Michael Jai White

  • Undercover Brother 2 (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, April 2022) My first and probably biggest laugh of Undercover Brother 2 came from its TV Guide listing, which (instead of the usual plot blurb) read – in its entirety – “A sequel to the 2002 comedy Undercover Brother.”  It’s blunt, descriptive, and probably the best thing anyone can say about the film. (It’s also the current description of the film on IMDB, which tells you something about the care and enthusiasm through which the film was released and greeted.)  Considering the high regard in which I hold the original film (which must be widespread considering that they green-lit a sequel), my expectations for the sequel were certainly too high. Eddie Griffin is not only replaced by Michael Jai White as the titular character, but he himself is put out of action for most of the film’s duration, as the plot instead focuses on his younger, lesser brother. (Yes, that means “Undercover Brother’s Brother,” which probably would have been a better title for it.)  Otherwise, we are in frank low-budget sequel territory here: unconvincing sets, substandard actors, paper-thin plot (albeit with a fun twist or two) and an overall feeling of everyone simply getting through the entire thing to collect their paycheque. Wit and style are largely optional here, although the film does take a surprising aim at the so-called woke culture of outrage along the way. (It’s all co-opted by The Man anyway.)  While not intolerable per se, Undercover Brother 2 is a much lesser film than the original by all measures. It occasionally works its way to a chuckle, but at that point we’re more pitying the film for being unable to meet its objectives than anything else. I don’t exactly regret my time watching it because I would have been curious about it anyway. But I can’t say that the viewing gave me much. If I’m to watch substandard all-black cast films, I might as well go for the gonzo plotting, earnest limitations and cute actresses of BET Original films. It is indeed “A sequel to the 2002 comedy Undercover Brother,” but nothing more.

  • Welcome to Sudden Death (2020)

    Welcome to Sudden Death (2020)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, March 2021) No one, really, no one was clamouring for a sequel to the Jean-Claude van Damme thriller Sudden Death, but here we are: A 2020-vintage update called Welcome to Sudden Death, featuring an ex-special operative battling terrorists during a big-league basketball game. Michael Jai White plays the van Damme role: a tough family guy, trying to save the arena crowd but being especially concerned by his two kids caught in the area. While the bare bones of the plot are solid in those Die Hard-in-an-arena ways, we can’t necessarily say the same about the execution — odd misguided attempts at humour permeate a film that’s not particularly funny (much of it revolving around two ill-conceived comic characters) and could use some gravitas to sell the tension. The dialogue is not refined, and the functional direction doesn’t really help. There are a few better moments (I defy anyone not to cackle at a CGI-enhanced shot where the hero shoves a body above his head and on a shelf behind him) and a few engaging performers (Sabryn Rock, for instance) but much of the film plays along the same beats as other low-budgeted action movies. There’s some irony in having the sport changed from hockey to basketball when the film is being visibly filmed in Winnipeg’s hockey-centric downtown arena. The amount of violence is a touch too gory for this kind of film. It’s movies such as Welcome to Sudden Death that can make anyone realize how many movies are products made to specifications, to fill production slots for precise genre expectations. Most movies manage to rise above this reality, but this one rips the illusion.

  • Black Dynamite (2009)

    Black Dynamite (2009)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On DVD, May 2010) Genre parodies often depend on the good intentions of its audience, and the concept of spoofing seventies blaxploitation pictures is no exception: Ideally, viewers are expected to be reasonably familiar with the object of the spoof, and be ready to play along with the deliberate mistakes and weaknesses inspired by the source material.  Black Dynamite is reasonably funny on its own (expect to quote bits of dialogue for a few days), but it’s far more amusing if you’re in the right mood for a film that intentionally apes ultra-low-budget shortcuts and mistakes.  Aware that the blaxploitation-parody concept runs a risk of wearing thin, the picture keeps throwing curves and adopting new plots every fifteen minutes: by the time the protagonist is kung-fu fighting with Richard Nixon in the White House, well, we’ve been led somewhere off this planet in a grandiose fashion.  Not every gag works, but they come at such a steady rate that no one has to wait a long time before the next one.  Michael Jai White is great as the titular lead character, while the rest of the cast looks as if it’s having a lot of fun as well.  Black Dynamite had a minuscule theatrical release, but it’s probably best appreciated at home –where blaxploitation films live even today.