Review – Chi-Raq

Dear Spike Lee,

You used to be one of the most electric filmmakers working in Hollywood.  With masterpieces like Do the Right Thing (1989) and 25th Hour (2002), you made movies that mattered.  They spoke to a specific issue with such a passion and were made with such a focused vision.

However, you’ve had a rough run as of late, including the abysmal remake of Oldboy (2013).  Chi-Raq was the perfect opportunity for a comeback.  A film dealing with the high gang violence and a chance to talk about police brutality could have been modern Do the Right Thing.  This could have given your career a much needed spark and resurgence.  But after seeing Chi-Raq, I have one question to ask you,

What the hell have you done?!

Chi-Raq is an abomination.  Nothing about this movie is appealing.  It makes a joke out of a very serious subject, the cast is a joke, it is sexist, racist, and incredibly offensive.

Couldn’t you have done a straight forward, gritty, brutal film about the mass gang violence in Chicago?  Why did you have to make a movie about a bunch of women who refuse to have sex with men until the violence stops?  I understand this is a satire, and I use satire lightly as nothing is really funny, and is based on the Greek play Lysistrata, but does this seem like the place to adapt that play?  What is going on in Chicago and with police brutality are serious issues that deserve a serious movie.  But this movie is so ridiculous that any sort of seriousness this movie attempts to have, like when a little girl gets shot in the crossfire and we see her mother (a wasted Jennifer Hudson) dealing with the tragedy, gets lost is the hilariously awful plot.

Also, can we talk about how offensive Chi-Raq is?  When the woman stop having sex with the men, the men cannot believe it.  They essentially think that women need men, that they cannot survive without having sex with men.  Who in the world thinks like this?  And then, to make it seem okay, you turn the men into sex crazed zombies which is also offensive, since that gives a negative image of both men and women.  I was offended and that takes a lot.  Also, in your typical form, Spike, the white characters in this movie are dumber than usual and you mock Chicagoans by making us seem like stupid, Bears obsessed citizens.  This is a new low for you.

This cast is awful.  It is impossible to buy America’s Got Talent host Nick Cannon as the baddest gangster in all of Chicago.  Wesley Snipes plays his one eyed rival Cyclops and is the flamboyant version of Nino Brown from New Jack City (1991).  Teyonah Parris plays the leader of the abstinence revolt Lysistrata and she is far too talented and charismatic to do this garbage.  I don’t understand how the rest of the woman could do this movie without cringing, but they are all trying far too hard.  John Cusack hams it up like I’ve never seen as the local pastor.  Having the idea to have majority of the lines rhyme like the original play was a good idea if it was a good cast.  All of these actors sound like they are reading off cue-cards.  No flow or rhythm in their delivery.  It is cringeworthy.  The only one who does it well is Samuel L. Jackson, who is a transitional narrator and not in the movie as much as he should be and has the one moment in the movie that I actually liked, even though it was only a minute long.

I thought you couldn’t do any worse than Oldboy Spike, but man was I wrong.  Chi-Raq has the perfect subject matter for you and you burned that potential and pissed on the ashes.  I am always optimistic when you make a new film because I know you can do.  But Chi-Raq gave you an open lay-up and you didn’t even hit the backboard.  I still have hope for you Spike and pray you can make a better film than this cinematic travesty.

Sincerely,

A sad and hopeful fan.

MY RATING – 0.5/4

Did you see Chi-Raq?  What did you think?  What are you favorite Spike Lee joints?  Comment below, or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook on my page at Kevflix