Logan Sork Film Reviews
BlacKkKlansman
You really couldn’t count Spike Lee as one of my favorite filmmakers working today. While I believe he means well, and I agree with the messages he presents in most of his films, I always found that he tries too hard to get his point across. I’m all in for interesting ideas, but when it feels like they’re being shouted at me, I tend to lose interest really quick. With his latest film BlacKkKlansman, Lee takes a more nuanced approach to his ideas and filmmaking, allowing the film to prosper tremendously. With great performances, writing, directing and presentation of hot topics, BlacKkKlansman is both an improvement on Lee’s filmmaking skills and presents its ideas in a way that will allow to enjoy the film’s story and characters as well as its message in a proper way.
BlacKkKlansman is directed by Spike Lee and stars John David Washington and Adam Driver. The film is based on the real-life story of detective Ron Stallworth (Washington), the first black detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department in the 1970’s. In a bid to win the confidence of the department, Stallworth sets off on a daring mission- infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan. In order to pull it off, Ron teams up with fellow officer Flip Zipperman (Driver), who will serve as a proxy at the Klan meetings while Stallworth carries out the conversations and operation via phone. Together, they must work in order to uncover a terrorist plot from within the Klan while avoiding detection as certain Klan members begin to suspect something is amiss.
First and foremost, the cast of this film is perfect. While everyone all around does a great job, it’s out two main leads that do most of the heavy lighting, as their incredible chemistry carries the film. Both Washington and Driver give surprisingly nuanced performances and compliment each other greatly, making the relationship between the characters more believable and engaging. The supporting cast also does a good job, with Ryan Eggold and Topher Grace being the standouts as a dedicated Klan member and David Duke respectively. Both actors do a good job at creating realistic characters as opposed to one dimensional as seen in other portrayals, but still manage to give off a hateful vibe that makes the characters unlikable as they should be. Other cast members including Paul Walker Hauser and Robert John Burke are stereotypical cops and Klansmen, but they do such a good job that I’m willing to overlook the thinly written characters. The weakest link in the cast for me is Laura Harrier as Ron’s love interest. While Harrier gives a good performance, her character isn’t really all that likable, and her subplot feels tacked on and doesn’t really fit the story. Despite that hiccup, the cast is fantastic all around.
While I have not been a fan of Spike Lee’s directing before, I will say that his direction and the writing for this film really won me over. Lee in the past has had a tendency to rely on a forceful message being told by over the top characters and story to drive the ideas home, which I have personally never liked. While there are certain over the top elements to be found, Lee takes a much more laid back and nuanced approach to the central story and characters. This includes adding elements to make the characters more real and likeable such as comedic moments as well as painting most of the characters as three dimensional and flawed. As a result, the characters feel more like real people in realistic situations rather than constructs made up to get a certain point across.
Make no mistake, there are also some over the top moments and caricatures in the film designed to get the point across. While I would look down on these in any other of his films, these actually improve the films message and ideas greatly. By having relatable characters and realistic situations for the majority of the film, Lee is able to create a real world that is occasionally punctuated with memorable over the top moments to drive home the very real-world problems presented in the film. As a result, the ideas presented are more memorable due to these moments offsetting the otherwise realistic world. If everything in the film was over the top, then the ideas would get lost in the madness and not stick with you after the credits roll. Lee even takes this one step further by using real world footage both old and new of various points in our history to drive home the problems even further. Using footage from Birth of a Nation from 1915 and footage from various modern events to prove that unfortunately not much has changed when it comes to certain issues that still plague our society. All of these techniques help ensure people will think of the film long after the credits role.
Despite having a few run of the mill problems, BlacKkKlansman is an excellent film. The nuanced approach mixed with the shocking over the top moments combined with great performances and memorable characters make this Spike Lee’s best film in years. It’s one of those rare films where it takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions and thoughts. One moment- you’re laughing out loud. The next- you contemplate how events in the film could still happen today. This is a film that makes you think before and after the credits, while entertaining you along the way- a rare filmmaking feat.
9/10