ericaharris1908 I don't know why I am surprised. For every actually half decent movie there are 100 absolutely, ridiculous, makes no sense, why in the world, how in the world do these terrible movies even make it out of the cutting room floor. The only reason these movies are made is because there is an audience who likes them. This movie does not know what it wants to be. Is it a satire. Is it a comedy. Is it a statement about the real problem in Chicago. Is it a poor gangsta movie. Who knows. If people in Chicago really act like this, well. Gratuitous language, the ridiculous 'strike' of the 'women' withholding sec from the 'men', well the quotation marks are there because the title women and men is applied loosely for the characters in this movie. There is nothing that makes you care about any of the characters. Something that should be serious is portrayed in a crass and ridiculous way.

bob the moo I knew little of this film when I sat to watch it, only that it was from Spike Lee, and I was open to whatever it chose to do. The opening credits suggest seriousness and grit; this is an impression that continues even at the same time as it adds theatrical presentation to the delivery, and rhyming couplets to the dialogue. At this point I was intrigued by the style as well as the content but as the ideas grew the film really gets out of control. I am really not sure what the vision for the film was, and what was told to the cast to draw in so many big names – but I'm guessing different things attracted them since so many of them appear to be in different films from the others.The film touches on a lot of serious subjects, but at the same time it tries to involve comedy, musical numbers, sexual farce, and generally odd or misjudged attempts at comedy. The result is a film that feels so totally unfocused that it is really difficult to stay with it. Being kind, you could describe this wild energy as being enough to carry the viewer along, but I did not find this to be the case. Instead I wanted it to be better – to be worthy of its subject matter and its better elements; but this never came together, and I found it quite frustrating just how messy it was.The starry cast doesn't help because even when they are really good, they are distracting by their fame, as well as the disjointed nature of their individual material. Parris is strong in the lead, but struggles to find a through-line across all her varying material. Cannon is wholly unconvincing throughout, while Snipes' comedy gangster undercuts the grit of this part of the film. Bassett and Hudson are excellent in their scenes – and it is not their fault that their scenes exist in a film different from the other scenes. The parade of familiar faces is distracting (Cusack, Jackson, Harris, Chappelle etc), although some are used well. I do always enjoy seeing people from The Wire and Oz, however getting Whitlock Jr. to deliver his most famous line (well, word) was just another misjudged moment.Chi-Raq has a lot of ideas and energy, and it is an experience to watch it for these. However the film is wildly unfocused and messy, ultimately failing to hold it all together or to deliver a satisfying whole.

lafrondaindiecinemacritic Chi-Raq (2015) *** 2hr.07min.Spike lee is one of the most talented and provocative directors in the past 30 years who has continuously makes films that are not only important but also the most joyous of filmmakers with a distinct vision and has made film are challenging, visually and intellectually stimulating filmmaker. Spike Lee has been given a bad rap by the media that is too outspoken for his own good, for Lee has had a difficult time recently getting his films made. He was able to get" Chi-Raq" made but Lee had to deal with a lot of controversy surrounding the film. The mayor of Chicago Emmanuel has said the naming of the film "Chi-Raq" makes Chicago look bad and makes light of the tragedy of street violence in Chicago. I will go on record, to say that the film does not make light of the black on black violence. It is a satire, but Lee is such a good filmmaker that he can be topical, irrelevant without being offensive. The film stars Teyonah Paris as Lysistrata who at the beginning of the movie is making love to her boyfriend Chi-Raq Dupree (Nick Cannon) that is until they hear gun shots. Fearing for her life she moves in with Chiraq mother Helen (Angela Bassett) they talk about her son and how can they make the city of Chicago be a worth wile city again. Helen also hates her son's choice of profession and wonders if he will ever make better choices in his life. Later, a 7 year old girl is shot down and no one wants to come forward and to tell what happened to her. The girls' Mother (Jennifer Hudson) demands justice for her child and pleads to anyone if they can find it in their hearts to come forward and have sympathy for her and for her dead child. Lysistrata has a solution, she and along with a bunch of her girlfriends decide to abstain sex for their men and encourages many black women to do the same publicly. These black women truly feel that they can stop the violence of black on black crime. To stop the persistent shooting within their city. Soon the word get out and is spreads like wildfire not only in the city of Chicago but to other foreign countries such as India, Brazil, Japan and France—yes even France of all places. The men in their lives have a meeting to denounce their significant others to resist their lustful charms and believe that the women will come to their scenes and come back to them no questions asks.Several powerful scenes come to mind. One being Father Mike Corridan (John Cusack) who chastises those people who will not come forward in finding justice for that 7 year old girl and her mother and how can we sit by and not stand up for what's happen to their great city. How the city has become a city of cowards. The community is only looking out for themselves. Another scene that is quite topical is when Lysistrata entices and older white guy, who is a lover of the south and the confederate flag to have sex with him and to tie him up and blind fold him. Only to discover that all of his friends are tried up and that they are the ones that are enslaved and not the women they enslaved hundreds of years ago. Bassett has an effective scene with an insurance agent who wants her to buy insurance for her son. Bassett is disgusted by the request. They are many good performances in the movie, especially Hudson and Bassett as the e women who are pained to see what has happened to their great city of Chicago. Samuel L. Jackson is the narrator of the story and he gives a charismatic and dramatic energy to his scenes. The main problem of the movie is that it spends a little too much time with topical humor and not enough with the character of Chiraq. We don't really get to know him on personal level. There's not real story given to him as why he chose a life of crime. However, I do recommend the movie because this film deals with issues that are important to society and asks the audience to find a solution to a problem that still goes on in not only Chicago but in America as an whole as well.

dmuel I'm a fan of Spike Lee's movies and was expecting to be cajoled into deep thought on today's urban problems by this film. Mr Lee has directed some very good films. Do the Right Thing is still one of my favorites. However, in Chi-raq Mr Lee has taken a highly stylized approach to his subject, and this becomes evident early in the film when every character is speaking in rhyming couplets. This continues nearly unbroken throughout the movie. I must say I found urban poetry in Do the Right Thing, but none in this film. The rhyming began to feel artificial, not conducive to either the mood or the setting, and it quickly wore thin. Additionally, Mr Lee gave the film a strongly burlesque quality, at times extremely so, and this was clearly meant to be comic. The humor was so exaggerated, however, that it seemed ill- suited to the very serious problem it was trying to address: the murder rate of young African-Americans at the hands of other African-Americans in urban America. Some reviewers on IMDb have asserted that Mr Lee failed to address the real problem, the "war on drugs", but the topic of the film is more complicated than simple bad law enforcement policy. Lee gave the film a hard sexually charged theme, focusing on reducing violence through female induced sexual abstinence. But he reduces the focus of responsibility in the broader society to white racism, which is likely partially true but not completely so, and even this aspect of the film is presented as burlesque. The film's principle faults: It is not good drama, it is not good comedy, and it is not a film which provokes much thought on a problem that truly deserves attention.