Black Dynamite

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For the Adult Swim television series based on this movie, see Black Dynamite (TV series).
Black Dynamite

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Scott Sanders
Produced by Jon Steingart
Jenny Wiener Steingart
Screenplay by Scott Sanders
Michael Jai White
Byron Minns
Story by Michael Jai White
Byron Minns
Starring Michael Jai White
Salli Richardson
Arsenio Hall
Kevin Chapman
Tommy Davidson
Music by Adrian Younge
Cinematography Shawn Maurer
Editing by Adrian Younge
Studio Destination Films
ARS Nova
Goliath Entertainment
Suckapunch Films
Harbor Entertainment
Six Point Harness
Distributed by Apparition
(United States)
Icon Entertainment International
(United Kingdom)
Roadshow Entertainment
(Australia)
Release date(s) October 16, 2009 (2009-10-16)
Running time 84 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $2.9 million
Box office $296,557 [1]

Black Dynamite is a 2009 American film starring Michael Jai White, Salli Richardson, Arsenio Hall, Kevin Chapman and Tommy Davidson. It is a spoof of 1970s blaxploitation films. The film was directed by Scott Sanders and co-written by White, Sanders and Byron Minns, who also co-stars.

The film, in which former CIA agent Black Dynamite must avenge his brother's death while cleaning the streets of a new drug that is ravaging the community, had a trailer and funding even before a script was written. Black Dynamite was shot in 20 days in Super 16 format. It was released in the United States on 16 October 2009 for only two weeks and was well-received by critics. It was released on home video on 16 February 2010.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Black Dynamite, a Vietnam veteran and former CIA agent, vows to clean up the streets of drug dealers and gangsters after his younger brother Jimmy is killed by a shady organization. O'Leary, Black Dynamite's former Army and CIA partner, reinstates him into the agency because they do not want him seeking vengeance by himself. Trying to get to the bottom of Jimmy's murder, he finds out that his brother was actually working undercover for the CIA. Black Dynamite also discovers the shady organization is filling the black orphanages with heroin. He declares war on local drug dealers and successfully cleans up the streets, earning him the affection of Gloria, a black power activist who works at the local orphanage.

After discovering the government's involvement in the drug ring, Black Dynamite steals the ledger belonging to corrupt Congressman James which details illegal shipments to a warehouse. Black Dynamite and his team storm the warehouse to capture a big shipment. They learn of a top secret operation called "Code Kansas", but there are no drugs in the warehouse; only "Anaconda" brand malt liquor, a government-produced brand that, according to the advertising slogan, "Gives You Ooooooo!". In a diner, they decipher the slogan and uncover "Code Kansas" as a plan to literally emasculate African-American men through Anaconda Malt Liquor, which is formulated to "give (you) a little dick". Returning to the warehouse, Black Dynamite finds O'Leary is part of the evil plan, but is just following orders. He kills O'Leary before acquiring his next lead to find the source of the "Code Kansas" plan.

Black Dynamite heads to Kung Fu Island, where he discovers that his old nemesis, Fiendish Dr. Wu, is responsible for creating the secret formula found in Anaconda Malt Liquor. In a protracted battle which kills several members of his team, Black Dynamite discovers the true identity of the mastermind of the entire operation - the White House.

Black Dynamite then travels to the White House and confronts President Richard Nixon, who has been giving the orders from the beginning. When Black Dynamite defeats Nixon in a kung-fu battle and threatens to expose Nixon as the subject of a series of bondage and cross dressing photographs, the president begs to be killed and his plan is foiled.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Production

"It’s just a little too badass. That’s the tone of the movie. Our humor comes from the fact that the movie is just a little too badass."

