene where he reenacts Bruce Lee’s famous kick to a ceiling light during a brief appearance in MARLOWE but otherwise it’s mostly all intended silliness, especially when you start to notice stuntmen being recycled in the same sequence.

Particularly amusing is how White’s character continually refers to his fighting form as being kung fu even when he’s intentionally doing Shotokan-style karate instead. It plays on the relative ignorance shown in Hollywood movies towards martial arts in general. This element of cultural ignorance extends to an absurd monologue where Black Dynamite recalls seeing a little “Chinese” boy wounded while in Vietnam. White even places jokes in lines where Vietnamese and Mandarin are used. It will be completely lost on anyone who doesn’t know these languages, though thankfully for the audio commentary on Sony’s home video release there are explanations.

White’s acting is flawless. His mannerisms draw on a number of different genre personalities including Jim Kelly and Jim Brown. What really makes his performance work is that periodically he drops out of character, looks at a boom mic that has fallen into frame or simply looks frustrated at the ridiculousness of the dialogue he is engaged in. Yet for the most part he tries to play it straight, as if he really is one of these Blaxploitation stars trapped in a movie he knows is bad but cannot express because we never see him “off camera.” It’s a bit like the self-conscious humor Mel Brooks uses in his films but more subtle.

The supporting cast is equally terrific. Salli Richardson-Whitfield is the perfect straight “man” who grounds the film even when Dynamite acts a little crazy. As “Cream Corn,” comedian Tommy Davidson channels his best pimped out Antonio Fargas. Byron Minns taps Rudy Ray Moore as the lyrical “Bullhorn.” Everyone else is perfectly cast for their looks and mannerisms. The biggest name is Arsenio Hall, who only has a brief cameo as a cocaine-snorting pimp but it’s well played.

Composer Adrian Younge deserves special mention for an incredible original soundtrack that perfectly embodies the classic soul music of the Blaxploitation era. The music becomes part of the movie in more ways than one, especially some of lyrics humorously tie in directly to the plot as events unfold. Apparently, Younge had been making this sort of music in his home for years before doing the soundtrack for this film. He was definitely the right man for the job.

BLACK DYNAMITE is so good at mimicking the Blaxploitation genre in an entertaining way that it’s actually better than most of the films it parodies. If there is any complaint it’s that it follows the lesser conventions of the Blaxploitation genre a little too closely in regards to the plot which gets progressively dopier and more frantic as the film progresses. One reason for this is that close to 30 minutes of footage containing a lot of exposition and scenes involving supporting cast is dropped in order to keep up the pace and mindless laughs. It works but at the expense of creating a film that feels rushed and incomplete. Ideally, some of the gags such as where Dynamite and his friends have an overlong CSI moment in a waffle house, could have been shortened or combined with exposition. Beyond this, BLACK DYNAMITE is an incredibly entertaining film and the best action-related comedy I’ve seen since HOT FUZZ. Some viewers will laugh more than others but the film succeeds admirably in its mission to poke good-natured fun at the Blaxploitation genre with surprising wit. Although the humor is slightly different I’d even say it beats Keenen Ivory Wayans’ classic Blaxploitation parody I’M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA. That 1988 film still has something this one doesn’t, the participation of real Blaxploitation legends Jim Brown, Isaac Hayes and Antonio Fargas. That said, Michael Jai White is all this movie needs and I sincerely hope this is the beginning of a new creative trend for White who needs to write more of his own material, either in a sequel or some similar action comedy.

BLACK DYNAMITE is rated “R.” It contains lots of comic violence, brief sexual content, some bare female breasts, brief drug use, profanity, and one small, fake penis that looks real enough to creep me out.

REVIEW: Black Dynamite (2009), 8.1 out of 10 based on 20 ratings

by Mark Pollard

Related Topics:
Black Dynamite (2009)  •  Blaxploitation  •  Michael Jai White  •  Roger Yuan