We are living in extremely polarizing times when it comes to race relations. This film is based on a true story about a white man and black man working together to tackle a hate group, and that would have sent such a powerful message. Instead, the white guy's race was changed. And as a fan of the original book, I'm just left scratching my head. And it helps to nullify the dynamic between a white and black person working together; in other words it explains why the first two thirds of the film seems a little boring and almost like filler.

Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is the first black police officer in 1970's Colorado Springs, Colorado. He faces racism in the department and is eager to go undercover. His first assignment is to attend a speech by a former Black Panther. He starts dating Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier),the president of the Black Student Union. After reading an ad in the newspaper, he calls up the KKK to apply for membership. He is readily accepted by local leader Walter Breachway (Ryan Eggold) with only one problem. He can't meet Breachway face to face. He recruits Detective Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) to be the face while he provides the voice. Eventually, he would even connect with Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace).

Flip's infiltration into the local KKK is compelling. It seems immediately stupid that Ron continues to do the calls. It's not a carefully conceived investigation. Also the third act bombing is too conveniently staged. It needs to be more realistic and more messy. It wraps up too neatly. There are aspects that feels too artificial which detracts from the tension. The subject matter requires the movie to be more real. At times, Spike Lee pushes into satire territories but nevertheless, it is still one of his better recent movies.

This movie flies on the fact that this was taken from actual events that took place. I know that a movie is not a book, but one has to be aware of major changes in the movie's plotting. What I did was ignore the possible inconsistencies and watched the movie as if it had an original script. I found the premise intriguing and enjoyed the portrayal of an element that I would never engage with.