Do the Right Thing

This review is from April 12, 2021

This is an intimidating review for me to write. Do the Right Thing might have come out over thirty years ago in 1989, but it feels so relevant today that trying to evaluate the film I just saw still feels monumental. Here goes nothing.

First off, seeing a young Spike Lee was really cool. I finally understand why he’s more than a crazy guy sitting front row at Knicks games. Throw in Samuel L. Jackson and the big screen debuts for Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez and you have quite an all-time cast. And really, every acting performance was spot on. Sal and his sons struck a nice balance between angry and scared and proud, Radio Raheem and Buggin Out became very real people, and the three men on the street corner were spectacular. For me, however, Da Mayor stole the screen. Every time he doffed his cap or knelt down to speak to a young kid, I wanted to be in the conversation with him. Really a great performance.

Now to the film itself– I know now why it is a true classic. The formalistic elements (the opening sequence, and the sequence where the characters trade insults in extreme close-ups, for example) could stand alone as powerful scenes. But to have them interspersed between this incredible world-building and rising tension, shot in a way that felt both real and that it belonged in musical theater– I was blown away. It’s not often that you are this aware that what you are watching is a film, while still being fully immersed in the world.

The true power of Do the Right Thing, of course, comes in the last thirty minutes. You spend an hour and a half with these characters. Growing to like them, arguing with them, seeing each relationship with the others on their street. And then as the temperature outside finally starts to fall, everything boils over.

With the trial of Derek Chauvin ongoing and George Floyd’s tragic death a very recent memory, the story of Do the Right Thing felt all too real. The issues that the movie dives into are just as pressing today as they were when Spike Lee first wrote the script. I don’t know what to say except that the film should be required viewing– even if it hadn’t been so artistically beautiful, its discussion of race is striking and impactful.

At times it’s a tad slow, and the portrayal of the women in the film is a little regressive. But in the end, Do the Right Thing is a masterpiece. It’s a movie that will stick with you everywhere you go, and gives power to the idea that good art can change the world.