Da 5 Bloods

In June 2020, the world felt like it was vibrating at a frequency of pure anxiety. We were trapped in our houses, the streets were filled with protests, and the digital divide was the only thing keeping us connected. Then, Spike Lee dropped Da 5 Bloods directly into our living rooms via Netflix. It wasn’t just a movie release; it felt like a tactical response to the cultural climate. While most big-budget productions were scurrying for cover or delaying their releases indefinitely, Spike used the streaming giant's reach to deliver a loud, messy, and deeply necessary history lesson disguised as an adventure flick.

The Magic of 16mm and Aging Faces

The plot follows four aging Black Vietnam veterans—Paul, Otis, Eddie, and Melvin—who return to present-day Vietnam. Officially, they’re there to retrieve the remains of their fallen squad leader, Stormin’ Norman (played with a literal god-like glow by Chadwick Boseman). Unofficially? They’re there for a locker full of CIA gold they buried decades ago. It’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre meets Apocalypse Now, but through a lens that the history books usually ignore.

What struck me immediately was Spike’s refusal to use the "de-aging" technology that was all the rage in 2020 (looking at you, The Irishman). When the film flashes back to the war, the cinematography shifts to a grainy, square 16mm format, but the actors don't change. Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, and Isiah Lock Jr. play their younger selves without a lick of CGI or even a touch of "Young Man" makeup. Seeing these sixty-somethings huffing through the jungle alongside a youthful Chadwick Boseman is jarring for about three minutes, then it becomes brilliant. It serves as a visual metaphor for how these men never truly left the jungle. In their minds, they are still those same men, carrying the same weight, just in older bodies.

A MAGA Hat in the Jungle

The heart of the film, and the reason it’s going to be studied for decades, is Delroy Lindo as Paul. He is a powder keg of a human being. Paul is a Black Vietnam vet who wears a "Make America Great Again" hat and suffers from severe, untreated PTSD. It’s a character that could have easily been a caricature, but Lindo makes him a Shakespearean tragedy. His performance is a monumental achievement; there’s a fourth-wall-breaking monologue late in the film that he delivers directly into the camera while wandering through the brush that left me breathless.

Jonathan Majors plays Paul’s son, David, who crashes the party out of concern for his father. The chemistry between Majors and Lindo is fraught with a tension that feels painfully real. During the intense minefield scene—which is probably the most stressful ten minutes of cinema in the last five years—my cat decided that was the perfect moment to knock a ceramic coaster off the coffee table, and I nearly hit the ceiling. That’s the kind of high-wire act Spike is playing here; he transitions from buddy-comedy banter to lethal stakes in a heartbeat.

The Streaming Gamble and Hidden History

It’s worth noting that Da 5 Bloods likely wouldn’t exist in this form without the streaming era’s deep pockets. Spike has been vocal about how Hollywood turned this project down for years. Originally, the script (titled The Horizon) was written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo for Oliver Stone and featured four white veterans. Spike took that foundation and flipped it, layering in the specific, often erased history of Black soldiers who were fighting for a country that didn't even recognize their basic rights at home. The actual gold heist plot is basically a distraction from the real war happening inside Delroy Lindo’s head, but it provides the engine to keep the 155-minute runtime moving.

The production itself was a beast, filmed in the jungles of Thailand and Vietnam in punishing heat. You can see the sweat on the actors; it’s not Hollywood spritz. Adding to the atmosphere is a score by Terence Blanchard (who also did the incredible work on BlacKkKlansman) and a heavy helping of Marvin Gaye. There’s a moment where an isolated vocal track of "What’s Going On" plays over a quiet scene, and it’s enough to give you chills. It grounds the film in a specific soulfulness that counters the explosions and gunfire.

Da 5 Bloods is a lot of movie. It’s a war film, a heist thriller, a father-son drama, and a political manifesto all shoved into one overstuffed container. Does it always work? No. Some of the subplots involving French mine-clearers (including Mélanie Thierry) feel like they’re from a different, less interesting movie. But Spike Lee isn’t interested in being "neat" or "tidy." He’s interested in being felt. In an era of polished, focus-grouped franchise films, this feels like a raw, bleeding nerve. It’s a reminder that while wars might end on maps, they continue to play out in the hearts of the people who survived them. If you haven't sat down with this one yet, clear your afternoon and give Delroy Lindo the attention he deserves.