Spike Lee’s cinematic vision has never changed throughout his career, which has seen him go from youthful provocateur to elder statesman – even when it hasn’t fit neatly into Hollywood’s plans.
Spike Lee has been a steadfast presence in film for over 40 years, always bringing his razor-sharp viewpoint to the big screen. Lee’s iconoclastic career, which began with his electrifying debut, She’s Gotta Have It, has seen him navigate criticism, nimbly adapt to business changes, and, ultimately, win an Oscar.
Lee has always been loyal to himself and hasn’t shied away from speaking out against the current quo or doing it via his work. His early films, which seldom appeared in big studio productions, were unapologetically Black and dealt with topics. Although while some of his later films came closer to mainstream Hollywood without compromising quality, his aesthetic flourishes, such as his iconic dolly shot, have become legendary.
While he may have begun as a brazen auteur, filmmaker Spike Lee is today regarded as one of the best in American cinema, a distinctive voice who paved the way for the next generation of Black actors, writers, and directors. There may never be another filmmaker quite like Spike Lee. Thankfully, this unique visionary is still active today. Let’s examine the New York director’s varied lineup of feature “joints” in ascending order of quality.
Oldboy (2013)
Remakes are difficult. And they are almost impossible when it comes to a movie with the iconic status of South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Oldboy, wook’s which debuted in 2003. For years, many parties discussed doing an American Hollywood adaptation, but Lee agreed to take on the difficult job. Although it’s impossible to top the original, Lee’s film is nonetheless enjoyable because to Josh Brolin’s great performance and Lee’s directing. According to an EW writer, Lee “has crafted the first American picture that completely evokes the weird, crazy charge of a sadomasochistic Asian vengeance thriller.”
In the twisting, sad story of retribution, Brolin’s character is imprisoned for 20 years without being told why. He shapes himself into a figure prepared for vengeance, only to one day awaken entirely free and given the assignment of learning why he was first taken. You really have to see it for yourself; to reveal much more would reveal the movie’s mysteries. Nevertheless, producers changed his ending credit to a “Spike Lee Picture” instead of his trademark “joint,” suggesting that Lee was dissatisfied with having to remove an hour from his original plan.
Get on the Bus (1996)
The Million Man March, which brought together males from all across the country to “present to the world a drastically different vision of the Black man” and advocate for themselves in the nation’s political epicenter, was a pivotal moment for the Black community. As noted by EW’s critic, “Who better than America’s leading Black filmmaker to spin the many knotty threads of that dramatic, emotional, provocative expression of male African-American unity into a vibrant skein?” it makes complete sense that Lee would take the chance to document the movement in his own unique style. This movie, which was released a year after the march, follows 15 different Black men as they go to Washington, D.C., each with a different motivation for participating in the protest.
Given that much of the action occurs on a Greyhound bus (thus the title), there aren’t many of director Spike Lee’s aesthetic flourishes, and this is his first movie that he doesn’t appear in as a cameo. But, Reggie Rock Blythewood’s astute writing and the performance of a strong ensemble, which includes Charles S. Dutton, Ossie Davis, Bernie Mac, and Andre Braugher, are what make Get on the Bus so compelling.
School Daze (1988)
The Lee treatment is given to the Black collegiate experience in this daring musical that doesn’t back away from contentious racial issues. The story of School Daze follows a homecoming weekend fight between Greek life students and their peers, and it touches on colorism, hair politics, elitism, hazing, and so much more while featuring some lively musical numbers. It is loosely based on Black colleges like Morehouse and Spelman (the former of which Lee is an alumnus).
Yet, looking back, Lee’s willingness to touch the “third rail” on a number of contentious themes makes for a captivating, if somewhat flawed, dramedy with enough to still appreciate. The movie sparked intense arguments among the Black community. A movie that gave the world the song “Da Butt” and Laurence Fishburne screaming “WAKE UP!!!” is also impossible to hate.
Crooklyn (1994)
With Crooklyn, the semi-autobiographical movie that represents the director’s seldom venture into PG-13 area, Lee nostalgically remembers his boyhood in a simpler New York. The film, which he co-wrote with two of his brothers (Joie and Cinqué), is about 9-year-old Troy (Zelda Harris), who lives with her loud family in a Brooklyn neighborhood that is home to a variety of eccentric individuals and a lot of difficult-to-absorb life lessons.
