I got sent this link on a tip and I thought it was just a joke e-mail for an old flick that I had missed in my youth. Then I put a name to the face of the titular hero: Michael Jai White. And “Holy Shit!” was my expression. Black Dynamite looks awesome, incredibly authentic yet satirical. The faux credit sequence is just the best touch. Starring former Baltimore Colts running back…and Captain Kangaroo? This is twisted genius. This is the best movie I’ve never seen of this year.
It’s co-written and directed by Scott Sanders, who’s worked as a writer on A Different World, Roc and The Wayans Brothers. Jai White also co-wrote with co-star Byron Minns. Damned if Salli Richarson isn’t pulling off the best Pam Grier ever in this. Arsenio Hall, Tommy Davidson, Mykelti Williamson, Bokeem Woodbine, Phil Morris and a shload of others round out the cast. If Steve James were still alive, I know for certain he’d be in this movie. How could he not have been? I don’t know how I could have not heard about something this completely kickass-looking. This trailer comes off like it should have been one of the Grindhouse faux trailers. The fact that it’s an actual movie has me scrambling to find out more.
No word on the release date yet (and believe me, I looked).
Many many thanks to Timo for the tip.
Edit: It seems they changed to a green band trailer on the home page and took down the initial red band trailer they had earlier, which was definitely NSFW. Even more unusual, I can’t find it anywhere else that I’ve looked. There’s a red band trailer floating around in plenty of places, but it’s not the one that the home page had up earlier. If you can find that original red band trailer, that’s the one that’s definitely the best of the three I’ve seen. You’ll know it when you see the three hoochies getting serviced at the same time by BD. Black Dynamite producers: please bring that one back someplace. It shouldn’t go unseen. In the meantime, here are the two current trailers: