Black Dynamite (Blu-ray)

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Nunchucks. Kung fu. Afros. Heroin. Racial stereotypes. Male and female nudity. Laughter. In the mood for a film that blends all these diverse elements together and manages to somehow still be fun? If so, the "Black Dynamite" Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is right up your alley.

This film is part throwback, part satire and all funny. In many ways, it pays homage to the blaxploitation genre that got its start during the 1970s. Like so many before it, "Black Dynamite" features sex, drugs and alcohol as key elements that interconnect its characters and plot. If you factor in the costumes, music and dialogue but deny access to the production year, you might be able to fool an unsuspecting movie watcher. In other regards, it mocks the genre and the somewhat silly platforms its films stood on by injecting moments where the characters look at each other with that, "Uh, this whole things seems pretty ridiculous" facial expression. And then, the laughter. "Black Dynamite" is laugh out loud funny in small doses, and generally pulls at least a chuckle during its brief 84-minute run time.

So, with all that going for it, where are the flaws? Sadly, they come in the performances and the over the top attempts at action and adventure that slow to a rapid halt. We´ll get there, though.

Set in 1972, the film opens with a violent mob murder. A Black man is shot dead during a drug deal gone wrong, and when the police show up to tend the scene, the officer who examines the body just about loses it. The violence will escalate, the paranoia will be tangible and the unease will engulf daily life thanks to this crime. Why? Well, because the man killed was not only a CIA agent, but Black Dynamite´s (Michael Jai White) brother. And as we soon discover, Black Dynamite is not the sort of man you want to piss off.

As he punches, kicks and brutalizes his way through a dozen or so Asian trainers during a kung fu session, Black Dynamite receives word that his brother is dead. He thinks back to his days in the CIA, and is jogging his brain to unearth who may be behind this crime. Shortly thereafter, O´Leary (Kevin Chapman) pays him a visit. His old partner asks him to come back into the agency to solve this crime, and maybe the heroin epidemic that has overwhelmed the local neighborhoods while he´s at it. Black Dynamite accepts, but with one condition: he does the job his way, and his way only.

As he knocks on doors and beats up thugs, Black Dynamite runs over anyone and anything in his way. Some bad guys like Tasty Freeze (Arsenio Hall) and Cream Corn (Tommy Davidson) do their best to obstruct him, but this man is on a mission that takes an interesting turn or two. He meets Gloria (Salli Richardson), an elegant and gorgeous woman who begs him to salvage the local orphanage from a drug called smack. The children are addicted, and Black Dynamite eventually learns that the conspiracy behind the drug is fueled by marketing and selling a popular malt liquor to Black men. This particular brand has a side effect that renders a man´s manhood less lengthy than he´d prefer. Furious and enraged, he hunts down the Fiendish Dr. Wu (Roger Yuan) and demands answers. Black Dynamite traces the plot to the top of the United States Government, and eventually gets into a climactic fistfight with President Richard Nixon (James McManus) before he achieves his own personal justice.

Mixed in with the plot and events above is a bundle of goodies, including blaring funk and disco music with a reggae influence, outlandishly detailed costumes, some really intense hair styles (not to mention the sideburns) and a desire for vengeance. The filmmakers apparently filled in some gaps with actual footage from other blaxploitation films made decades ago, thereby enhancing the desired authenticity. And the humor is, while often outlandish and frequently beyond belief, pretty decent. The scene where Black Dynamite and his entourage manage to figure out how to track down the scheme plaguing their community is particularly memorable, and features references to popular culture and Greek mythology.