Scott Sanders, director/writer[3]

White originally thought of the idea for Black Dynamite around April 2006, while listening to James Brown's "Super Bad". White had also held blaxploitation movie parties where he picked up the "funny inconsistencies" in the films. White rented costumes, photographed himself and showed it to Sanders who was attracted to the idea. The same blue costume on White's photograph was used in the final scene of the film.[4]

The original trailer was recorded even before the film went into production in order to raise money.[5] It incorporated scenes from old blaxploitation movies with old voice overs from Adolph Caesar.[3] The trailer was shot on Super 8 mm film for around $500[5] and contained numerous 1970s anachronisms, such as referring to the star of the film as a Baltimore Colts running back (the Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984) and marvelling at Black Dynamite's "five thousand dollar car" and "hundred dollar suit". White and Sanders showed it to Jon Steingart, who told them "Oh my God. Okay, we can raise the money for this."[3]

Once financing was secured, writing the script took about three weeks.[4] During the writing process, Minns's almost "encyclopedic knowledge" of blaxploitation helped them produce the script more quickly.[3]

[edit] Filming

Cinematographer Shawn Maurer shot Black Dynamite on Super 16 Color Reversal Kodak film stock to get the high contrast and saturated look common in many low-budget Blaxploitation films of the 1970s.[5] The film was then converted to digital for editing.[6] The filmmakers supplemented their shoot with period stock footage from Sony Pictures Stock Footage, using films such as Missing in Action, Charlie's Angels, and Police Woman.[7] Black Dynamite was shot in the Leimert Park and Angeles Vista sections of Los Angeles over twenty days, with several green-screen days and one reshoot day.[8] The film had such a low budget that they had to "think in the same ways that they had to think" in the classic blaxploitation movies.[5] Sanders and White had a difficult time keeping the modern world out of the movie. Sanders was worried about anything modern that could destroy "the whole illusion." White worked individually with actors to keep their tone correct.[4]

As an homage to the low production values and "one take only" style of blaxploitation films, many filming errors were done on purpose. For example, in one scene where Black Dynamite stands up from his desk, a red boom microphone appears above his head (which was common in Rudy Ray Moore films, such as Dolemite). Some of the actors recite their stage directions before their intended dialogue (In one scene, an actor verbalizes the stage direction "the militants turn startled" and continues on saying the scripted dialogue "How did you get in here?")...[5] When some gangsters pull up to a store, the driver forgets to put the car into park and the car lurches forward; however this was a legitimate mistake on the part of the actor that was left in the final film.

During casting, White sent Arsenio Hall the script, and "when he read that there's a Captain Kangaroo pimp in this thing", he accepted the role.[4]

[edit] Score

Adrian Younge plays all instruments and wrote the lyrics to every song on the soundtrack except "Shine," "Cleaning Up The Streets," and "Gloria." His influences on the score were Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, Ennio Morricone and Wu-Tang Clan. Morricone greatly influenced Younge from the classical European funk music, while Wu-Tang Clan helped him focus on making music they would want to sample. Sanders gave Younge almost complete leeway, but he still had to work hard to impress others working on the film. To record the score, Younge used vintage tape recording equipment and then sent it to be digitally transferred.[6]

The film's theme song is "Dynomite" by Sir Charles Hughes; its chorus plays nearly every time Black Dynamite appears.[9] It also features many pieces of background music, composed by Alan Tew, from the 1975 Yorkshire TV series The Hanged Man.

[edit] Release

Black Dynamite premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, where Sony Worldwide Acquisitions picked it up for distribution for "nearly $2 million."[10] On June 14, the film went on to win the Golden Space Needle Audience Award for Best Film at the Seattle International Film Festival, beating The Hurt Locker among other films.[11] On August 25, 2009, it was announced that Apparition, a new distributor headed by Bill Pohlad and Bob Berney, would handle the film's domestic release.[12]

The general release version differs from the original Sundance cut, wherein six minutes of dialogue scenes and fight sequences were trimmed.

[edit] Marketing

A viral campaign was launched on the web prior to the film's general release, spearheaded by a mock nonprofit organization called "Fight Smack in the Orphanage" (FSITO).[13] The organization's website features PSA clips starring Black Dynamite and other cast members of the film.

