Review of BlacKkKlansman (2018) by John P — 22 Aug 2018

A black guy goes undercover in the Ku Klux Klan. Sounds like the setup of a joke. Or one hell of a comedy. And indeed it is. But more than just a hilarious comedy, Spike Lee's Blackkklansmen is also an excellent cop movie and a moving, surprisingly nuanced statement on race in America.

Now Spike Lee has long been a polarizing figure. To some he's a visionary voice of Black America. Others consider him a grossly overrated, semi talented director. I would describe him as sporadically brilliant. He's had some real highs, some incredibly low lows, and more than a few middling near misses. Fortunately, this project sees him at his very best.

For much of its runtime Blackkklansmen is an engaging, frequently tense police procedural in which careful police work and a knack for thinking on their feet allows the protagonists to worm their way into the Klan. But when it switches gears and goes for laughs it's absolutely hysterical. The phone calls with the Klan feel like sitting in on history's greatest crank calls, and this movie can even turn a racially motivated bombing into an over the top farce. Plus there's even a charming love story that doesn't feel forced or tacked on.

Lee has a real gift for editing and composition. I wouldn't have expected a speech by a former Black Panther to be one of the high points of the movie, but the masterful cinematography gave it a power on par with Capra. I was also moved the interwoven scenes of the Klansmen taking their oaths and watching Birth of a Nation while across town the members of the Black Student Union listen enraptured as a frail old man recounts a horrific lynching he witnessed in his youth. The moods of the two scenes are worlds apart, and yet they fit together so well.

On a lighter note, the Seventies period touches are pervasive and warmly nostalgic. Between the clothes, the hair, and the soul soundtrack, it's like stepping back into the age of jive. And there's some very good acting. John D Washington and Adam Driver have excellent chemistry as officers Ron Stallworth and 'Flip' Zimmerman; Washington delivering the lines with just a hint of attitude while Driver remains absolutely deadpan no matter how ridiculous the situation. And Topher Grace is wonderful as a surprisingly unassuming, mild mannered, and rather nervous David Duke. For a racist demagogue he's amusingly underwhelming.

Of course some historical liberties have been taken to liven things up. In real life the Klan never detonated or even completed a bomb, nor did they ever suspect they'd been infiltrated until well after the investigation was completed. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the romantic sublot either. But yes, a black guy and a Jew really did go undercover in the KKK, he really did have multiple lengthy conversations with David Duke, and it was every bit as funny as depicted here.

If this movie has a weakness, it's some overly obvious references to the current president. It's one thing for David Duke to say that the Klan is trying to make America great again. It's another for a room full of people to chant "America First!" at length, particularly given that this was not a Klan slogan at the time. The ending is also kind of a downer, but I suppose we live in fraught times, and it wouldn't be a Spike Lee movie if there wasn't a little grandstanding.

Overall Blackkklansmen is terrific blend of drama, comedy, and social commentary that benefits from a lighter tough a lot more restraint than the director usually shows. It just might be Spike Lee's best movie.