Rating: 
Summary: Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing: A look into American Racism
Review: Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing is a riveting look into the life of a multi-cultural block in New York City. The film's theme song " Fight the Power" is the repeated point that reveals the true meaning behind the movie. Characters weave in and out of the film leaving the audience with a sense of knowledge and caring for each and every one of them. The hottest day in NYC serves as a colorful backdrop for the group of diverse characters. Lee's portrayal of Mookie, a lazy pizza delivery man, allows the audience to follow his struggle to co-exist in the tense world. The climax and finale of the film is a heartstopping sequence that thrusts a multitude of hatred at the audience. The film leaves one in a slight state of shock and gets it's point across very clearly.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, balanced movie.
Review: This movie was so in-your-face and relentless that it actually gave me a headache, but at least the headache was worth the viewing experience.The characters in this film are colorful, fleshed out, and varied enough in their personalities that you recognize Lee does not intend for you to come to an easy decision about whose actions were "right" in the movie. Oddly enough, the Black males were portrayed most negatively in the film, with perhaps the exception of Sal's son, Pino. I suggest you not only regard this film as a commentary on racial struggles, but the struggles between the sexes, as well. Keeping this in mind will give a whole new dimension to the film.
The film also makes one confront the issue of gentrification and whether or not other races entering the minority communities only subverts the interests of the community and its people. We can sympathize with and disagree with just about everyone in this film, and everybody and almost nobody is to blame for the horrible, horrible climax. We watch Black, white, Korean, Hispanic, and Puerto-Rican try to coexist in one neighborhood, and any peace that exists is terribly fragile and always at risk of being destroyed. The thought that most lingered in my mind after this film was, "Why did these hopeless, destitute people turn against eachother and not rightfully vent their outrage at the city police who committed the worst act?" The people of the community, unfortunately, most likely will remain impotent and bitter because they do not focus their energy in any direction that will make a difference, much like what Mookie's sister told Buggin' about his unsuccessful boycott. This movie poignantly narrates what can happen when we violently try to "convince" people of our opinions rather than develop our capabilities for sympathy and develop recognition for one another's humanity. As long as people put their racial, sexual, or economic classification as a priority above the classification of "human-being", we will never overcome the destructive tendency to label people as "Other", and thus less, than ourselves.
Rating:
Summary: Grows on me over time
Review: To be honest, the first time I saw this film I thought it was overhyped. The second time I saw this film, I thought it was interesting. When I saw it for the third time, on this criterion collection dvd, it won me over. The most compelling part of this film is the way it comes out of nowhere, the way we begin to see how little common things we say and do have more meaning than we can realize. In the beginning of the film, you see Ossie Davis' character as lazy and pitiful. By the time you travel in the shoes of the characters, you start to wonder how he could be so brave.
Rating: 
Summary: where's the subtitles?
Review: I'm surprised that a movie with such a strong racial and social message doesn't have alternative language subtitles. I wanted to show it to a Spanish only speaking friend, but I didn't think it would be worth it. Other than that the movie still is as powerful as the first time I saw it.
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Summary: One of My top ten...
Review: This movie is one of the best....one of those you can watch again and again... truly art for art's sake...and as a white female...my intro into black directors...wonderful!
Rating:
Summary: Words can't do justice...
