Like his beloved Knicks, it’s been quite a while since Spike Lee was part of the conversation. (Recently, ten episodes of a rebooted SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT on cable. Who knew? Worse, who cared?) But he claws back to relevance on this deliciously serious absurdity, a fact-inspired, if fanciful story about a Black rookie cop (over-parted John David Washington) who lays an undercover trap for a small Colorado chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, but needs a white colleague (Adam Driver, excellent) to be his physical stand-in. Unevenly fitted with comic & deadly complications (including Driver’s character being a non-practicing Jew), the film gets into its own kind of trouble charting Washington’s romance with hard-core Black Activist Laura Harrier, whose doctrinaire approach to all issues walls her off. It should act as a sort of sexy challenge, a turn-on for Washington, but these two don’t do much for each other. (Reversing the pattern of a ‘70s White/Black Buddy Pic, Driver is given no social life at all.) Halfway along, the film starts to feel like it's all setup/no payoff, with Lee unable to generate suspense, even with a self-indulgent extra half hour running time. But the basic story holds you, the period detail gives a kick, and the last act is helped by a neat turn from Topher Grace as rising Klan Wizard David Duke. But a lot of thoughtful suspense got left on the table.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Lee builds an unexpectedly lackluster climax with weak use of parallel editing on a Ride-to-the-Rescue finale, following a classic technique largely invented by D. W. Griffith and perfected in his BIRTH OF A NATION/’15! Ironic, no?
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