Chi-Raq Review

After a string of forgettable, dreadfully panned films of recent years from the black filmmaker that defined a generation of social/political films of the 80’s and 90’s, Spike Lee has finally gone back to familiar grounds and presented a rather creative, vibrantly realized modern day adaptation of a Greek play by Aristophanes called ‘Lysistrata’ with the film titled Chi-Raq.  This well intentioned, passionate effort from Lee is a return to form as him and his team create a uniquely energized, satirical to parodic style of storytelling and performances for this semi-cartoonish and powerfully dramatic film.  It is also a genre hybrid that combines comedy, musical, and drama to create a fusion of different narrative tones and storylines that instill an amazing personality but can be a bit messy at times.  The other technical aspects from the soundtrack to cinematography to finally editing are handled with such strong convictions and memorizing style that it really does make this fictionalized world of Chi-Raq (Chicago) into a fully realized character itself.  Let’s look into how this film is quite the underrated gem that deserves to be discovered and discussed for years to come.

We follow the ensemble cast of characters living in the gun-happy city Chicago, that has more deaths of innocent people than that of Special Forces units in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.  One day, the violence between the Spartans lead by Chi-Raq (Nick Cannon) and Trojan lead by Cyclops (Wesley Snipes) erupts and a young boy is murdered by a stray bullet with the mother (Jennifer Hudson) calling out for justice over this murder along with the Reverend (John Cusack).  This grabs the attention of the beautiful, idealist woman Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris) as she is motivated by this violent act to come up with a solution to the gun violence that has gotten out of control since this war between the gangs began.  The answer, is to withhold sex from the men to eventually have them drop their weapons and find peace from within as well as with each other as a community.  Throughout this film, we see the trials, tribulations, and conflict each character deals with in addressing the violent, cyclic nature of the gun violence in America as well as gender role and the power it has over all of us for both men and female.

This is quite an interesting one to write about as this juggles with a myriad of genres of story genres from Musical to Drama and Comedy.  There are quite a few compelling scenes to fit each style of genre but it also leads to an uneven, inconsistent tone and pacing, leading to some frustrations when the film goes from being compellingly dramatic to over the top, farcical comedy.  However, the smaller character moments from Fr. Mike Corridan (John Cusack), Irene (Jennifer Hudson), Chi-Raq, and Dolmedes (Samuel L. Jackson), the story’s narrator are truly marvelous and powerfully written and performed in really conveying the Shakespearean comedy/tragedy adapted here as well as making for some truly engaging socially driven drama to be seen here.  This will not click with everyone including those who have a problem with the aggressive nature of the story’s themes and executions of those ideas along with the preachy, numerous monologues that convey the message of peace and gun violence in America in a not so subtle way.  However, this is perhaps one of the few creative films that truly has an engaging, discussion worthy social/political commentary through satire that is rare to see today as well as a truly enjoyable, clever Hip-Hop adaptation of a Greek comedy play which is quite an accomplishment to see a film like this get made.

The film also houses some of the finest performances I have seen from a Black driven cast whether it be of the older and/or newer generation of diverse actors portraying characters that are both three dimensional humans to some funny if a bit over the top caricatures of social types in racially made genre films.  Teyonah Parris is absolutely stunning both in beauty and charisma as Lysistrata, the woman who leads a sexual revolt to stop the gun violence on the streets from denying the men “the booty”. Nick Cannon turns in a surprisingly layered, emotionally satisfying performance as the title character with a director that truly brings out the best in him within this role.  You also have great performances from the older cast whether it be Angela Bassett as Miss Helen in a small but memorable performance as well as Samuel L. Jackson, providing a comedic/energized turn as the narrator of this story and John Cusack as the Reverend Mike Corridan, making some of the most passionate monologues in the film.  Wesley Snipes provides a capable, funny performance but can be a bit goofy at times with his slang at times as well as having cartoonishly written characters mixed with the human, layered characters throughout this film.  There are plenty of great turns from character actors that perform their monologues and solo scene with such impeccable comedic/dramatic timing as well as being quite memorable with the short time they have in the film.

On a technical level, the camera work/art design, editing, and music really elevate the material to great heights in positive ways.  The cinematography is truly inspired in quite a few places especially in showcasing the place of Chicago.  Each set really looks massive in the scale and design which is quite impressive in displaying the environment’s character.  There are some truly inspired shots that truly draw you into the drama of each scenes and it moves at a brisk, fast pace that keeps the energy going, rather than make it too frantic or confusing for the viewers to follow.  With the mix of shots that showcase the chaotic life of Chicago as well as the industrialized side mixing with the poverishly poor neighborhood, there is a clear understanding of the city itself visually that few directors take advantage of when really conveying the place the characters’ stories take place in.

Where the film also shines is the soundtrack/score utilized in this film which is both diverse and fitting in all the right places, adding to the dramatic and comedic moments throughout the film.  You have the main compositional work from Terence Blanchard as well as a group of R&B / Hip-Hop Artists such as Nick Cannon, Sam Dew, R. Kelly with Tink, Kevon Carter, Kymm Lewis, Mali Music, Sophia Byrd, and many more throughout the film here and there.  Each song fits smoothly into the tone of each scene especially for the musical numbers featured in the film.  There was great care and thought put into making the music instill the message of the film against the gun violence / racial divide within America, adding to the aggressive but forthcoming style of the director’s narrative abilities.

It was touch and go regarding Spike Lee’s ability to make another good film after the last few films he has done that have been lukewarm or unmitigated disasters.  However, Chi-Raq is a return to form for Lee as he creates an aggressively creative and thought provoking adaptation of a Greek play with some of the sharpest writing to instill the emotions and themes of gun violence within America.  This was reminiscent of his earlier works in a good way but it does juggle with so many genres that it never truly meshes together as a whole, with an inconsistent tone that shifts to comedy, drama, and musical all at once on an occasion.  This is one of his better made films and it is quite hard hitting and funny throughout the film even if it is uneven as a whole.

Score: *** out of *****
Chi-Raq is a return to familiar grounds for Spike Lee and it is quite an inventive, inspirationally made film that oozes in energetic fun and care for the themes of gun violence and gender roles within America and today’s culture.  It is Lee coming back to his very aggressive approach to the material that can be heavy handed and little too much for people to withstand to get to the clever and dramatically effective moments in this film.  The performances are truly astounding from a mostly Black cast of young and old actors giving it their all in each roles as well as a truly strong female lead in Teyonah Parris as well as truly surprisingly subdued, tragic performances from Jennifer Hudson and Nick Cannon.  It is a rather uneven mess at times, contending with a multitude of genres of storytelling and they don’t gel as well as they could have been if handled by someone else.  It can also be a bit slow in the pacing as it can go from monologue to a scene driven by action and visuals which slows the film down instead of letting it clip along at a reasonable pace for film.  This is still a worthwhile effort to watch from Spike Lee and will remind you that this director still has what it takes to make a good film.