Can't say I remember enough of Ganja and Hess to make a comparison and I'm not knowledgeable enough in American racial politics and black culture, so I'm making a judgement of this movie just on its own. Strangely off is my summary. Pretty, but off. Except when it is gaudy and strangely off. Acting is strangely off, soundtrack is strangely off, narrative and script and editing feels forced and strangely off... I don't know if the ambition was to have a cool and distanced and elegant vibe but I don't think it works. It doesn't feel cool or distant and definitely not elegant. It just feels unengaged and off. It does pick up a bit in the final act that makes it wrap up with some highlights and an okay-ish feel when you forget about the previous two thirds.

Inoffensive and inessential, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus has its stylish moments like a twist on Lee’s double dolly shot, but it fails to really make a case for itself to stand apart from its original film, Ganja and Hess. It loses the feverish atmosphere with nothing in return. The performances are caught between the original material and Lee’s. The original’s was meant for the surreality of the visuals and cinematography on display, while Lee’s a more casual and winking pairing with the more modern style on the screen. So where the original actors’ unique affectations and deliveries enhanced the otherworldliness in Ganja and Hess, the clash here just makes it feel jarring and loose fitting. The movie reiterates the point with shots and scenes lifted from the original, belabors the point with extended or redundant ones, and the scenes that try something new either muddle or dull the impact. Let’s spell out it’s about addiction. Let’s throw in an AIDS scare. It just doesn’t create anything additive to the original. It’s hard to hate a movie with Lee’s style and the skeleton of the original daring, alluding work. It’s not terrible. But it’s a hard movie to love, too.