BlacKkKlansman Review

BlacKkKlansman is a film co-written and directed by Spike Lee. The acclaim surrounding this film along with it being in the Oscars compelled me to watch the film. After watching it, I can say that this film is pure entertainment.

Plot: Follows Ron Stallworth, a police detective in the Colorado Spring PD and his attempt to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan.

Story and direction: To be very honest, I haven’t watched most of Spike Lee’s ventures except for INSIDE MAN which to me was quite a different kind of thriller. So watching this film for me I had no expectations whatsoever. But having said that I was mesmerized by the sheer brilliance this film had. Each and every frame had a uniqueness and beauty in it. I am not saying that the film is perfect, but it was great to watch. The writing of the film is so intelligent that in scenes of tension they introduce certain things that make it a delight to watch. The subtle comedy is to watch out for and I can understand many people not getting that. The use of music and the songs played in the background are just awesome. You feel like you are in the 70’s and living in the era. The film is basically about racism and a big salute from my side to the makers for portraying this aptly (although I still have heard from various sources that certain things were not correctly depicted). With that being said, I still felt the film would have been better if the runtime was trimmed a bit. Also, the romantic subplot made no sense and I didn’t feel any need for it.

Performances: Let me say that I just love Denzel Washington. He has a charm and that hasn’t faded up until now. Now watching his son in the film, I even fell in love with him. He lives up to his father’s name and I want to see more of him. Adam Driver doesn’t have much of a role but he shines with what was given to him. Laura Harrier was OK. Ryan Eggold and Jasper Paakkonen were great. And so were Topher Grace and Ashlie Atkinson. Robert John Burke and Fred Weller also do deserve some praise.

Favorite Scene: The scene comes quite early in the film where Ron is a rookie and he is kept in the archives section and Andy comes in to ask for a file on a ‘toad’. He replies that there are no toads here but human beings. He gives him the file anyway and after Andy exits, Ron does some kind of hand movements. What got me in this scene was the comedy, I was laughing throughout the scene.

Verdict: Many people will actually not get this film and honestly if this film would have come out a few years ago, my review would have been entirely different to the one I have written now. I had a blast watching this film and Spike Lee is definitely a director that is on my watchlist.

I am going with an 8.5/10.