Nowadays, the ‘spoof’ film has sunk to the lowest common denominator in the comedy film universe. Gone are the halcyon days of Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles) or Jim Abrams & David Zuckers’ (Airplane) brands of droll and uproarious slapstick parodies. These comedic titans have been supplanted by the fatuous filmmaking duo of Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer, responsible for humorless and banal fare like Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans. Fortunately, a muscular, mustachioed, lethally suave motharf*cka, armed with nunchuks, kung-fu kicks, and a roaring .44 Magnum, has come to rescue jive turkey movie auds from spoof-film purgatory, and face-off against the overlords of “kung-fu treachery.” His name is… Black Dynamite!

The plot of Black Dynamite is a hilariously intertwined mélange of ‘70’s blaxploitation classics: Three the Hard Way, Dolemite, and Superfly. The Man killed his brother Jimmy, pumped heroin into the local orphanages, and flooded the ghetto with tainted malt liquor, rousing Vietnam vet/kung-fu master/swingin’-dick-who-be-climaxin’-all-the-chicks Black Dynamite, who, with great vengeance and furious anger, wages war on The Man – a kung-fu-kickin’, nunchukin’ journey that takes him from the blood-soaked city streets, all the way to the hallowed halls of the ‘Honky House’.

It’s been almost a decade since Pootie Tang and over 20 years since Keenan Ivory Wayans’ blaxploitation spoof I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, but Black Dynamite leaves its predecessors in the dust, largely thanks to its filmmakers’ genre expertise, zany plot/sharp comedy writing, and of course, the physical prowess and deadpan hilarity of its co-writer/star Michael Jai White, who is one bad, righteous mothaf*cka.

Following a grindhouse-style opening ad for malt liquor (in grainy, B-movie stock), we are introduced to Black Dynamite – or rather, three naked hoes of various ethnicities writhing with pleasure under the thrust of the muscled/’froed/mustachioed stud. He soon teams up with flamboyant pimp Cream Corn (Tommy Davidson) and pimp-slappin’ sidekick Bullhorn (co-writer Byron Minns), to uncover the layered conspiracy surrounding his brother’s untimely demise, eventually makin’ ‘froed, tough-talkin’ activist Gloria (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) cum – in a hilarious, animated montage.

The casting of real-life baadasssss Michael Jai White in the lead is a definite coup. White has earned blackbelts in 7 karate styles, including 26 titles, and uses his brutish physicality and kung-fu chops here to startling effect. The fight scenes owe more to Enter the Dragon than blaxploitation flicks of yore, and there’s a more direct homage to the aforementioned Bruce Lee classic when Dynamite and his slickly-dressed posse invade Kung-Fu Island to do battle with Pai-Mei clone ‘Fiendish Dr. Wu’ (played by well-known fight choreographer Roger Yuan, of The Yuan Bros.). Michael Jai White, best known for his ass-kicking roles in Spawn, to his recent turn as crime boss Gambol in Dark Knight, is downright superb here. He’s the Austin Powers or Lt. Frank Drebin of baaad-motha-shut-yo-mouth’s.

Much of the comedy in Black Dynamite comes from an Airplane-esque sense of self-referential comedy, including split screens, shaky zoom shots, visible boom mics and flubbed lines, in addition to it’s lead character’s exaggerated sense of machismo, which amplifies the deadpan hilarity of the ridiculous lines he constantly utters. In one scene, Dynamite flashes back to a haunting Vietnam War memory of a “little Chinese boy,” with no arms or legs, uttering – in Chinese, but he knows what he meant – “Why, Dynamite? Why?” Furthermore, composer Adrian Younge’s knock-offs of R&B classics, with their silly, plot-narrating lyrics, add to the fun.

Director Scott Sanders does a fantastic job capturing the film’s ‘70s-era, porn film look thanks to his usage of high contrast Super 16 Color Reversal Kodak film stock, and the production/costume design oozes the blaxploitation-era of ‘froes and hoes.

While Black Dynamite does overstay its welcome a bit – by the time Dynamite locks nunchuks with Tricky Dick inside the Oval Office of ‘Honky House,’ you feel like the filmmaker’s are struggling to outdo themselves – the film is still a downright hilarious, tongue-firmly-in-cheek parody with crossover potential. And the tainted malt liquor revelation, courtesy of a peculiarly placed chalkboard at a waffle house – and a ridiculously convoluted rationale concerning knowledge of the Greek Gods that would make both D’Aulaires and Dan Brown proud – will have your jive ass bellowing with laughter.

BLACK DYNAMITE opens on September 4th in wide release.