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Chi-Raq

Country: USA, Language: English, 127 mins

  • Director: Spike Lee
  • Writer: Kevin Willmott; Spike Lee
  • Producer: Jon Kilik; Spike Lee

CGiii Comment

Lysistrata...gets a makeover...or, has a head-on collision with gangland modernity.

Spoken - entirely - in verse...example...

Howdya get to make love so good?

Repetition...they call Chi-raq...the pussy magician.

Another highlight...

Girl...This sex strike scheme ain't nothing but a wet dream...

And...

No Peace, No Pussy...

And...wait for it...

That's a big-ass brass bed for bangin' black booty...!

And...

No Peace, No Pussy...

Expect to hear the word 'pussy' many, many times. The 'N' and rhymes involving 'poles' and 'holes' many, many time.

This is a film that will not only polarise opinion...but, question Spike Lee's filmmaking talent...it really does come over as a filmschool project...replete with studenty gimmicks...and, a big, big, bad-ass, badly-managed budget.

There's no denying that Lee wanted to deliver a message...a grand message...sadly, he failed. There are moments when the film works...all be them few and far between...with some savage editing...by both film and script editors...these moments could have been brought closer together...thereby ensuring a more cohesive production rather than this haphazard result.

Sometimes, some things (i.e plays) should be left in their original state...


Trailer...

The(ir) Blurb...

After the murder of a child by a stray bullet, a group of women led by Lysistrata organize against the on-going violence in Chicago's Southside creating a movement that challenges the nature of race, sex and violence in America and around the world.


 

GLAAD

Spike Lee’s satirical musical, based on the ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata, follows the women of Chicago as they withhold sex from their gangster boyfriends in hopes of ending street violence. The film included brothel runner Big Thelma tossing out the line “goodthing I’m a d*ke,” implying that the strike does not affect her. In later scenes, an older man notes that even those on the “down low” have sworn celibacy, before saying he does not know how he knew that when questioned by the rest of the group. This inclusion-as-a-punchline remains par for the course for too many comedies.

CGiii100

Blink and you'll miss the 'lesbian' bits...as for the implication, it's not implication...it's a fact. She's a dyke, she don't do d*ck!

Cast & Characters

Nick Cannon as Chi-Raq;
Teyonah Parris as Lysistrata;
Wesley Snipes as Cyclops;
Angela Bassett as Miss Helen;
Samuel L. Jackson as Dolmedes;
John Cusack as Father Mike Corridan;
Jennifer Hudson as Irene;
David Patrick Kelly as General King Kong;
D.B. Sweeney as Mayor McCloud;
Dave Chappelle as Morris;
Steve Harris as Old Duke;
Harry Lennix as Commissioner Blades;
Anthony Fitzpatrick as Chief Riptide;
Anya Engel-Adams as Rasheeda;
Ebony Joy as Marcy