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I usually find something to love about every Spike Lee joint, as even his worst movies look and feel like Spike Lee.
This movie doesn't look or feel like Spike Lee. It's just a mess.
I was familiar with the twist going in (though even if I hadn't been, I feel like this film telegraphs it pretty plainly), and I'd seen the hammer fight on YouTube, but those are the only things I knew. Regarding the rest, I was a blank slate.
Brolin tries hard, and Olsen is per usual likable, but my oh my, Sharlto Copley is Razzie-worthy here. I'm generally appreciative of good ham, but this was an INSANE performance.
Bobbitt delivers some good cinematography... but tonally, the movie is all over the place, the plot is fairly one-note (these "investigate a past mystery" films generally are), the drunk/drug abuse thing has no real payoff, and it lapses into cartoonishness fairly often.
I have no idea how much of this is lifted from the original, or how much is Spike, or how much is just maybe this kind of movie not being my thing. But I didn't dig it... at all, really.
I'll add this, though, as a positive: it's in no way boring. One could argue (as Zoller Seitz did) that Lee seems to be channeling De Palma in many ways here, which I'd agree with. I just vastly prefer Lee to a subpar De Palma impression. My movies: http://russellhainline.com My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/ My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide
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