Why So Blu?

So recently I went to go see Black and Blue (2019). I was not too familiar with this film in particular… I know , I know I say that a lot, but its just true guys. I was so unaware of this film I confused it for at least two other films that are coming out this year with similar elements to them. Once again I’m not trying to sound like a broken record or beat a dead horse, but this film flew well under the radar for me. Once I accepted that this film existed and was coming out in theaters in a few days I decided to watch a trailer. After watching a few seconds of the trailer I was surprisingly… on board. When I got into the theater and watched the film though… well… it was eh. How about you guys hop in the passenger seat and let’s hit it.

Black and Blue (2019) is an action/crime/drama/thriller directed by Deon Taylor, the director of films like Meet the Blacks (2016), Supremacy (2014), and Traffik (2018). The film is written by Peter A. Dowling, writer of films like Flightplan (2005), Sacrifice (2016), and Stag Night (2008). The last two films I mentioned, written by Dowling, aren’t too bad… pretty standard, but not too bad. The film features a mix of familiar faces along with some new faces too. Leading the pack we have Naomie Harris, Mike Colter, Frank Grillo, Reid Scott, Tyrese Gibson, followed by, Nafessa Williams, Beau Knapp, Kenneth Kynt Bryan, Deneen Tyler, Michael Papajohn, James Moses Black, Nelson Bonilla, Sam Malone, Lucy Golden, and Frankie Smith. Black and Blue (2019) is produced by Sean Sorensen, who was the producer of the Shudder original movie Mayhem (2017). Mayhem was dope! Anyway the film looks great and has some good stuff going on, but still is… kinda eh. Let’s investigate further.

As I mentioned before… very unaware of this film’s release. However I am aware of at least two other films with black leads and prominent police presence within them. One of these two films being Queen and Slim(2019), starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith, while the other is 21 Bridges (2019), starring Chadwick Boseman. The case may be that the two aforementioned films have had a better marketing strategy. That would prove true since I was aware of the imminent release of each of these films months ago. Black and Blue (2019) on the other hand literally came out of the cut for me. All that aside I find myself to be a fan of crime dramas. Most play out in pretty similar fashions, but there are occasions when some shine above others. In the case of Black and Blue (2019) I found myself intrigued by the trailer and thrilled to see some familiar faces on screen. I was enthralled in the setting of the film and pretty okay with the characters. However when the film gets down to business and takes the gloves off… I found it to be a little weak. I’ll tell you what I mean by this.

So the film starts out with some great establishing shots of New Orleans to get the viewers immersed in the film’s environment. We then see our main character, Alecia (Harris), casually jogging through a neighborhood only to be run down and detained by police. The police comment about Alecia being in “their neighborhood” only to reveal to the officers that Alecia is an officer herself. The police officers apologize saying that she “matched the description” of the suspect they were looking for. This “description” being of a black woman wearing sweats. After admitting their mistake in identity, begrudgingly, the officers let West go about her business which happens to be going to the station to start her shift. So you can kinda get a sense of how this film is going to go. I’m glad that they set the tone of the film and have a lot of great visual elements working for them, but the emotional connection between characters and even the audience watching the film was lacking for me. Even performances from some stars that I enjoy watching on the big screen just didn’t feel quite right, while others from a couple newcomers felt much more convincing to me. Okay lets pull it into the station and wrap up.

Black and Blue (2019) is a little bit of a disappointment for me. As I mentioned before I love feeling immersed in the film’s environment. The visual elements are great. The social commentary definitely matches the temperature in the room and hits home when it comes to the relationship between black folks and law enforcement. However, I believe that the absence of history between characters and the miscasting of a “big bad” in the film did ruin the viewing experience for me. Ultimately I liked what Black and Blue (2019) was going for, but the overall execution did fall apart in portions throughout the film. I wouldn’t run out to the theater to see this one, if I’m being totally honest. It may be a film to wait for rental for folks.