The next Netflix movie you need to add to your watch list is Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods, which is coming to the service on June 12. It's Lee's first film for the streaming service (although he did direct Netflix's TV version of She's Gotta Have It), and his latest project after 2018's acclaimed BlacKkKlansman.
Da 5 Bloods is about four African-American Vietnam war veterans (played by Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis and Isiah Whitlock Jr) who return to the country years later to find the body of their deceased Squad Captain (played by Chadwick Boseman) so they can give him a proper burial in the States. They've also got another agenda: retrieving some extremely valuable buried treasure misplaced by the CIA. Check out the trailer below:
The flashback sequences capture the newsreel aesthetic of the time perfectly, and we can't wait to watch it. Curiously, Da 5 Bloods' screenwriters include Danny Bilson and the late Paul DeMeo, who co-wrote Disney cult hit The Rocketeer. They wrote a script called The Last Tour back in 2013, which was then adapted into a story about African-American vets by Lee and screenwriter Kevin Willmott.
Lee spoke with Vanity Fair about the movie, citing Apocalypse Now and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as influences. Indeed, the trailer features a firm visual reference to Coppola's classic, and it's surely impossible to make a movie about the Vietnam War without evoking it a little.
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Netflix's attempts to make awards-friendly movies that don't follow traditional release patterns has proved controversial in recent years. But given that theaters are still unlikely to reopen in the US and the UK before July, Da 5 Bloods couldn't have a more captive audience.
Netflix's work with acclaimed filmmakers has yielded some great movies over the last few years: Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story, Alfonso Cuaron's Roma and The Irishman, just to name a few. For every bad Adam Sandler comedy, there's always something worth watching.
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