RZA, the leader of the legendary hip hop group, the Wu-Tang clan, has his name in the title, but at the top of the credits is Quentin Tarantino. Given what RZA, as writer-director, was intending, it makes sense why he would partner with Tarantino. It's well documented that Tarantino loves cinema of the 1960's and 70's. Tarantino's third feature Jackie Brown (1997) is an homage to blaxploitation flicks of the 70's. After RZA's The Man with the Iron Fists (2012), his martial arts film, he started working on this project and reportedly revealed that it was going to be set in the 60's and 70's. The finished film was changed to be set in the present or more so than originally planned, but some of those blaxploitation aesthetics are maintained. Eli Roth co-wrote that 2012 film. Roth is an actor-turned-director who is best known for his film series that started with Hostel (2005). Roth has worked with Tarantino on several projects, so Roth probably is the one who connected Tarantino with RZA.
From titles like Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) and Shaft (1971), blaxploitation flicks tend to feature African American vigilantes who fight against racist authority figures or antagonistic groups of white people, or sometimes groups of other ethnicity. Blaxploitation tends to be crime dramas with occasional action, such as shootouts. Some even featured martial arts like That Man Bolt (1973), starring Fred Williamson, or Black Belt Jones (1974), starring Jim Kelly. Michael Jai White has done homages to those kinds of blaxploitation flicks with Black Dynamite (2009) and Outlaw Johnny Black (2023), but those films were comedies, almost as parodies of the genre. RZA's film here has humor, but it's meant to be taken more seriously or as seriously as the filmmakers of those 70's films. RZA is a modern-day Melvin Van Peebles.
Shameik Moore (Wu-Tang: An American Saga and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) stars as Randy Joneson aka "Unique," a military veteran in New York City. It's not revealed why, but he's recently been released from prison and is currently on parole. He asks his parole officer, played by Blair Underwood (When They See Us and Quantico), if he can be transferred to Ohio. Unique has a cousin who lives in Karensville, a rural town in Ohio, just outside Pittsburgh.
RJ Cyler (The Book of Clarence and The Harder They Fall) co-stars as Ramsee Joneson, the aforementioned cousin whose parents are gone, so he inherited his family home. He plays basketball. He also enjoys video games. He has a girlfriend and he stays out of trouble. Like so many people, he knows that Karensville is run by corrupt cops who are white supremacists that are doing something to young Black men that's akin to Get Out (2017) but minus the supernatural aspect and that is way more gruesome that makes this feel like one of Eli Roth's horror flicks.
A perfect companion piece to this film is the Emmy-winning Rebel Ridge (2024), which is also about a young Black man dropped in the middle of a corrupt police force in a rural town that he eventually has to battle. In fact, this film is if Tarantino directed Rebel Ridge. That 2024 Emmy winner was more grounded and authentic, despite embracing action thriller aspects. However, RZA's film leans heavily on being an exaggerated, revenge fantasy. It features a climax that's as fun as any action sequence from The Raid: Redemption (2012) or John Wick (2014), and for me more satisfying than the ending of Sinners (2025), which also had a young Black man taking out a bunch of white supremacists in brutal fashion.
Rated R for strong violence, gore, language, racial slurs, sexual content, nudity, and drug use.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 52 mins.
In theaters.