The coming-of-age depiction of Blackness, and particularly Black girlhood, that is often shown in Crooklyn features New York once again as both a character and a background to the action. Despite all of its strengths, there are a few things that set it apart from Lee’s best works. One of them is his decision to use an anamorphic lens to record Troy’s trips to her Southern relatives in order to better convey the child’s uneasiness. This decision, which rendered the images compressed and gauzy, is still up for debate. While Crooklyn as a whole lacks the energy and hyperbole of a typical Lee movie, it succeeds because to its themes of growing up, losing someone you love, and family.
Chi-Raq (2015)
This outrageously ambitious blend of song, comedy, and drama — based on the Greek tragedy Lysistrata, no less — was a pleasant surprise to his canon and evidence that Lee could still deliver the goods. Several of Lee’s latter films haven’t been well received by audiences or reviewers. After a limited theatrical run, it was regrettably overlooked on Amazon Video, but according to EW’s A-rated review, it “sledgehammers away on hot buttons while simultaneously lacquering itself in layers of gray, and planting at its center, for anybody with the sight to see it, a classic message of optimism.”
On Chicago’s south side, two rival gangs are locked in a never-ending conflict. Nevertheless, their deeds ignite a global protest against violence when Lysistrata (a radiant Teyonah Parris), a gang leader’s fiancée, plans a sex strike between the two sides. Chi-Raq, which stars excellent performances from Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett, and John Cusack, jumps off the screen full of life and purpose.
Mo’ Better Blues (1990)
Mo’ Better Blues is an atmospheric drama that serves as a love letter to the music Lee has always supported. Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes provide enthralling performances, and their charm helps to balance out some of the dubious aspects of the tale compared to Lee’s previous big hitters.
With the desire of his band’s sax player (Snipes), his two lovers (Joie Lee and Cynda Williams), and his shady manager in tow, Washington plays the successful trumpet musician “Bleek” Gilliam (Lee). The plot unfolds as you would expect, but the picture is elevated by the performances, the moving jazz compositions by Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard, and some of Lee’s best cinematography.
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
This Vietnam-set movie (his first for Netflix) is the director doing what he does best: fusing disparate elements like a war epic, buddy comedy, father-son drama, and social justice commentary into something potent and timely. It was criminally underappreciated during awards season (as is Lee’s recurring reprimand). Da 5 Bloods also carries a bittersweet note as Chadwick Boseman’s final movie released before his untimely passing, according to EW’s A- review. “Directed by a filmmaker who remains in total control of his once-in-a-generation gifts and utilizes them to synthesize story and history into something new,”
The film’s actor, Delroy Lindo, as the commander of a gang of Vietnam veterans who, upon returning to the nation to retrieve a cache of gold they buried 40 years before, learn that the path to riches is anything but straightforward. Although Lindo gives one of the finest performances ever in a Lee movie, he was utterly robbed of an Oscar nod. Da 5 Bloods never drags, even after running for more than two hours, thanks in part to Lee’s inventive camera angles that give each period a unique appearance.
Clockers (1995)
This street-level thriller, which was based from the same-titled book by Richard Price, is another underappreciated treasure in Lee’s oeuvre. Lee’s adaptation, which EW called his “most complex, reined-in, and mature work to date” in a 1996 review, stays largely true to the book. The director “subordinates his flashy film-school moves to the demands of narrative, creating an unsettling, moving portrait of a world where everyone carries his own heroes and villains within himself,” according to EW.
Strike, a low-level drug dealer working for the frightening Rodney, is portrayed by Mekhi Phifer (Delroy Lindo). Strike attracts the ire of the neighborhood as well as two tenacious detectives (Harvey Keitel and John Turturro) when he takes part in the death of another dealer. While it takes a while to get going, Lee uses a little occurrence to make a statement on the greater problems that the inner city faces.
He Got Game (1998)
Even casual moviegoers are aware of Lee’s passion for the sport, so it should not come as a surprise that he focused on basketball for this father-son drama that also criticizes the flawed college recruitment system. While it is a touch lengthy and crammed with concepts, it is one of the director’s most approachable movies.
