Up until “Black Dynamite” came along and proved me wrong, “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” was the best satire of blaxploitation movies ever made. As one of the very few comedies the Wayans brothers ever directed, “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” both mocks and pays tribute to the blaxploitation genre, harping on various tropes of the sub-genre from the seventies that filled many grindhouse theaters across the world. What makes “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” even better is that even if you have never seen a film from the sub-genre, you’ll still pretty much laugh until the final scene.
While the Wayans’ are incapable of escaping the eighties trappings time and time again, that doesn’t affect the overall comedic punch of their action comedy, that teams young African American actors with a slew of heavyweights from the sub-genre to take on “the man.” Keenan Ivory Wayans heads the cast as the inept army hero Jack Spade, who returns home from the war to find out that his neighborhood has become a slum ruled by crime. When his brother June Bug is killed, he decides to strike down the evil crime lord Mr. Big, and does by teaming with his childhood hero John Slade, a vigilante who fought crime in the 70’s, along with his old pals from the hood. “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” becomes a very twisted version of “Seven Samurai” where Wayans teams up a motley crew of men whom were once giants in their time, and are spirited enough to poke fun at themselves, and the decade where they claimed fame.
Director Wayans packs every moment of the eighties film with hilarious sight gags and jokes that straddle the lines of social commentary, by exploring the state of crime in the inner city, all with a hearty but wise laugh. Meanwhile, much of the garners an engrossing tale with Wayans stealing the show as the moronic war hero who touches base with much of his family to find them in peril and under the heel of Mr. Big. “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” really hearkens back to the best of Mel Brooks and loving lampoons the blaxploitation genre while also mocking the eighties and its sense of decadence and over consumption. Jack Spade never walks around without a band playing his special theme music, Frank Slade dresses a finger wound in the vein of “Rambo,” and Slade’s mother fights off bad guys with a terrible stunt double filling in for her.
Wayans also gives much of the supporting stars their own moments of pure comedy, including Isaac Hayes and Jim Brown as two restaurant owners, Dawnn Lewis as Wayans’ childhood girlfriend, and Antonio Fargas as the Flyguy who leaves jail in the same garb he entered with, never getting the note that fashion can change in a matter of months. There’s also the hilarious Kadeem Hardison and Damon Wayans as Mr. Bigs’ moronic henchmen Willie and Leonard, both of whom always find themselves having to choose between exiting a place through the window, or the stairs. “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” surprisingly hasn’t aged much at all in spite of the decade it was made with sharp jokes, hilarious one-liners, and brilliant nods to film buffs that still spark laughter to this day as Keenan Ivory Wayans offers his fan base probably the only funny film he’s ever directed.