BlacKkKlansman is powerful, crazy, and the best movie of 2018.

I had a good amount of interest when the movie came out last August, as the trailer got quite a good reaction out of me. The names attached like Spike Lee, Jordan Peele, Adam Driver and more peaked my interest, but it sort of slipped through the cracks for me in a busy movie season.

Fast forward a few months and the Spike Lee joint is getting a good amount of (well-received) recognition as it goes through the award circuit.

The biggest and most prestigious of which, the Oscars, handed six nominations to the movie, including Best Picture. There has also been some very real buzz that BlacKkKlansman could be a dark horse winner in that category, with GoldDerby giving it the 3rd best odds currently.

Because of this, I finally decided to sit down and watch it, and my expectations were blown away. It’s a fantastic movie.

The real strength of the movie is in the story, which is so wild that you’ll have a hard time believing it wasn’t adapted to the big screen earlier, as it is based on true events. It revolves around Ron Stallworth, an African-American detective taking it upon himself to investigate the KKK, which is rumored to be planning a race-based attack.

Ron, played by John David Washington, makes a few calls with the local Ku Klux leader, which goes over well enough that the two arrange a meeting. Stallworth enlists co-worker Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) to act as himself, and the pair of cops begin their infiltration from there.

In addition to dealing with the hateful group, Stallworth is still getting unequal treatment as a cop, including a particularly nasty co-cop who takes every opportunity to antagonize him, and a chief who’s not 100% ready to give him any credit.

Driver’s Flip Zimmerman is a jewish man, adding another layer to the insane story, and his encounters with the Klan are some of the most interesting in the movie. One member in particular, Felix, smells something fishy with Zimmerman from the start, and his actions and hate make him truly one of the most scariest villains in film, regardless on genre.

By nature of being a part of the disgusting KKK, all the members are despicable people, but Felix’s actions makes the rest of the group, including the Grand Wizard David Duke, look like decent people.

Driver and Jasper Paakkonen (who portrays Felix) both give outstanding performances, but the standout is the fairly newcomer John David Washington, who sounds more like his father, Denzel, than he looks like him. He brings a great amount of emotion to the troubled detective, in each and every scene.

Innovative directing, along with sharp writing provide a hearty punch next to the brilliant performances. Nearly every scene carries more tension than a normal movie gets in their climax.

Another highlight is the incredible score done by veteran composer Terence Blanchard. Scores are not something I usually notice in films, but this one stood out to me so much during my watch that it has became a staple on my Spotify playlists. It’s an electrifying, jazzy mix that carries tension and grit and fits perfect with the tone of the movie.

-Minor Spoilers from here on out-

The ending had been polarizing for some, even those who ultimately liked it. I did find it hard a hard time deciding if it wanted a happy ending or not, but there is a very satisfying ending to Stallworth’s calls with the Grand Wizard before Spike Lee chooses to end it with real life footage of the race struggles we are currently dealing with today, nearly 50 years later.

I for one, found to be incredibly powerful and tied the theme of the movie into the real world message. It is in a lot of ways a movie that 2018 really needed, and I feel will grow in popularity and appeal as years go on.