Something that seems too good to be true usually is; war is hell; don’t count your chickens before they hatch, or a variety of other euphemisms can be used to describe Spike Lee’s (Malcolm X, He Got Game) 2020 film Da 5 Bloods. While this is not Lee’s first venture into a historical war drama (2008’s Miracle at St. Anna), it is his first look at the Vietnam War. While a strong contender for a Best Picture Oscar nomination, Da 5 Bloods could also give Lee his second Best Director nomination (2018’s BlacKkKlansman). Its best Oscar nomination chance is Best Actor (Delroy Lindo – The Cider House Rules, The Last Castle).

Beginning with real-life footage from Muhammad Ali and ending with the same from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Lee sandwiches his story between the voices of two pioneers who will forever be linked by, among other things, their boisterous and vigorous opposition to a war that many in our country never believed we should have entered. While Ali sets the tone before our story begins, King’s quote of Langston Hughes in a speech he gave one year before he died, saying, “America never was America to me,” leaves the viewer with a lasting impression.

Returning to Ho Chi Minh City some 45 years after their final tour in the Vietnam War, old friends Paul (Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters – Harriet, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), Eddie (Norm Lewis), and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock, Jr – HBO’s The Wire, 25th Hour) reunite after a long, though never defined, time apart. The goal of the foursome is to find the remains of their squad leader, Stormin’ Norman Holloway (Chadwick Boseman – Black Panther, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), and to find a hidden stockpile of gold to bring Norman home for a proper burial.

Paul is our leader here. He’s a patriotic ultraconservative Trump supporter, evidenced by his MAGA red hat. While there are certainly differences between our characters, Lindo’s performance sets him apart from his co-stars. In the performance of a lifetime, Lindo’s Paul has unsuccessfully managed his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his time in the war. At times, he is the most loyal in the group; at other times, he seems driven only by self-interest. Lindo paints the narrative of an unreliable lead character. Paul’s son David (Jonathan Majors – The Last Black Man in San Francisco, White Boy Rick) adds more layers to his character when he shows up out of the blue for the trip into the jungle after learning of his father’s plans.

As unfathomable as the story itself might seem, it remains believable because of the characters’ determination. While choppy in parts and rushed in others, we understand why each character returns to this place. Gold certainly is a factor. But so, too, are opportunities for redemption and rebirth. We learn about our characters’ troubled pasts as each tries to better his future.

I’ve seen many critics say that Boseman’s performance here was better than in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. That seems rather ridiculous. He was incredible as the smooth-talking, lady-killing trumpeter, troubled by past trauma but able to conceal it as he pursued his dreams of writing and recording his music. Released after his August 2020 untimely death from colon cancer, this final role of his career is likely to earn him a posthumous Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. It starkly contrasts his performance as Stormin Norman in Da 5 Bloods. In his short career, Boseman has commanded the screen. In this film, he is a side character overshadowed by his story and the other stars. This is Lindo’s vessel from start to finish, even though Lee successfully tells the story of many of his characters.