A Masterpiece!

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Coming off a well receptive original run from 411 BC Greece, Aristophanes' play lives on because of the universal themes it projects. Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris) leads the women of Chicago from with holding sex from men until the gang wars stop and the men surrender their arms. They take over the National Guard Armory similar to the take over of the Acropolis in the original tale. Spike Lee maintained the idea of the divided chorus, but his version had more differences than similarities.In this film two gangs are at war: Trojans who wear orange lead by Cyclops (Wesley Snipes). They are fighting against the Spartans who wear purple and are lead by Chi-Raq (Nick Cannon). John Cusack plays a preacher/priest in the community. The dialogue is mostly poetic, much in a rap style. The issues go deep and is supportive of Black Lives Matter, painting everyone in South Carolina as racists. It is also anti-NRA and the politics of the film is the cause for both the love and the hate. Most of the politics is presented in a funeral eulogy delivered by John Cusack who wasn't poetic. Drugs are alluded to, but are not considered a major problem.Samuel L. Jackson plays Dolmedes who narrates the story and gives us the Greek background. Spike Lee has managed to find clothes that don't look good on Jackson as well as poetry he can't master. Lee also uses numerous Greek names in the film, including the gang names that were not in the original play. For instance Oedipus (Wade F. Wilson) describes an unhealthy relationship with his mother.Certainly worth a view for liberals. Conservatives will most likely be less enthusiastic.Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity. Adult themes and language throughout.

I'm not from Chicago and have only been there once. But I would be mad if it was my hometown. My comments are directly about the movie and not about Chicago.This movie is simply awful. I just watched it on a DVD someone gave me and they can have it back. After about an hour, I simply gave up. Yes, I know it's based on an ancient Greek play, but the writing sucked and the delivery just bad. Most of the acting was so over the top, it played out like a cartoon. Why was Nick Cannon even in this and as the male star? Still scratching my head! The only saving grace is Teyonah Parris, although I hope this movie doesn't stop her from getting other roles. Yikes!

I don't know why I am surprised. For every actually half decent movie there are 100 absolutely, ridiculous, makes no sense, why in the world, how in the world do these terrible movies even make it out of the cutting room floor. The only reason these movies are made is because there is an audience who likes them. This movie does not know what it wants to be. Is it a satire. Is it a comedy. Is it a statement about the real problem in Chicago. Is it a poor gangsta movie. Who knows. If people in Chicago really act like this, well. Gratuitous language, the ridiculous 'strike' of the 'women' withholding sec from the 'men', well the quotation marks are there because the title women and men is applied loosely for the characters in this movie. There is nothing that makes you care about any of the characters. Something that should be serious is portrayed in a crass and ridiculous way.

Spike Lee and Kevin Willmot have taken Aristophanes' hilarious Lysistrata and turned it into a phantasmagoria of satire and heartache that asks some important questions about America's fixation with firearms and sex -- and all in rhymed couplets. When the women of Chicago go on a sex strike to protest the out-of-control violence of their city, Lee fills the screen with some indelible images and more creativity than most films of 2015. He's also blessed with an amazing cast, from the empowering Teyonash Parris as Lysistrata to Jennifer Hudson as a mother who loses her child to gang violence.Lee is the most adventurous and gifted director working in America right now. Chi-Raq is ample proof of that.