Incredible. Show-stopping. Powerful. Effective (hopefully).
Full disclosure: I walked into this not knowing it was Spike Lee movie and, worse than that, actually thinking this would be a comedy. Was very pleasantly surprised with what this turned out to be. Alec Baldwin's opening monologue really sets the stage in an absolutely brutal way. Two people walked out of the theatre during those first few minutes but... they might have just been going to the bathroom.
Spike Lee does some MASTERFUL story-telling here in how the narrative continuously shifts from having us think "oh, this is how things used to be" to "oh, he's drawing some parallels to how things are today" to "...omg, this is totally happening RIGHT NOW." I want to shy away from talking about the whole final act but MAN does this ever ramp up and gain momentum and not lift the finger off the button for a second. To the point that you're just sitting there with your mouth agape at the end, frozen, and full of emotion. It does seem evident that Spike Lee decided mid-production to make a shift in the movie, but it's still brutally effective.
The performances are all really strong (except possibly Laura Harrier) and I find myself wondering why Topher Grace would actually want to play such an ugly role as a young David Duke. It works, but for me Adam Driver is again a real stand-out who really seems to be stellar in anything that isn't Star Wars. Ashlie Atkinson was fairly terrifying as the wife of a klan member as well.
Brilliant soundtrack and score, by the way. Really helps bring 'funk' to the 70s feel and take some of the edge off when you need it most.
I'm also struck by how much more effective Spike Lee is to making a strong point compared to, say, Michael Moore. Moore will tell you how you should be feeling, whereas Spike Lee will MAKE you feel.
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