[edit] Box office

Film Release date Box office revenue Box office ranking Budget Reference
United States United States International Worldwide All time United States All time worldwide
Black Dynamite October 2009 $242,578 $53,979 $296,557 #7,536 Unknown $2,900,000[14] [15]

Black Dynamite had a limited release to only 70 theaters and a run time of two weeks. The film grossed $131,862 in its opening weekend, and its two-week total was $242,578. This placed it at number 264 for all films released in 2009.[1]

[edit] Critical reception

Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic Entertainment Weekly
All Critics Top Critics Audience
Black Dynamite 85% (59 reviews)[16] 79% (14 reviews)[17] 83% (11,581 reviews)[17] 65/100 (14 reviews)[18] A[19]

Black Dynamite received positive reviews and now holds an 85% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 44 reviews. One reviewer writes, "A loving and meticulous send-up of 1970s blaxploitation movies, Black Dynamite is funny enough for the frat house and clever enough for film buffs."[20] On Metacritic Black Dynamite has a 65/100 falling in the generally favorable reviews category.[21]

Owen Gleiberman wrote in Entertainment Weekly, "Black Dynamite blends satire, nostalgia, and cinema deconstruction into a one-of-a-kind comedy high", noting Sanders captured the language and feel of blaxploitation.[22] Roger Ebert awarded the film three stars out of four, and said, "Black Dynamite gets it mostly right, and when it's wrong, it's wrong on purpose and knows just what it's doing." He added that the film meticulously reproduces 1970s blaxploitation and brings back much-needed gratuitous nudity.[23]

A. O. Scott of The New York Times considered Black Dynamite would be a better "five-minute clip on YouTube" than a feature film. Scott wrote, "A boom mike drifts down into the frame; an actor recites stage directions along with his lines. The camera zooms, pans and shifts focus as if it were being wielded by an optometrist on a cocaine binge. The acting is stiff, the dialogue painfully self-conscious, the action sequences choreographed and edited to look as cartoonish as possible. All of which is fun, for a while, in an academic kind of way."[24] James Greenberg writing for The Hollywood Reporter believed the film would not hold audience's attention because among all the detail there was no real story.[25]

[edit] Home media

Black Dynamite was released on February 16, 2010 on DVD and Blu-ray. Both releases contain deleted scenes, a "making-of" featurette and a Comic-Con Q&A panel. The Blu-ray has an extra featurette and trivia track.[26]

[edit] Continuations

[edit] Graphic Novel

Black Dynamite: Slave Island was scheduled to be released on April 4, 2011. According to a press release from the publisher, "Ape Entertainment, in partnership with Ars Nova, is proud to announce the release of the original 48 page one-shot Black Dynamite: Slave Island, inspired by the major motion picture BLACK DYNAMITE.

“Between the streets, Vietnam and the C.I.A., Black Dynamite thought he had seen it all. But nothing could have prepared him for his most dangerous mission yet! In BLACK DYNAMITE: SLAVE ISLAND, the world’s greatest blaxploitation sensation uses his fists of fury to shut down a secret island where the Man still plays by 1850s rules!” Slave Island is based on a story by Michael Jai White, Byron Minns and Scott Sanders. Written by Brian Ash with inks by Jun Lofamia, the one-shot is due in stores April 2011.

“We pick right up where the movie left off and continue with the same over-the-top action in the one-shot,” explained Brent E. Erwin, COO of Ape Entertainment. “When you are dealing with the quintessential badass, tough-as-nails hero, why would you change a thing?”

[edit] Animated series

Main article: Black Dynamite (TV series)

An animated spin-off of the film is being produced for Cartoon Network 's late night programming block, Adult Swim, with animation production by the same team behind The Boondocks.[27] The 11-minute series pilot, written by Carl Jones & Brian Ash, was produced at Titmouse, Inc. It features the voices of the film's original cast members including Michael Jai White, Byron Minns, Kym Whitley and Tommy Davidson. The pilot episode was released on Adult Swim Video on August 8, 2011; and the full series is set to premiere in Summer 2012.

