Review of BlacKkKlansman (2018) by Alex A — 02 Jan 2019

Spike Lee turns up the tension in this true-story thriller about a rookie detective--the first black cop in the history of the Colorado Springs police department--who is sent undercover to get the goods on the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

With the help of his white partner, who becomes the "face" of the operation (while the black cop communicates with the Klansmen strictly by phone), they visit the Klan's homes, infiltrate meetings, even cozy up to grand pooh-bah David Duke.

It's all a little heavy-handed (the film begins with Alec Baldwin as an aging racist taping a hair-raising diatribe for TV, and ends with footage of the Charlottesville tragedy), but it works pretty well, and there's even a dollop of humor now and then.

With John David Washington (Denzel's kid) as the black cop, Adam Driver as the white (and secretly Jewish) one, and Topher Grace as a delightfully clueless--but no less dangerous--David Duke. Worth seeing.