-
Recent releases:
- Jericho Ridge
- Civil War
- Mothers' Instinct
- Sweet East, The
- Ghost Busters: Frozen Empire
- Immaculate
- Roaring Twenties, The (reissue)
- Soul
- Dune: part two
- American Star
- Dune: Part 1 (reissue)
- Jerry & Marge Go Large
- Argylle
- Forever Young
- Jackdaw
- All of Us Strangers
- Holdovers, The
- Mean Girls
- Poor Things
- One Life
Black Dynamite
Stars: Michael Jai White, Arsenio Hall, Nicole Ari Parker, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Tommy Davidson, Kevin Chapman, Richard Edson, Mike Starr, James McManus
Director: Scott Sanders
A generally amusing spoof of 'blaxploitation' films of the 1970s, a genre that satirises itself just as effectively as this.
A beefed-up Michael Jai White has the title role as the mean dude dedicated to clearing drugs off the streets. The trail leads ultimately to the White House itself, where Dynamite dukes it out with then-President Nixon (McManus), who's in back of it all.
Everything is deliberately over-dramatised, but then it always was, just as we take for granted the invulnerability of the hero, and wince at the 1970s' fashions. The same exploding car is used for two different scenes - either a mistake or a tribute to Hollywood 'B' film-making down the years.
David Quinlan
USA 2008. UK Distributor: Icon. Colour by FotoKem.
84 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 1, Swearing 1.
Review date: 09 Aug 2010