Review: ...but I'll write some words anyway. What can I say? Criterion has once again outdone themselves with a stunning presentation of one of the greatest films of all time. This two-disc special edition of Spike Lee's 1989 masterpiece is astonishing. Not only do you get the film, you get multiple commentaries by the director, cinematographer, production designer and more. Plus a gorgeous transfer -- one of the best I've seen on DVD so far -- that highlights the vibrant colors of this landmark film. The second disc contains a slew of extras -- trailers, music videos, a revealing documentary, press conferences, storyboards...the works. The film itself, if you haven't already seen it, has been justly praised as a masterpiece. It centers around a Brooklyn neighborhood in one day of a massive heatwave. Racial tensions rise to incendiary levels when a young resident makes it his personal crusade to boycott a local Italian pizzeria. The performances, including Danny Aeillo, John Turturro, Ossie Davis, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson and many more, are second to none. The film is also very funny...the late stand-up comic Robin Harris delivers some of the movie's funniest lines. Rarely has such a great movie received treatment like this that it so richly deserves.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful allegory
Review: It's when reading "Do the right thing" as an allegory that we fully appreciate Spike Lee's ultimate triumph. See Sal's Famous Pizzeria as a symbol for the Hollywood system and Mookie as representative of the (black) brothers and sisters working within the system and you appreciate how apt Spike's casting as Mookie is. The movie's central question is; "What responsibility does a black film maker working within the Hollywood system have toward his or her people ? And the pivotal scene is the one in which Buggin' Out moves into Sal's and asks the crucial question; "Why are there no brothers on the wall?", in other words why are there no positive images of black people in Hollywood. Sal's response is instructive; "This is an Italian-American pizzeria...there are Italian-Americans on the wall...You want brothers on the wall?...Get your own pizzeria". And Buggin' Out is right ; "I don' see no Italian-Americans eating here... only black people....So, why are there no brothers on the wall". After he's kicked out Buggin' Out rallies his people to boycott Sal.Mookie is caught in the middle. His divided loyalties are exposed for the first time.Eventually, things come to a push when Buggin' Out, Radio Raheem and friends rock up at Sal's. Sal tells Radio to switch off his ghettoblaster. Radio won't. Sal demolishes Radio's ghettoblaster with a baseball bat. "You killed my music", laments the fuming Radio Raheem who attacks Sal. Police arrive on the scene, assault Radio. He dies and is taken away with Buggin' Out. The crowd is incensed. Now watch Mookie. What is he to do ? Caught right in the middle of it, whose side is he to take? This moment for me is one of the most important cinematic moments in history. No kidding. Mookie is not about to sell out , he gets hold of a garbage can and initiates a riot. Watch carefully as the camera lingers on the burning images on Sal's wall. Smiley superimposes the only existing photograph of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X together on the burning images. The message pretty obvious. Mookie's(read Spike's) violent is rendered less final, less of a definitive answer to the movie's central question by King's and Malcolm X 's divergent opinions on violence which come up at the end of the movie. Spike is a precociously selfconscious film maker always interrogating his tools and keenly aware of his role as a black artist and intellectual.
Rating:
Summary: Do The Right Thing
Review: Spike Lee's best film. Racism still exists and this film deals with racial tension in New York. This film should have been called 'The Difference a Day Makes'. A lot of negative things occur within people and their views of people of other races all in a 24-hour period (1 day). I am amazed that after this film was made, people still haven't woke the hell up. It seems like, in most of Spike's films, he paints White people as being gullible, mindless, clueless and rhetoric; Black people as the tired-of-being-stepped-on, jealous & angry generation; Asian people as the made-to-look-ridiculous type; and Hispanics...dunno. I see why most people don't like Spike because in almost every movie, he has the same directorial skills, color hues (thanks to Ernest Dickerson), and people are always arguing at eachother in his films. Most of his films are just...a big motion picture of arguments that last for 2+++ hours!
Rating:
Summary: A modern classic
Review: Spike Lee is not the world's best filmmaker. Lately, his films have been thin, misguided and boring. But when "Do the Right Thing" came out in 1989, people must have surely thought that they were witnessing the first in a long line of masterworks by a skilled, important director. "Do the Right Thing" is a monumental film, a truly honest and downright compelling look at racism that holds nearly every character with some kind of respect. In addition to the crackling script and sharp direction, the look and sound of "Do the Right Thing" is near perfect. Wynn Thomas' production design makes a drab Bed-Stuy neighborhood look like a colorful capture from a comic book, and the jazzy score perfectly complements the film. The DVD package itself is fairly comprehensive. The commentary, though recorded for a laserdisc in '95, is insightful and maddening (as Spike Lee tends to be), and the documentaries are interesting. Best of all is the videotape of the cast's first read-through of the script -- here is a part of the filmmaking process that we never see, and I am glad that we see it here. Any serious film fan should own this film, and any DVD-phile should own this DVD. A classic.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated movie, excellent DVD
Review: Any thinking person who reveres Spike Lee's intelligence will have to retract those feelings after listening to his madman ramblings on the film's commentary. I have nothing against contradictions in movies but strongly opinionated people who slam and label other people, shouldn't contradict themselves, in this context. You can't call one of your critics a racist then just contradict the points you made in your defense and say "hell, I'm an artist." This is what Spike Lee does constantly. He calls people racist and nobody challenges him because they're scared he'll call them racist, too. Anyway, disc 2 has many good features and that's why I'm giving this 4 stars.
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