A Molotov cocktail of laughs and anger, Chi-Raq is a powerful state of a nation address. The result is the most creatively exciting Lee has been in a decade.
Lee risks trivialising serious subject matter. He is dealing with racism in its modern-guise (“mass incarceration is the new Jim Crow”), poverty and exploitation but the knockabout comedy weakens any polemical thrust the movie might otherwise have had.
The wives and girlfriends of Chicago gang members find a novel way to combat spiralling violence in Lee’s tactless, haranguing adaptation of Aristophanes.
Chi-Raq is a bawdy, angry cry from the heart that only works in fits and starts but there are times when it really hits the mark, especially when addressing the nightmare of drugs, guns and violence in inner-city America.
Dynamite stuff from an artist at the top of his game.
Chi-Raq doesn’t all work, but it’s simultaneously righteous and bawdy enough to gets its message across in entertaining fashion and features a great performance from up-and-coming actress Teyonah Parris in the lead.
Spike Lee’s satire on gun crime comes out shooting and doesn’t know when to stop.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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