Not only did Michael Jai White help write the script for “Black Dynamite,†a fond joke aimed directly at the era of blaxploitation films of the ‘70s, but he appears in almost every scene of it. It’s a good thing, too, because so much of this movie depends on the energy behind his performance as Black Dynamite, a soul brother who’s out to stick it to the man, no matter how many jive turkeys get in his way. It isn’t easy to pull that off with a straight face, but one of the reasons why this material works is because White’s character is so theatrical – it’s as if he knows he’s living in his own movie.
Although the movie’s more about style than story, it still manages to work with a plot involving the death of Black Dynamite’s little brother at the hands of a bunch of drug pushers working for the man. Determined to get even, Black Dynamite takes back his old job as a CIA agent and tracks down anybody who can tell him about the killers, leading to a number of scenes where he gets to fight lots of bad guys using an array of kung-fu moves that wouldn’t be out-of-place in a Bruce Lee movie. For good measure, he even brings along some nunchucks.
Little details like that come with the territory when you’re dealing with a blaxploitation parody, and “Black Dynamite†doesn‘t leave any stone unturned: There’s the low-hanging boom mic that creeps into the frame, there’s the villain who gets a longwinded monologue, there’s the theme song that gets recycled ad nauseam. There’s also the love interest (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) who tries to resist the emotions that develop between her and the hero, but given the fact that he can’t even go to the doctor’s office without getting to second base, it’s only a matter of time before Black Dynamite seduces yet another unsuspecting woman out of her distrust and into the bedroom.
A few familiar faces (including Tommy Davidson, Arsenio Hall, Brian McKnight, Nicole Sullivan and Cedric Yarbrough) chime in with cameos that give the supporting roles the energy they deserve, and they understand the material well enough not to make it campier than it wants to be. After all, what made a great deal of blaxploitation movies so campy to begin with was that they took themselves far more seriously than they realized. Any praise “Black Dynamite†gets is well-earned: Turning lemons into lemonade is harder than it looks.
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