Article by: James Kidd

To say that filmmaker Spike Lee is a controversial character would be an understatement. Ever since his first feature films like Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever, Lee has charged head first into arguments with Charlton Heston and Clint Eastwood, most often ending up with more mud on himself than the opposing side. Regardless of these events, one thing is certainly admirable about Lee: He is never afraid to speak his mind and stand by his words, no matter what anyone else would think.

So, when the award winning director was forced to bring his latest “joint,” Chi-Raq, to Amazon because no other studio wanted to go near it, many people — myself included — were all ears. While Lee has faced some issues in getting his movies out there in the past, for entire movie companies to pass on it meant that whatever he had planned must truly be an interesting watch, whether it be good or bad. Lo and behold, Lee has found his groove once again after all these years, resulting in Chi-Raq being placed alongside the director’s best work.

Taking inspiration from the Greek play “Lysistrata,” the film opens up with the city of Chicago suffering yet another death of a child due to a stray bullet from a gang shootout. For the residents of the city, this is nothing new for them, no matter how terrible. With the total amount of gun related deaths in the city being higher than the death toll of soldiers in Iraq, it has sadly just become an accepted fate for everyone that they will eventually die by the end of a gun barrel. However, for Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris), the girlfriend of the leader of the Spartan gang (Nic Cannon), it will be the last death. She makes it her goal to convince all the women 0f Chicago — strippers and prostitutes alike — to refuse sex to any male in the city until the violence and death is stopped once and for all.

From there, comedic hijinks ensue, but to limit it to that one genre would be incorrect, as Chi-Raq is so much more. Sometimes the cast breaks out into a music dance number as the military launches an attack via smooth jazz, then the tone will shift to a heartbreaking drama as a mother weeps for her dead daughter. Next, the tone of a steamy romance flick as Chi-Raq attempts to seduce Lysistrata. There should also be mention that there is fantastic lyrical rhyming throughout most of the dialogue which pays homage to the movie’s theatrical roots, as well as adding an interesting rap/hip-hop flavor to the debates that take place later on in the plot. While all these may sound like a complete tonal mess on paper, it works surprisingly well combined with Lee’s passion for the various issues that he tackles throughout the movie.

While a good script and passion can do wonders for any movie, the biggest surprise here is how well acted and good looking Chi-Raq looks. With a pretty well-known cast staring the likes of John Cusack, Wesley Snipes and Jennifer Hudson, Amazon and Lee obviously didn’t kid around with the budget, with all three doing very well. Even Teyonah Parris, a relative unknown until recently, will certainly be getting more work after her role here as Lysistrata, and Nic Cannon is doing much better than anyone expected him to do. However, Samuel L. Jackson steals the show, as per usual, with his role as the humorous Greek chorus, putting his own charm into his interpretations of the events occurring on screen.

Chi-Raq, however, certainly isn’t without its issues. The film does drag on for longer than it should, mostly due to a fifteen minute long church scene, which hurts Lee’s energy as time goes on. Some of the humor isn’t as funny as it thinks it is, and the ending is a bit of a letdown as well, with a massive convenience being revealed just so the story can wrap up on a happy note — which left me on a sour note.

With awards season coming up, I can probably say that Chi-Raq probably won’t be nominated for best picture or any of the major categories. Does that mean that you shouldn’t watch it when it exclusively hits Amazon Prime later in January? Absolutely not. In the end, Lee didn’t seem to be aiming for awards but to get a message out about the horrors happening right here in America. The movie will probably garner much controversy for what some of the characters have to say about feminism, the NRA, and police brutality, but interestingly doesn’t present any of them as the main problem or a solution to all the violence occurring. Chi-Raq’s goal is to get people talking about these issues, whether by conservatives or liberals — or anyone for that matter — and in that regard, it is an absolute success.

Overall Rating: 8/10