The RZA is undeniably a multi-hyphenate creative genius whose work demands attention.
The latest project from the Wu Tang Clan founder and established director, One Spoon Of Chocolate, is written and directed by the man himself, comes executive produced by Quentin Tarantino, and stars Shameik Moore (Dope, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, & previous RZA film Cut Throat City). It tells the story of Unique, a decorated veteran who is just out of prison, experiencing homelessness, and looking to keep out of trouble and make a connection with the only family he has left: His cousin Ramsee (RJ Cyler, Night Patrol). Unfortunately for everyone involved, Ramsee lives in Karentown, Ohio… a town straight out of the movies, with a crooked-ass sheriff (Michael Harney in a chilling performance as Sheriff McLeoud) and a racist-ass fail-son (Harry Goodwins as the second horrifying long blonde-haired cult leader villain of 2026 named Jimmy after the excellent 28 Years Later films) who hold all the power and wield it with hatred. This is small town America, via a modern day exploitation film.
As Black men are disappearing mysteriously around Karentown, and Jimmy’s white supremecist cult is running rampant, Sheriff McLeoud keeps a lid on the whole thing. Unfortunately, Unique simply isn’t going to be able to keep his head down in this environment like he told his parole officer (Blair Underwood) he would. And as the tension ratchets, Unique will be driven to vengeance.
Almost everything from the talent selling the film to the trailer to the concept spoke to me as a film I should check out at my earliest convenience. While I’m already a huge fan of the creatives and the genre that One Spoon Of Chocolate is selling, I can’t say I uniformly love all of RZA’s output. Part of the creative journey of putting yourself out there decade after decade is going to include some ups and downs. This particular film got its hooks in me, though, and I found myself shocked and engaged throughout, even if it does demand to be viewed as somewhat of a modern take on the 1970s exploitation film.
I say that with no ill will: One Spoon Of Chocolate isn’t attempting subtle nuance, and I dare say it need not. We live in an exploitative era, full of naked selfishness, unveiled threats, and boiling-over violence. I personally find almost everything coming out of the current leadership of our country to be hateful and hurtful, but the one silver lining people often talk about: “Imagine all the great art that will come out of this era”. Well, look no further than One Spoon Of Chocolate for your rage-filled, racially-charged, cinematic bloodletting. This is a deeply angry film, in which shocking violence and hate-filled epithets are hurled. Brutal imagery of racial violence is on display. And on the silver screen is where that exploration of violence belongs, not in the real world between real humans. Here, channeling anger into art, RZA is able to cry out against a rigged system that is simply designed to keep a good man like Unique down and out.
That isn’t to say this is a purely political or even purely straight-faced affair. RZA isn’t afraid to inject some joy, companionship, jokes, and even sex and nudity into the mix, making this somewhat of a pastiche featuring Black joy, brotherhood, and sexual pleasure just as much as it exposes corruption and power imbalance.
A few moments stand out as particularly engaging, such as the genuine love between our lead cousins, with Ramsee even explicitly adding Unique to the deed of his home at one point, lifting our protagonist out of homelessness through the power of family and the deepest American power there is: land ownership. And I’d be remiss to leave out none other than Paris Jackson (daughter of Michael), who plays Unique’s sympathetic love interest, and does a pretty convincing job of it. There are also some action sequences and chases that are so rage-filled that I was on the edge of my seat. Unique’s brand of vigilante justice also has him training in a very Wu Tang kind of way: reading Sun Tzu and wrapping his arms in barbed wire and using brass knuckles and shit. RZA’s going to make sure that by the finale, Unique is going to kick some ass and take some scalps, and the audience is going to be cheering him on.
In the truest sense of the word, One Spoon Of Chocolate is an exploitation film through and through. It uses heightened genre and blood and boobs to expose our over the top corruption and toss a stick of dynamite at the whole rigged system. It’s designed to make you shout and shock you. Indeed, One Spoon Of Chocolate ain’t nothin’ to fuck with.
And I’m Out.
One Spoon Of Chocolate hit US theaters on May 1st, 2026 from 36 Cinema
