 |
| 'feels like a one-note joke strung out for far too long' |
If you look down Black Dynamite's 'Movie Connections' on IMDb you'll see a heady mixture of 1970's 'blaxploitation' films which Scott Sanders' effort claims to parody. The problem with Black Dynamite really boils down to the fact that, with the exception of a few notable entries, the films it tries to parody were not all that great in the first place. What do you get when you imitate not very good films? A not very good film. A woeful one, in fact.
The most significant problem with Black Dynamite is that it feels like a one-note joke strung out for far too long. It's a comedy sketch which pokes fun at seventies films and Sanders and co-writers Michael Jai White and Byron Minns have extended it to just about cover the film's very short eight-four minute runtime. In fact, if you knock the credits off, there's roughly seventy-six minutes here hinting that, really, the writers were struggling to extend the film past the hour mark.
It's noticeable by how much repetition there is. The joke centering on Black Dynamite's (a part White takes for himself) entrance, which is always accompanied by his 'Dy-na-mite, Dy-na-mite' theme, is funny the first few times it plays. But by the time you're on the character's fifth or sixth entry its ran its course. Ditto the plethora of jokes surrounding the genre's poor production values. It's funny the first time you see a boom mic or notice an unintentional mid-scene costume change. It's not funny by the time the same thing is trotted out just a couple scenes later.
In conjunction with those problems though is the fact that the film just isn't funny enough. It feels very similar in tone (although this is obviously much bawdier) and style of joke to Police Squad, the TV series that would go on to become The Naked Gun, but where that film had a lightness of touch and a bona fide genius in Leslie Nielsen, this sets about every joke with a sledgehammer. It doesn't matter that Black Dynamite is raunchier, you can still deliver material without a pause and massive wink towards your audience: we get what you're doing, you don't have to accentuate it every time.
It also doesn't help that most jokes are delivered by White who can't seem to decide whether he's a charismatic lady's man or un-charismatic 'silent and deady' type. As he wavers all over the place so does the film, finally pulling out a decent set piece when Dynamite makes it to The White House in the closing moments. Even that though can't save it from looking like a particularly ill-judged and poorly delivered Saturday Night Live sketch, which distinctly resembles a cobbled together set of short Internet skits.
Look further...
'as an homage it comes up short because what made Blaxpoltation so popular in the first place is that it had no point of reference other than itself' - You Talking To Me?, 3.5/5
It was one of the first films I reviewed when I started blogging (it's a very short review), but I really liked it as it was very funny.
ReplyDeletehttp://myfilmviews.wordpress.com/2010/04/03/black-dynamite-2009/
Comedies are usually things people either love or hate and don't have much middle ground.
Most people who've seen it have liked it (7.4 average on IMDb) but you're right in what you say about comedies; it just didn't push any of my buttons and, as I say, I just found most of the jokes highly unoriginal.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the 'joke' was that it was basically a film that took place in the 1970s, yet, save for period clothes and lingo, could have just as easily taken place in today. What makes the film powerful is how it implicitly states that nothing has really changed in poverty-stricken, drug-filled inner-cities such as the one Black Dynamite defends. I do think the film is quite funny, but it also works because it doubles as a tragedy.
ReplyDeleteNo! No you didn't! This was bad and over the top on purpose. Sorry you didn't enjoy this :(
ReplyDeleteScott - as ever, that's a great insight on the film which I go with you halfway on. The reason I only go halfway is that I didn't see anything overtly featured in the film to apply it to the present day so whilst I accept your reading of it, I think that on that logic you could apply the reading to any period piece you so desired.
ReplyDeleteCastor - I understand that it was 'bad on purpose' but that isn't enough for me. You could argue that the 'Something MOVIE' (SCARY, EPIC, etc.) are bad in a knowing, purposeful, way but that doesn't inherently make them good films. I saw what BLACK DYNAMITE was trying to do, I just don't think it did it.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame you didn't like it, this was one my favourite films of last year.
ReplyDeleteI think an appreciation of blaxploitation films would help but then again I have very little experience of those types pf films (apart from the recent trend of grindhouse-like films). I liked the continuity mistakes, the cheesy humour, the commentary on black culture, the tortured backstory. I think its leagues better than more recent films of its ilk. It's one note but enjoyably so.
I like your comment that it's 'one note but enjoyably so'. I personally couldn't see past that and that's perhaps why you liked it more than I did. I'm also not overly familiar with blaxploitation films but had read several pieces saying that I didn't need to be. I suspect real fans of the genre will get a lot more out of it than I did.
ReplyDeleteNOOOOOOOOOO! Makes me sad that you didn't like this. If it weren't for Bill Murray's cameo in Zombieland, this would have been my pick for best comedy of 2009. It's okay though, I'll get over it.
ReplyDelete"Hush now, little girls, a lotta cats have that name."
Watch ZOMBIELAND again to help you get over it, sir... it'll remind you just how much better that film is than this one! ;-)
ReplyDelete