High school basketball sensation Jesus Shuttlesworth is portrayed by acting novice Ray Allen, and Denzel Washington, as usual, is terrific as his father Jake, whose release from jail depends on his son signing with the governor’s alma mater. Along the way, other well-known athletes—from Shaquille O’Neal to Jim Brown—appear, as Jesus enters the crazy (and very broken) world of college recruitment. The subplot starring Milla Jovovich as a sex worker with a kind heart should be kept under wraps, but the basketball-family drama works well.
Summer of Sam (1999)
The best Spike Lee films often have a clear focal point for the filmmaker to focus on, which is frequently a societal critique. A gritty New York story about the summer of 1997, when a serial murderer terrorized the city, is what Summer of Sam first seems to be. Yet, one of the exceptions to that older norm is this earlier Lee work. This is “Lee at his most bombastic… he attempts to link the disco glitz of Studio 54, the punk scene of CBGB, the ethnic insularity of Italian Americans, the bloody shooting spree of a madman who taunted the police, the effect of sizzling heat on city asphalt, and sexual problems… into one rattling chain of urban hysteria,” according to the initial EW review. While that juggling act may not be ideal for certain viewers who like narrative turmoil and traditional Lee’s approach, it may not be a bad thing overall.
The story centers on two old pals, Ritchie (Adrien Brody), a full-fledged punk with a mohawk and a fake accent who returns to the neighborhood after a lengthy absence, and Vinny (John Leguizamo), a philandering hairdresser trying to save his marriage. Their tales merge with the deranged David Berkowitz’s to produce a steamy, obscene movie that delightfully errs on the side of guilty pleasure. Noteworthy fact: This was Lee’s first movie with a mostly white cast.
Jungle Fever (1991)
Lee was a controversial person even when he was only starting out as a filmmaker. Even the title of his sixth movie caused many to take a second look. In the film Jungle Fever, a married Black business man has an affair with his white secretary, but his friends are far more interested in their interracial connection than their adulterous one.
Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra feature as the star-crossed lovers, portraying a sensitive but turbulent relationship with repercussions in the Black and Italian communities to which they belong. Snipes’ character has the improbable name of Flipper Purify. Lee doesn’t mince words on either side, and the movie sometimes comes across as shrill. But as usual, Halle Berry makes her big-screen debut, and Samuel L. Jackson gives one of his best performances ever. Lee’s astute work as a screenwriter and filmmaker also shows through.
She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
Although Lee’s first movie is unpolished, it is clear that talent is at work, and it is a watershed moment for African filmmakers as well as American independent film. Lee produced a movie on a shoestring $175,000 budget that was chosen by the Library of Congress for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry in 2019.
After decades of clichéd representations in cinema, the straightforward tale of a lady (Tracy Camilla Johns) who enjoys her love independence by juggling three very different men, including Lee’s Mars Blackmon, subsequently renowned as a Nike pitchman, is forthright in its sexual politics. Later, Lee would make a comeback with the same-named Netflix TV series.
Inside Man (2006)
When Lee applies his talent and creativity to what he would see as “non-traditional” film genres, it is always intriguing. The nail-biting robbery thriller from Inside Man would up becoming Lee’s greatest movie office hit, demonstrating how the filmmaker can improve even the most straightforward of stories. He again has Denzel Washington on his side, this time with Clive Owen and Jodie Foster accompanying him, and that helps, too.
Russell (Owen) and his team are holding a number of individuals hostage, and Washington plays an NYPD hostage negotiator who is brought in to assist avert any damage to the hostages. Foster also makes an appearance as a “fixer” for the unidentified bank’s founder (Christopher Plummer). In the film’s unexpected climax, all the parts come together to create what Entertainment Weekly dubbed “a mix of studio action flick and Spike Lee collaboration.” Otherwise, it’s a combination between a 2006 Spike Lee film and a protest film from the 1970s. Note: The 2019 direct-to-stream sequel should be avoided at all costs.
Bamboozled (2000)
It’s reasonable to assume that viewers were undoubtedly unprepared 20 years ago for a bleak parody of American media and its treatment of Black entertainers. Lee’s first significant box office flop, Bamboozled, is one of his three films to be included in the Criterion Collection, and it continues to be a searing, provocative portrayal of Hollywood and the frantic search for stardom (along with Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, respectively).
