Black Dynamite review

 Number 938 on the top 1000 films of all time is this parody of 1970's Blaxpolitation genre: Black Dynamite.

Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White) is a former CIA agent and Kung Fu Master. After his brother is killed by a shady organisation, Black Dynamite soon discovers a deeper conspiracy.

There is a fair share of bad parodies out there, but Black Dynamite is not one of them. While I'm not particularly familiar with the Blaxploitation genre, I've watched my fair share of 70's films, and black Dynamite lampooned these tropes wonderfully from the vivid colour scheme to the massive hair to the main character's name being sung out at pivotal moments to the silly kung-fu sequences.

Instead of being a string of bad jokes and inane, pop culture references, Scott Sanders', Byron Minns' and Michael Jai White's, who wrote as well as starred, script produced some genuine laughs. I loved the boom mic appearing in shots or the characters reading out their stage directions. But my favourite gag was the spoofing of the insta-love that happened between Black Dynamite and his love interest Gloria Gray (Salli Richardson.) Over the course of a few minutes and a walk in the park, they are enamoured with one another. As far as film cliches go, this can be one of the worst. It was great to see it parodied here.

Sure you can argue that the plot is absurd. Black Dynamite's quest for the truth takes him all the way from Kung-Fu island to the White House - and the characters are all racial stereotypes, but that's supposed to be the point. Inevitably, not all the jokes land and some of them are crude and vulgar, but nevertheless, this is a brilliant comedy that will have you rolling in the aisles.