Just from watching the trailer of "BlacKkKlansman," you should know exactly what this movie is about. It's no secret that Director Spike Lee is relaying a specific point of view to us through this film, that's inspired by the true life memoir of Ron Stallworth. There are liberties taken of course, but just know that interactions Stallworth had with KKK Grand Wizard David Duke are mostly true. They are entertainingly true.
As mentioned already, there are fictional accounts in this story. There are characters specifically created just for the movie to play on certain plot threads that are tied to the themes of the movie, but there were some that were also created to protect the identities of the real life people involved. A lot of those liberties are the familiar cliche plot tropes that you will find in the story, and I genuinely thought I could have lived without several of them. Some of those derivative story beats only made this true story feel more fake than I wished it was.
Spike Lee could have also used a bit more trimming with this film. A lot of the first half of the movie felt like it dragged a little, but I did appreciate how he allowed a particular speech by Corey Hawkins to play out in it's entirety. Same thing with the Harry Belafonte sequence. Despite some questionable editing decisions, I admit that I generally enjoyed the narrative of the movie anyway. A lot of what I found particularly entertaining were the portions where Adam Driver is playing the undercover cop within the KKK, especially how they handled the moments when people in the Klan were suspicious of him. Exciting stuff.
I know John David Washington as Ron Stallworth will be a huge talking point for people in regards to this movie, and he is indeed good in the role. However, I honestly thought Adam Driver stole this film from him as Flip Zimmerman. I found Flip's character arc to be much more interesting, and Adam Driver played the role of the undercover cop amazingly well. Also, a quick acknowledgement to Jasper Pääkkönen, who was excellent as the primary antagonist of this movie.
Yes, "BlacKkKlansman" does indeed feel like an important film, that has commentary that directly alludes to current events. Yes, Spike Lee can be very heavy handed with the subject matter, which can be a little too much. Yes, the overall story as told in the movie is flawed, and there are whole acts that I found myself questioning why I'm seeing what I'm seeing. With all that said, Yes, I think everyone should see this anyway.
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