YMMV / Da 5 Bloods

• Anvilicious: As is his style, director Spike Lee doesn't risk leaving any audience members wondering what his position is. A lot of time is spent on characters making statements about historical events or social issues, with archival footage and photography helpfully inserted like a PowerPoint presentation. Characters occasionally look and speak directly into the camera.
• Award Snub: The film only got a single Oscar nomination, for its score. Fans were especially upset that Delroy Lindo didn't get a Best Actor nod, being shut out of all the big ceremonies, even when supporting actors Chadwick Boseman made SAG and Clarke Peters made Bafta. Subverted with Boseman, who was instead nominated for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom in the lead category, which was a far more acclaimed performance that many believed he would win for. He ended up losing to Anthony Hopkins for The Father.
• Awesome Moments:
  • Paul leading Hedy's group and the rest of the Bloods to successfully pull David safely off of a landmine.
  • The final battle, where Otis, Melvin, Vinh, and David managed to take out all of Desroche's mercenaries in a temple ruins. This is despite the fact that they're vastly outnumbered and three of them aren't in the best shapes, with Otis and Melvin no longer in their prime and David is injured and never fired a gun in his life. The only casualty they suffered is Melvin jumping on Desroche's grenade to save Otis's life. Without that grenade, he would have make it out alive as well.
• Critical Dissonance: General audiences did not enjoy the film as much as critics, with a 58% approval rating from users as compared to the 92% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Chadwick Boseman makes the most of his limited screentime as Norman, painting a strong picture of a man that the other Bloods idolize.
• Jerkass Woobie: Paul. While he is a bigot and neglectful father, Paul is a victim of the Vietnam War as evident by his survivor's guilt and PTSD. He also happens to be dying from cancer in the present day and is guilt-ridden for accidentally killing Norman during the war.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • The flashback portions of the film, designed as if they're straight from a cheap grindhouse film of the era, got a lot of people's attention all on their own, and even interest in Spike Lee making an entire film like this.
  • Additionally, even those who weren't big fans of the film have given enormous praise to Delroy Lindo's performance as Paul and recommended watching it just for his exceptional work.
  • Also, some MCU fans might give this film a shot just for Chadwick Boseman (who plays Black Panther) being part of this film, especially after his death two months after the film's release.
• Narm: Otis realizing he has a daughter is a well acted scene, but it's undercut by the strange, sitcom like music that plays when it happens.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • When Eddie accidentally steps on a landmine, which blows up, killing him. We get to see his exposed abdomen.
  • When Quan is talking about how American GIs murdered innocent people, including children and babies, there is a shot of a child's mutilated corpse, with his jaw having been ripped or blown off. And that image happens to linger for more than a few seconds.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Paul is visibly upset when he leaves the group as they disagree with his plans after they get ambushed by Quân and his gang.
  • As Paul rages to himself after leaving the others he finally has a vision of Norman who shows him his wound, bringing about The Reveal that it was Paul who accidentally shot Norman when they were ambushed. Paul finally breaks down sobbing and begging for forgiveness as the vision of Norman embraces him, implying that the real Norman would have forgiven him too.
  • David reading Paul's letter to him at the end of the film, saying that despite their troubled relationship, he still loves him as his son. Doubles as a Heartwarming Moment.