Review: Proud Mary


Taraji P. Henson plays the title character, an assassin with a slight conscience, who ends up becoming a maternal figure for the young child (Jahi Di’Allo) of one of her victims. She has to keep the boy a secret from her employer (Danny Glover) and colleague/lover (Billy Brown) or else they will want the kid rubbed out for knowing too much. Xander Berkeley plays a Russian criminal in one scene.



Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty wasn’t keen on this 2018 film using the title of a song he wrote without his permission. Having read his autobiography Fortunate Son (CCR are my favourite band) I understand why, the man has been screwed out of his own music over the years. However, since this movie looked like a bit of a Blaxploitation throwback and I like Taraji P. Henson, I thought it might at least be an interesting diversion. It doesn’t start out too badly, but it sputters out pretty quickly I’m afraid. Directed by Babak Najafi (“London Has Fallen”), it might give off Blaxploitation vibes and have a cool old-school soundtrack (though it inevitably uses the shitty Tina Turner version of the title song, not the CCR original), but it’s lacking for energy and action.



Scripted by Christian Swegal (who comes from a short film background), John Stuart Newman (who wrote eleventy-billion episodes of “Days of Our Lives”), and former actor Steven Antin, it also has more in common with the 1980 Gena Rowlands film “Gloria” than say “Coffy” or “Cleopatra Jones”. That makes sense given Antin (who played jerks in two memorable 80s films “The Last American Virgin” and “The Goonies”) adapted the original screenplay for the Sharon Stone remake of “Gloria” in 1999. It’s a shame that it ultimately doesn’t deliver the goods because there’s promise in the early going and a game cast. Executive Producer Henson makes for a fine Pam Grier substitute, having already played a tough chick assassin in the underrated “Smokin’ Aces”. She’s terrific, and young Jahi Di’Allo is OK too. Hell, even Danny Glover has one of his better days of late here as a powerful patriarchal crime boss. Right from the cool opening titles featuring the old Screen Gems logo with the kick-arse classic ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’ blaring the film definitely offers up some Blaxploitation-infused cool. It’s not a Blaxploitation film, but the director at least appears to be a fan of the subgenre.



However, with not much action or excitement beyond the soundtrack, I started to tune out before the hour mark. I was all set for a flashy, funky, violent throwback and despite the trappings, it’s not what was delivered here. It wouldn’t bother me if that weren’t what the director seemed to be setting up. This isn’t simply a case of me not liking a film because it’s not what I wanted, it’s simply not the film it seemed to promise. That’s different, and the film isn’t much good at being what it is anyway because it didn’t keep my attention for very long. It’s a bit dull, despite a fine cast and cool songs.



Rating: C

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Boyka: Undisputed

Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins) is out of prison and fighting for a living, with ambitions for the ‘Most Complete Fighter’ to make a real name for himself. However, after an opponent dies during a fight, the deeply religious Boyka starts to have a crisis of conscience. He tries to make amends with the man’s widow, which eventually pits him against a local gangster (Alon Moni Aboutboul, quite good). Anything with Scott Adkins will generally get me interested, and although this series peaked with the superlative “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , this 2017 film from director Todor Chapkanov (director of the SyFy movies “Copperhead” and “Ghost Town” ) is no slouch in a series yet to deliver anything less than solid entertainment. Producer Isaac Florentine is missed in the director’s chair, but Chapkanov gives us at the very least the series’ most dramatically ambitious entry, as Adkins’ ‘most complete fighter’ Yuri Boyka continues on his journey to redemption here. In this one, the
Read more

Review: Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear

Scott Adkins is once again Casey, an American proponent of the martial art of Ninjutsu. When Casey’s pregnant Japanese wife (Mika Hijii) is rubbed out, he’s on a vengeance mission to find her killers. A friendly face, Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) turns up at the funeral, and suggests Casey come to Thailand to deal with his grief in another country. Casey initially declines, but eventually takes Nakabara up on his offer. However, his wife’s murder still haunts Casey, and with intel supplied by Nakabara, the trail eventually leads Casey to a brutal drug baron named Goro (Shun Sugata).   I was extremely disappointed with the first “Ninja” , but had heard that this 2013 sequel from director Isaac Florentine ( “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , “Undisputed III: Redemption” , “Ninja” ) was a damn near masterpiece of the martial-arts action movie genre. Having now finally gotten my hot little hands on it, I’d say the hype is a bit much, but this is unquestionably a much better film than the f
Read more