Review of Black Dynamite (2009) by Alexson P — 13 May 2013

An ex-CIA agent, Kung Fu expert and lovin' machine known only as Black Dynamite avenges the death of his brother, cleans up the streets and sticks it to The Man in this homage cum parody of 70s blaxploitation movies.

Scott Sanders is obviously a connoisseur of the genre as the whole film is pretty much spot on when sending up every detail of its intended target. There is the cast of casually racist and sexist stereotypes, the painfully clumsy exposition, laughably over the top action sequences and ham-fisted pseudo-messages as well as the usual glaring continuity errors, missed cues and clod hopping yet irresistibly funky music score.

Michael Jai White not only looks the part but also is actually almost too good at the high kicking martial arts sequences. The one drawback is that it can enter Naked Gun territory (particularly during the fist fight with Richard Nixon!) without being quite funny enough to carry it off but at the same time is not quite clever enough to be a Tarantino/Rodriguez style pastiche.

But it is consistently entertaining for its brief running time and will provide plenty of knowing chuckles to fans of Blaxploitation.