[edit] Sequel

Director Scott Sanders said that he and White had ideas for a sequel if the film did well.[27] Star Michael Jai White hinted that a sequel was being written during an interview on G4's Attack of the Show.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Black Dynamite (2009)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=blackdynamite.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-09. 
  2. ^ Fight Smack in the Orphanage - About Us
  3. ^ a b c d Rabin, Nathan (October 23, 2009). "Michael Jai White and Scott Sanders". avclub.com. http://www.avclub.com/articles/michael-jai-white-and-scott-sanders,34458/. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
  4. ^ a b c d Kelly, Kevin. "Michael Jai White and Scott Sanders Interview, Black Dynamite, Sundance 2009". Spoutblog.com. http://blog.spout.com/2009/01/24/michael-jai-white-and-scott-sanders-interview-black-dynamite-sundance-2009/. Retrieved 2010-03-09. 
  5. ^ a b c d e Nunziata, Nick (October 14, 2009). "Interview: Michael Jai White & Scott Sanders (Black Dynamite)". chud.com. http://www.chud.com/articles/articles/21140/1/INTERVIEW-MICHAEL-JAI-WHITE-amp-SCOTT-SANDERS-BLACK-DYNAMITE/Page1.html. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
  6. ^ a b Boyle, Christopher (November 17, 2009). "Interview With Black Dynamite Composer/Editor Adrian Younge". NewsLI.com. http://www.newsli.com/2009/11/17/interview-with-black-dynamite-composereditor-adrian-younge/. Retrieved 2010-03-15. 
  7. ^ Topel, Fred (October 14, 2009). "Scott Sanders directs Black Dynamite". Crave online. http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/film/article/scott-sanders-directs-black-dynamite-87849/2. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
  8. ^ "Black Dynamite: Movie production notes". Apparition. http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:APn4Oysyfj4J:k95country.com/movies/notes/black-dynamite/note/%3Fprinter%3D1+black+dynamite+production+notes&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
  9. ^ Rhapsody.com - Sir Charles Hughes
  10. ^ Nelson, Rob (January 20, 2009). Black Dynamite "Black Dynamite Moview Review From The Sundance Film Festival". Variety.com. http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&id=2471&reviewid=VE1117939405&cs=1 Black Dynamite. Retrieved 2010-03-09. 
  11. ^ "Seattle International Film Festival 2009 Award Winners". siff. http://www.siff.net/festival/film/programdetail.aspx?FID=123&PID=335. Retrieved 2010-03-10. 
  12. ^ Knegt, Peter (August 25, 2009). "Apparition Takes 'Dynamite'". indieWIRE. http://www.indiewire.com/article/apparition_takes_dynamite/. Retrieved 2010-03-09. 
  13. ^ Fight Smack in the Orphanage
  14. ^ Weiner, Jonah (2009-10-11). "A ’70s Flashback, Replete With Flaws". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/movies/11wein.html. Retrieved 2011-08-23. 
  15. ^ "Black Dynamite (2009)". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=blackdynamite.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-22. 
  16. ^ "Black Dynamite". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=blackdynamite.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-23. 
  17. ^ a b "Black Dynamite". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_dynamite/. Retrieved 2011-08-23. 
  18. ^ "Black Dynamite". Metacritic. CBS. http://www.metacritic.com/movie/black-dynamite. Retrieved 2011-08-23. 
  19. ^ "Black Dynamite (2009)". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20312174,00.html. Retrieved 2011-08-23. 
  20. ^ "Black Dynamite". Rotten Tomatoes. http://au.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_dynamite/. Retrieved 2010-03-09. 
  21. ^ "Black Dynamite Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/blackdynamite?q=black%20dynamite. Retrieved 2010-03-09. 
  22. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (October 14, 2009). "Black Dynamite". EW.com. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20312174,00.html. Retrieved 2010-03-09. 
  23. ^ Ebert, Roger (October 14, 2009). Black Dynamite "Black Dynamite". http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091014/REVIEWS/910149998 Black Dynamite. Retrieved 2010-03-09.  3/4 stars
  24. ^ Scott, A. O. (October 16, 2009). "Movie Review - Black Dynamite". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/movies/16black.html?ref=movies. Retrieved 2010-03-09. 
  25. ^ Greenberg, James (January 22, 2009). "Film Review: Black Dynamite". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/film-review-black-dynamite-1003933830.story. Retrieved 2010-03-09. 
  26. ^ Strowbridge, C.S. (February 16, 2010). "DVD and Blu-ray Releases for February 16th, 2010". The Numbers. http://www.the-numbers.com/interactive/newsStory.php?newsID=4857. Retrieved 2010-03-09. 
  27. ^ a b Latino Review - Exclusive: Black Dynamite Cartoon Coming Soon to Cartoon Network

[edit] External links

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