5 out of 5

Director: Scott Sanders

Have I seen many blaxploitation films? No. Does the satire in Black Dynamite still work? Absolutely. Not that the plot matters much, but Black Dynamite is a ripped, super sexy ex-cop who gets re-enlisted to help combat street crime when his brother is killed in a drug-related shootout. Conspiracies run deep and far, and take Black Dynamite and his tough crew to surprising locales to face nefarious enemies. If it sounds cliched it totally is, but thats absolutely the point. Its been a while since this style of comedy has been made so intelligently. Think about the layered work of the ZAZ stuff (Airplane!, Police Squad) and then reapply it to the 70s era of black films and you come out with Black Dynamite. By keeping true to the genre (dirty jokes, nudity, kung fu, pointless plot twists) and playing the low-budget game straight (boom mics float in, there are re-takes), the makers of the film produce something exciting, hilarious, incredibly smart, and fresh. It gets a little tired toward the end, but this only encourages them to up the ante with the plot points, to ridiculous extremes. I dont know where this crew goes from here (which ended up being the problem for the ZAZ team), but Black Dynamite should remain a reference point for anyone daring to make a laugh-out-loud satire nowadays.