BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Spike Lee’s most entertaining and thought-provoking film in years, blending humour, romance and social commentary on racism while paying homage to blaxploitation cinema.

Lee has made a movie of bold and brilliant paradox that is politically passionate yet often bouncy and catchy. It offers a clear view of possible change while revealing the racist rot at the core of American society.

The film is one of Lee's best, with the director at his peak using a decades-old story to comment unnervingly on today's world. It balances brutal satiric comedy, social commentary and romance while remaining relevant.

Spike Lee is in raging and righteous form, delivering a playful yet political collage-like film that struts with ambition and gusto while making hard-to-deny connections between past and present.

Spike Lee is back on thunderclap form with this true-life account of a black cop in Seventies Colorado Springs who managed to get himself enrolled in the KKK. A heady hybrid of comedy, polemic and period crime drama with rollicking drive and focus.

Spike Lee is back to his energised, fiery best with a high-energy mix of blaxploitation spoof, undercover thriller and savage political bite that connects the 1970s story to modern America.

A movie of raw anger and sadness that uses its true story to shine a light on ongoing racism, sobering and darkly funny with strong performances but uneven in places.

The critic calls it vital and timely work up there with Spike Lee's best, a hilarious romp and devastating indictment that blends knockabout adventure with serious political polemic. She singles out the strong performances, especially John David Washington's breakout turn and the nuance given to the lead characters' internal conflicts.

The critic praises the refined rage and riotous wit that make it Spike Lee's most enjoyable film for years, a stiletto rather than a sledgehammer. He singles out the superb performances, particularly John David Washington and Topher Grace as David Duke, along with the laugh lines and sight gags.

The film is a deeply entertaining and conventionally appealing movie that loses none of Lee’s signature political punch. It follows the beats of a traditional cop movie while adding a coda that reframes the story through a contemporary lens.

The film is a sweeping, clumsy parable more concerned with landing jokes than interrogating racial hatred, ultimately failing to get to the heart of racist America despite its contemporary parallels.

Spike Lee’s Cannes grand prix winner is the director’s best work since his Oscar-nominated 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls. It combines stylistic slickness with controversial potential in a stranger-than-fiction tale of an African American cop infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan.

An incredible true-life story told in a boisterously exaggerated way, BlacKkKlansman is Spike Lee’s most flat-out entertaining and commercial film in quite a long time. Lee draws direct lines from 1970s institutional racism to recent events like Charlottesville while entertaining with humor and cultural references.

The critic calls it one of Spike Lee's greatest films, a furious, funny and brilliant confrontation with American racism and historical truth. It singles out the director's deft tonal shifts and dazzling craft for praise.

This is a movie whose often broad comedy smuggles dead-serious contraband, a Trojan horse with a Seventies afro. You’ll laugh and shudder, all at once.

The critic calls it one of Spike Lee's most angry, focused, politically charged films and his angriest and best movie for years, an accessible drama that is also a genre piece. She singles out the farcical situation handled with broad satire and the real chemistry between leads.

This is a major comeback for Spike Lee and one of his best films in a dozen years, turning an incredible true story into compelling black empowerment and commentary on cinema history. It feels like Lee's call to action against racism.

Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman is an entertaining and effective piece of melodrama that savages The Birth of a Nation and connects 1970s events to the present. It features a stupendous score and painfully funny moments amid its graphic melodrama.

The critic calls it Spike Lee's most urgent, entertaining and pertinent film since Inside Man, a sharp and powerful return to form. He singles out the true story of a black cop infiltrating the KKK and the timely parallels to the present day.

The critic finds Lee balances humor with serious racial themes effectively, calling it arguably his best film since Inside Man. The review singles out the strong performances and timely social commentary for praise.

Spike Lee’s film is a powerful, messy meditation on hate in America and the role of cinema in that oppression. It is angry and disparate but electrifying in its best scenes, with a final montage that sobers the audience.

Lee’s latest is a rollercoaster that is laugh-out-loud when it isn’t shocking you into stunned silence, a powerful response to a dark moment in history and a reminder that racism is alive and well. It is also a damn fine and funny piece of entertainment.

The critic describes the film as a light yet powerful comedy that robs the Klan of mystique while highlighting real horrors through farce. The review singles out the goofy tone and timely conclusion tying into modern events for praise.

The critic praises it as quintessential Spike Lee and his most vital and impassioned film in decades, more accomplished than many recent works. He highlights the crazy true story fueled by righteous anger and leavened by humor, with strong performances especially from John David Washington.

The critic praises its witty comedy and exploration of shared oppression but finds it messy and low-energy at times, with relaxed pacing that prevents it from punching as hard as expected from Lee, resulting in a less dramatically immersive experience.

The critic calls it an entertaining romp based on the true story of a Black undercover detective infiltrating the KKK, with strong period look, music, and a powerful closing message linking historical and contemporary racism. It notes the film could have built more tension instead of relying on comedy and frivolity.

The critic finds the film spirited and enjoyable but clumsy and heavy-handed in its connections between 1970s racism and the present day, with forced messaging that sacrifices depth in the historical story for contemporary relevance.