Four African-American Vietnam veterans return to Vietnam. They are in search of the remains of their fallen squad leader and the promise of buried treasure. These heroes battle forces of humanity and nature while confronted by the lasting ravages of the immorality of the Vietnam War.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.9/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.50/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metacritic: 82
TMDB: 6.5/10
Director
Spike Lee
Production
40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Rahway Road Productions
Cast
Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Mélanie Thierry, Paul Walter Hauser, Jasper Pääkkönen, Johnny Tri Nguyen, Lê Y Lan, Nguyễn Ngoc Lâm, Sandy Huong Pham, Jean Reno, Chadwick Boseman, Veronica Ngô, Nguyen Anh Tuan, Duc Luong, Quoc Tuan, Tran Minh Thuong, Hoang Sang
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A forceful, ambitious war drama that mixes adventure, grief, political anger, and historical reckoning. It’s messy by design, but the emotional intensity, vivid performances, and Spike Lee’s restless style make it a memorable watch.
Best for
Viewers interested in Vietnam War stories with a Black American perspective
Fans of bold, politically charged filmmaking
People who like performance-driven ensemble dramas
Audiences open to tonal shifts between thriller, satire, and tragedy
Skip if
You want a clean, tightly plotted war film
You dislike overt political commentary
You prefer restrained, understated direction
You’re looking for a straightforward treasure-hunt adventure
Overview
Da 5 Bloods is less a conventional war movie than a collision of genres: reunion drama, treasure hunt, historical essay, and trauma study. Spike Lee uses the Vietnam setting to examine how the war’s violence echoes through Black American life, and he does it with urgency, anger, and a lot of formal energy. The result is uneven, but rarely dull.
Worth noting
Delroy Lindo is the film’s anchor, giving a raw, volatile performance that keeps the emotional stakes alive even when the movie gets sprawling. The ensemble dynamic is strong too, especially as the film shifts between camaraderie, regret, and old wounds that never healed. Lee’s visual style can be brash, but that brashness fits the material.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the film’s refusal to separate personal memory from national history. It’s about buried gold, but also buried guilt, buried bodies, and the way the past keeps resurfacing. If you respond to films that are passionate, imperfect, and politically alive, this is very much worth your time.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Karsten (4★) · 2018 likes
I hope this makes sense: the colorful, psychedelic imagery in the poster wasn’t really in the film, but I still felt that. Ya know? Spike Lee is so good at giving you a physical reaction.
Brian Tallerico (4.5★) · 1216 likes
Felt like a shock to the system after weeks of lazy, passionless filmmaking. It is the story of two wars that never ended - Vietnam and civil rights - and it contains stunning work from Lindo, Majors, Blanchard, and Lee.
Josh Lewis (4★) · 994 likes
Spike lee does The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as men-on-a-mission, hangout/heist picture through black history and Vietnam only instead of being slowly corrupted by greed Lee wrestles with how we are already corrupted and haunted by imperialism, whether we understand exactly how or why or the all-consuming depth of it or not. Delroy Lindo gives one of the most brutally sad, destructive performances in a Lee joint (no small feat, especially considering his own in Crooklyn) playing a man… more Spike lee does The Treasure of the Sierra Madre as men-on-a-mission, hangout/heist picture through black history and Vietnam only instead of being slowly corrupted by greed Lee wrestles with how we are already corrupted and haunted by imperialism, whether we understand exactly how or why or the all-consuming depth of it or not. Delroy Lindo gives one of the most brutally sad, destructive performances in a Lee joint (no small feat, especially considering his own in Crooklyn) playing a man… more
fran hoepfner (2.5★) · 988 likes
last night my mom texted me "Delroy Lindo" at 10:30pm with nothing else and I have to say that I agree
Jay (4★) · 744 likes
nothing gets a film party going better than a bong hit and a spike lee joint