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Sundance 2009: Maluquiro Gets A Load Of BLACK DYNAMITE!

Beaks here...

BLACK DYNAMITE, the retro blacksploitation homage/parody from Scott Sanders and Michael Jai White, had its first screening at Sundance last night. Several hours later, Sony Pictures closed a $2 million deal to distribute the film. Was it worth it? AICN reader Maluquiro seems to think so. (Beware of joke spoilers.)

Hey Harry, Quint and gang,

I post in the talkbacks as maluquiro.

I was lucky enough to get to go to the midnight screening of the faux-blaxploitation film "Black Dynamite." I'm not really sure of the review protocol on the site. Should I starting out all the food i ate before and during the screening? Or should I talk about the movie? I think I'll talk about the movie.

If you've seen the trailer to "Black Dynamite" then you know exactly what you're getting before you see the movie. I mean that in the best possible way. This is one of those rare movies that actually lives up to the promise of the trailer. Black Dynamite (the man) is a bad mother- (shut your mouth) who is tired of crack being sold to orphans in his town. He's tough enough to punch a guy through a wall, but sensitive enough to adopt a group of pimpless hookers. He also has a pair of nunchucks.

I don't want to get too specific about the action, because most of the gags work so well because they are a surprise. The action is very over-the-top, but I never felt like it went into the "Crank" realm of "look-how-crazy-and-over-the-top-we-are!" That's where the film's real success lies. Remember how Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino spent millions of dollars trying to recreate the feel of the old exploitation movies they loved so much? "Black Dynamite" is, in a lot of ways, what "Grindhouse" could have been. This movie feels like a cheap old seventies movie that was shot in the seventies, sat on a shelf, and then was recut by some jerk who found the footage in a warehouse. The film, for the most part, feels like it was made in the seventies. The costumes and locations feel like they came from a time when vintage was new, which is remarkable for such a low budget film. Even the faces of the actors feel period. This commitment to period detail extends to the actual production values. This movie feels like it was made by the most hilariously inept filmmakers of the seventies. Actors read the stage direction off of cue cards. Sometimes at the end of a scene you can almost hear the director yell cut because the actor goes out of character and looks at the camera. In a shout out to Rudy Ray Moore the boom mike falls into frame as B.D. is giving a dramatic speech. You even hear it hit his afro. It's breaking the fourth wall disguised as incompetence.

The danger of a movie like this is that that the joke can get old very quickly. The movie starts out at a quick place, and never really slows down. The jokes are fast enough and inventive enough that movie keeps your interest. Another danger in movies like this that the beginning is so over top that you're bored by the end. The climax to "Black Dynamite" is not disappointing, it actually manages to bring together and top all the crazy stuff that went before it. It kind of addresses the question of why Superman or Captain America never decided to just kill Hitler instead of fighting Nazis, except instead of Berlin B.D. takes the fight to Washington D.C. Black Dynamite takes it all the way to the top. To be honest, there was one missed opportunity. One of the hookers reassures B.D. that they can take care of themselves because they've been training their kung-fu. I'm sorry to say that there is no hooker kung-fu battle in the movie. Black Dynamite does go to Kung-Fu Island though.

Thanks!

Maluquiro



Kung-Fu Island is supposed to be beautiful this time of year.

Most of the reactions I've heard coming out of last night's screening echo Maluquiro's. Let's hope this isn't a Sundance triumph that loses something (or everything) once it screens outside of Park City. (Not for nothing, but that line about the hookers being able to take care of themselves w/ kung-fu is straight out of DOLEMITE. I hope this movie will work for those of us who're exceedingly familiar with Rudy Ray Moore's oeuvre.)

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Reader Talkback

Can't wait for this one.
by Stuntcock Mike
Jan 19th, 2009
03:36:34 PM
you jive mother...
by hirst
Jan 19th, 2009
03:38:16 PM
CANNOT WAIT! Been waiting to read a review
by most excellent ninja
Jan 19th, 2009
03:39:32 PM
They should of waited. they would of gotten more
by most excellent ninja
Jan 19th, 2009
03:40:40 PM
sheeeet
by disfigurehead
Jan 19th, 2009
03:45:54 PM
You're right ninja
by palpatinefuckedmydog
Jan 19th, 2009
03:46:27 PM
come palpatine get wid it
by crazybubba
Jan 19th, 2009
03:53:04 PM
My bad
by palpatinefuckedmydog
Jan 19th, 2009
03:58:59 PM
I blew my load watching the trailer for this months ago...
by turketron
Jan 19th, 2009
04:00:30 PM
rejuvinutted
by turketron
Jan 19th, 2009
04:01:14 PM
We got Black Dynamite t-shirts at BNAT
by Garbageman33
Jan 19th, 2009
04:01:44 PM
shouldn't that be
by palpatinefuckedmydog
Jan 19th, 2009
04:04:10 PM
palpatinefuckedmydog
by most excellent ninja
Jan 19th, 2009
04:08:39 PM
Michael Jai white
by palpatinefuckedmydog
Jan 19th, 2009
04:08:56 PM
true dat ninja
by palpatinefuckedmydog
Jan 19th, 2009
04:09:34 PM
ATTENTION MALUQUIRO!!!!!!!!
by The Real McClane
Jan 19th, 2009
05:11:29 PM
I used "jive muthafuckAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" in public.
by Jackie Boy
Jan 19th, 2009
05:16:24 PM
most excellent ninja
by BadMrWonka
Jan 19th, 2009
05:32:49 PM
Sounds like "Black Mantis" from the SXSW
by krullboyisback
Jan 19th, 2009
06:42:27 PM
I hope this does well
by McBane
Jan 19th, 2009
07:09:33 PM
the trailer was the best thing i've seen all year
by drturing
Jan 19th, 2009
07:18:22 PM
yo blood.. lend me the DVD..
by nolan bautista
Jan 19th, 2009
07:32:59 PM
It does sound like Black Mantis...
by blackmantis
Jan 19th, 2009
07:47:22 PM
This made me laugh
by ChocolateJesus
Jan 19th, 2009
08:06:12 PM
But Black Dynamite I sell drugs in the community
by ZoeFan
Jan 19th, 2009
08:19:36 PM
Rudy Ray did the voiceover for the trailer
by Dark Knight Lite
Jan 19th, 2009
08:24:32 PM
BlackMantis, great work, but who was Chastity
by krullboyisback
Jan 19th, 2009
09:08:24 PM
Great review
by Darth Thoth
Jan 19th, 2009
09:14:11 PM
can't wait for this mutha!
by ironic_name
Jan 19th, 2009
09:27:07 PM
Captain Muthafuckin' Kangaroo!
by otm shank
Jan 19th, 2009
09:49:33 PM
This movie better get a wide release Sony
by SoylentMean
Jan 19th, 2009
10:18:21 PM
Oh, and RED BAND trailers months in advance
by SoylentMean
Jan 19th, 2009
10:18:56 PM
White House screening, sho 'nuff
by SoylentMean
Jan 19th, 2009
10:38:59 PM
Oh, and there had better be merchandising
by SoylentMean
Jan 19th, 2009
10:39:58 PM
Black Dynamite Happy Meal toys
by SoylentMean
Jan 19th, 2009
10:40:51 PM
oh, and there must be a videogame
by SoylentMean
Jan 19th, 2009
10:44:21 PM
and a Broadway show
by SoylentMean
Jan 19th, 2009
10:45:30 PM
a Saturday Morning cartoon
by SoylentMean
Jan 19th, 2009
10:46:24 PM
Pay Cable tv spinoff
by SoylentMean
Jan 19th, 2009
10:47:41 PM
BadMrWonka
by most excellent ninja
Jan 19th, 2009
11:14:20 PM
So He Kicks The President's Ass???
by Media Messiah
Jan 20th, 2009
12:39:50 AM
most excellent ninja
by BadMrWonka
Jan 20th, 2009
02:44:15 AM
The Real McClane, ChocolateJesus,Darth Thoth
by maluquiro
Jan 20th, 2009
03:29:00 AM
The Real McClane, ChocolateJesus, Darth Thoth
by maluquiro
Jan 20th, 2009
03:29:30 AM
media messiah
by maluquiro
Jan 20th, 2009
03:30:25 AM
grammar?
by maluquiro
Jan 20th, 2009
03:31:28 AM
NICOLE SULLIVAN IS IN THIS?!
by James Westfall
Jan 20th, 2009
03:40:27 AM
BadMrWonka
by most excellent ninja
Jan 20th, 2009
03:54:08 AM
that was incorrect too on purpose
by most excellent ninja
Jan 20th, 2009
03:55:31 AM
Miss Stokely...
by workshed
Jan 20th, 2009
04:17:59 AM
most excellent ninja
by The Dark Shite
Jan 20th, 2009
05:12:41 AM
aluquiro
by Media Messiah
Jan 20th, 2009
07:09:46 AM
Maluquiro: I'll Be There In The Front Row
by Media Messiah
Jan 20th, 2009
07:16:50 AM
Best trailer of 2008 NO DOUBT!
by Darth_Kaos
Jan 20th, 2009
08:32:54 AM
KUNG FU ISLAND!!!!!
by ironic_name
Jan 20th, 2009
09:16:19 AM
Kung Fu Island
by InActionMan
Jan 20th, 2009
12:22:25 PM
Personally I have always thought that...
by wacko3205
Jan 20th, 2009
05:59:03 PM

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