"Black Dynamite" Comes to Town
Scotty Walker
Issue date: 2/25/10 Section: Entertainment
The Salina Art Center and Cinema, located next door to Martinelli's in downtown Salina, is hosting a free screening of "Black Dynamite" for KWU students this Saturday, at 9:30 p.m. The film stars Michael Jai White, Salli Richardson, Arsenio Hall, Kevin Chapman and Tommy Davidson, from a script by White and Byron Minns. The film marks the theatrical directing debut of Scott Sanders, and tells the story of 1970s African-American action legend Black Dynamite (White).
While there isn't much of a coherent story, the film's plot centers around Black Dynamite avenging his brother's death at the hands of drug dealers.
Along the way, Dynamite discovers that the streets are overrun with crack and uncovers a mysterious, dirty secret behind Anaconda malt liquor. He makes his way from the mean streets to Kung Fu Island, and eventually all the way to the White House.
The producers wanted to not only parody the blaxploitation films of the 1970s (like "Dolemite," "Coffee," and "Superfly"), but to recreate the aesthetics that were staples of these films-even if that means bad lighting, bad special effects, and bad acting. What "Black Dynamite" suffers from the most is that the film just doesn't have a rational story that anybody will care about. The plot here is really filler for a series action sequences (some of which go nowhere), and this is Michael Jai White's forté ("Spawn" and "The Dark Night").
The film has its moments throughout the first half, but after that it begins to repeat itself. The introduction to the character is kind of cornball, but is similar to the way characters were introduced in its 1970s counterparts.
Go with an open mind, and be prepared for a script (which runs a little long) that fails to meet the high expectations I had for the film. The aim of the producers was to create an "undiscovered" entry from the blaxploitation era, but they seem to hit minor entry stature here instead. Be warned, this film isn't for everybody, and it earns a hard "R" rating for language, nudity, and violence-but if you're a fan of films from this era, you'd expect no less.
While there isn't much of a coherent story, the film's plot centers around Black Dynamite avenging his brother's death at the hands of drug dealers.
Along the way, Dynamite discovers that the streets are overrun with crack and uncovers a mysterious, dirty secret behind Anaconda malt liquor. He makes his way from the mean streets to Kung Fu Island, and eventually all the way to the White House.
The producers wanted to not only parody the blaxploitation films of the 1970s (like "Dolemite," "Coffee," and "Superfly"), but to recreate the aesthetics that were staples of these films-even if that means bad lighting, bad special effects, and bad acting. What "Black Dynamite" suffers from the most is that the film just doesn't have a rational story that anybody will care about. The plot here is really filler for a series action sequences (some of which go nowhere), and this is Michael Jai White's forté ("Spawn" and "The Dark Night").
The film has its moments throughout the first half, but after that it begins to repeat itself. The introduction to the character is kind of cornball, but is similar to the way characters were introduced in its 1970s counterparts.
Go with an open mind, and be prepared for a script (which runs a little long) that fails to meet the high expectations I had for the film. The aim of the producers was to create an "undiscovered" entry from the blaxploitation era, but they seem to hit minor entry stature here instead. Be warned, this film isn't for everybody, and it earns a hard "R" rating for language, nudity, and violence-but if you're a fan of films from this era, you'd expect no less.
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