Spike Lee's Netflix War Movie 'Da 5 Bloods' Promises Blood and Treasure

The Vietnam drama looks like an Oscar contender.

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Spike Lee can't stay away from recent history. Following up his acclaimed '70s undercover cop drama BlacKkKlansmen, which won him an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, the director is back with Da 5 Bloods, a war movie that puts his distinct imprint on one of America's darkest chapters. And there's a trailer to watch, complete with helicopters crashing into the water and "Time Has Come Today" blaring on the soundtrack.

Toggling between two different time periods, the movie trailer sets up the story of Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis) and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.), four grizzled veterans who travel to Vietnam to seek out a lost stash of gold and the remains of their team leader (played in flashback scenes by Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman). It's a stacked cast, with Jonathan Majors, Mélanie Thierry, Paul Walter Hauser, Jasper Pääkkönen, Johnny Trí Nguyễn, Van Veronica Ngo, and Jean Reno also along for the ride. The trailer moves pretty fast -- mixing in newsreel footage of protests, presidential speeches, and combat --- so try to keep an eye out for everyone.

While Lee created and directed two seasons of She's Gotta Have It for Netflix, this is his first big narrative-feature for the streaming service, and it looks like it has an epic scope, combining elements of an adventure thriller and a war saga. Da 5 Bloods is one of Netflix's high-profile releases for the year and could potentially be a contender at the Oscars next year. Look for it when it arrives June 12.

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Dan Jackson is a senior staff writer at Thrillist Entertainment. He's on Twitter @danielvjackson.