Black Dynamite (2008)

Black Dynamite is, at its core, a send-up of the blaxploitation film genre, but unlike the previous entries into the spoof (Undercover Brother, and, to some extent, Hebrew Hammer) its comedy comes from a sharp attention to detail of those old low-budget films from the 70s.

Michael Jai White stars as the title character, and has credit for writing the film. You probably don't know White by name, although you may remember him (minus the afro and wearing more clothes) from The Dark Knight as Gambol, the gangster to whom Heath Ledger first delivers the Glasgow smile scar speech (one of his guys also falls for the pencil trick). Or maybe you remember him from Spawn (1997)? No? That's okay, I don't either. White, who is also a martial artist (something he employs to great affect here), plays Black Dynamite perfectly to the letter.

The plot revolves around Black Dynamite's brother Jimmy being killed off in the first scene and "BD's" search for revenge. It's not really important, as in most spoofs. Black Dynamite is not exactly a film you can honestly be accused of "ruining" the plot of. There are some clever gags, including a boom mic in the shot after Black Dynamite stands up too quickly (this is an old joke, but it's done to effect here as the only indication anyone notices are White's eyes, which swing towards it briefly), the first cut of a fight scene where a choreographed move goes wrong, some great kung-fu sequences, and the film culminates in a nun-chuck showdown between Black Dynamite and Richard Nixon in the Oval Office.

Honestly, I don't know why I'm thinking so strongly about Undercover Brother when seeing this, but this movie is really the antithesis to that piece of crap. In Undercover Brother, there was often a sense that the actors were in on the joke with the audience, so that they could easily grin when the situation became totally absurd. Moreover, it meant that they didn't have to work that hard at it. Black Dynamite, in contrast, has its acting crew play it almost perfectly straight, as in those old films, so that no one acknowledges the absurdity of the situations they're in, just rolls with it. So you laugh at them and the situation, not just the situation. A lot of this is thanks to White, who really drives the whole movie with just how dead on he is in his impression and how he never cracks a smile, except for one small scene (and that's more maniacal laughter).

Add it to your queue? Heck yes.

Directed by Scott Sanders, Written by Michael Jai White and Byron Minns, Starring White, Salli Richardson, Tommy Davidson, and Kevin Chapman.