S.W.’s Scores
Continuity
+5
Entertainment
+5
Rewatchability
+4
CastSpike Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, John Turturro, Samuel L. Jackson
StreamingPeacock, Criterion Channel
S.W.’s Verdict
Lee turns one Brooklyn block on the hottest day of the year into a pressure cooker and then refuses to tell you when the explosion is justified and when it isn't. The colors are so saturated the screen practically sweats. Every character has a point. Every character is also wrong about something. Radio Raheem carries a boombox like a weapon and the pizza parlor becomes a geopolitical crisis. The ending doesn't resolve — it detonates, and you're left holding the shrapnel.