As Harvard-educated TV executive Pierre Delacroix, played by Damon Wayans, Michael Rapaport frequently disparages and undermines him for not being “Black enough.” In an effort to lose their jobs, Pierre and his assistant (Jada Pinkett Smith) invent a contemporary minstrel TV program that unintentionally (and unsettlingly) becomes popular. With fury and disgust at how the media has handled race virtually oozing out of the screen, Lee creates purposely unsettling visuals like a jagged mirror. It’s hardly surprising that the movie turned off both viewers and reviewers, and many of them didn’t react kindly in return. Yet even while parts of its delivery might come across as heavy-handed, Bamboozled is nevertheless a potent and moving examination of the conflicts that Black creatives must overcome in order to achieve.
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
It’s incredible that Lee has never received a Best Director Academy Award nomination after working in the field for 30 (mainly) acclaimed years. But everything changed with this unexpected smash, which undoubtedly addresses many of the topics from Lee’s earlier works. Even better, BlacKkKlansman won his first competitive Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the outstanding autobiographical novel by Ron Stallworth.
As rookie officer Stallworth, played by John David Washington, he hooks up with a Jewish coworker (Adam Driver) to infiltrate the KKK in his community. The movie “carries the urgent and plainly nasty stink of reality,” according to EW’s review, even if it clearly plays as popcorn cinema with some strong set pieces and funny situations. “But, Lee isn’t attempting to be submissive or polite. He wants to expose the brutality of the present to us. Now, the stakes are too high for subtlety, as arguably best shown in his stirring climax, which used actual video from the 2017 Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville.
25th Hour (2002)
The story of a drug dealer (Edward Norton) in his final hours of freedom before beginning a prison sentence is told in the film 25th Hour, which is frequently referred to as the definitive account of the Sept. 11 tragedy and its effects on New York. This is an example of Lee stepping outside of his comfort zone. The city, which is still in shock after the assaults, serves as both a character in mourning and a window into life in the aftermath.
In addition to giving Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brian Cox, and Rosario Dawson substantial, heartfelt roles as his buddy, father, and lover, this is some of Lee’s greatest character work. The lovely conclusion puts the movie on an optimistic (if false) note. Norton’s “F—- you” speech in the mirror of his father’s pub is still one of the most memorable and revealing character monologues since the turn of the century. One of the director’s greatest, 25th Hour was likened to Malcolm X and Clockers by an EW reviewer for “making his hero’s dread real” but lacking the brilliant brightness of those movies.
Malcolm X (1992)
In Malcolm X, filmmaker Spike Lee channels his annoyances with the media, its double standards, and the larger prejudices Black people see on a daily basis into a powerful three-hour plus masterpiece. It’s difficult to picture someone else narrating the same vivid tale of the Civil Rights leader, who, like Martin Luther King Jr., was a fierce advocate for Black people in the 1960s, albeit with a different nonviolent philosophy. Denzel Washington’s Oscar-nominated performance served as the foundation for EW’s rating. According to a critic, Lee achieves “a new level of sensitivity and emotional vividness” in Malcolm X, which is praised for being “a success, an intimate and fascinating biographical drama that is also one of the most ardent political pictures ever produced in this nation.”
The creation and release of the movie resulted in a rise in the activist’s popularity, a justifiable reevaluation of his life, an increase in the sales of his autobiography, the acceptance of a “X” hat as a fashionable accessory, and the introduction of this legendary figure to a whole new generation.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Do the Right Thing, possibly among the finest movies ever made, portrays the highs and lows, tensions and tragedies of a Brooklyn neighborhood on a scorching summer day. It is not simply a masterpiece by director Spike Lee. Everything about this film succeeds, from the excellent acting to the hip-hop, soul, and funk music (which is anchored by Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power”) to Lee’s witty writing and angular camerawork. The film faithfully depicts the rage and hopelessness that many Black New Yorkers experienced during the late 1980s, which still has an impact on many people today.
When it was first released, the murder of a Black character that resulted in a riot sparked lively (and often uninformed) conversations about using violence to combat injustice and where the real danger resides. The movie has subsequently been reevaluated multiple times in light of the changing political landscape in the U.S. and the ongoing abuse of Black males by police, despite having formerly been thought to be exceedingly controversial (with some niche audiences worrying it would spark racial riots).
Do the Right Thing got nominations for its script and supporting actor Danny Aiello, but was passed over when Driving Miss Daisy won the Best Film award in 1990, much like how Green Book’s feel-good racial relations story triumphed against BlackKkKlansman’s uncompromising picture in 2019. While a lot has changed, Lee’s finest movie is still very relevant today.