When I saw the trailer for this Netflix movie, I was instantly hooked because of Musican Ludacris and Thee Queen, Queen Latifah but also because of the story/premise.
This Netflix movie was released on September 9th 2022. It is a Crime/Action/Drama/Mystery/Thriller and starrs Queen Latifah, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges aka “Fast and Furious”’ Tech guy, Tej. , Frances Lee McCain (“Better Call Saul”), Tim Stafford (Netflix’s “Army Of The Dead”), Travis Hammer (“Silk Road”).
This movie was rated R for blood, violence, language, sexual content and drug usage.
This movie was directed by Millicent Shelton (STARZ’s “P-Valley”).
Onto the premise: In this high-octane action thriller, a cross-country road trip becomes a highway to hell for Brenda and her family. Alone in the New Mexico desert, they have to fight for their lives when they become the targets of a mysterious killer.
There was an uneven sense of direction here; some excitement mixed with periods of lagging, almost senseless interlude that had no payoff. An initial conflict, which was given a lot of screentime, was never revisited and seemed only to serve as an “Oh, it’s like that” moment – which added little to the main plot overall in my opinion. The kids were, as is often the case, unpleasant, disobedient, and bratty. Ludacris, usually fun to watch, was kind of wasted here as a lovable slack-off type. Latifah vacillated between take-charge ‘equalizer’ and scared victim – which I blame completely on the director, who really needed to pick a lane and tighten this actioner up. As it is, time is spent on scenes showing us hooray-for-family moments when that family should be galvanized, on the move and planning to survive.
This movie had so many “P-Valley”- esque color-grading. But I’m a fan of “P-Valley” so that was a nice touch to this movie. I just love Ludacris’ and Queen Latifah’s chemistry.
Something else with this film is that it came off almost comical in certain areas playing off like a graphic novel and not like the thriller, crime drama that it was supposed to be. Overall not to bad but really netflix originals can and have been a lot better. I loved Ludacris kicking some ass and the usage of Nein light.
An average movie at best. Some nice dolly sequences on the cars. Solid camera direction.
The acting was good. One thing I kept asking though, is WHY was there purple neon lights everywhere? Wherever the family went, it was if they were in a massive greenhouse under purple grow lights almost the entire time, is this normal for the part of the US…. The ending seemed a bit rushed. I think that was because of the directo , who also did season one and two of “P-Valley”.
The movie makes no secret of what it is as the movie only clocks in at about 82 minutes not including credits and it uses that time efficiently as we’re introduced to the characters and situation effectively establishing everyone in the family and giving us some solid and surprisingly likable character moments with some of the interactions between the family such as conversations in the car or horseplay in the hotel room making the characters endearing enough they could’ve sustained a film even without the “money in a bag” thriller setup we end up with. Queen Latifah is really good as Brenda and she sells the role as a determined but very sad mother and you do root for her as a protagonist. Chris Bridges is also very good as Brenda’s brother Reggie who’s positioned as being a screwup, but a well.
There is also the “twist” – which is not really one. I do believe that even if you haven’t seen too many movies, you’ll be able to detect .What I was surprised by is how some people react to the bad guys name – it almost is as if someone says.
Great movie. For all those complaining about the overly used ‘woke’ thingy…get a new word. It’s over. Orange dude isn’t the prez anymore.
And it must really hurt your inner-bigotry to not be able to watch a film and feel a certain way because of the truths of current and historical events that people of color endure every single day in this country.
Overall, wonderful movie indeed. Kudos
Overall I really liked this movie, it was nice to see Ludacris in a different role than Tej, in the “Fast and Furious” franchise.
Movie reviews with ceren 