Black and Blue

Decent craftsmanship with an extremely eager and excellent performance from Naomie Harris, who proves that she can not only be a nice talisman for the new Bond films, but can reliably handle a full-blooded lead role in a gritty cop action flick that occasionally peeks like Ayer, occasionally thunders like Johannson from Sicario, but qualitatively is neither. The sometimes stilted script is saved by the ghetto feel of New Orleans and surprisingly fierce action sequences, a small plus for the straightforwardly sketched racial issues and disproportionate police behaviour, a very topical issue indeed. (06/10/2020)

Very nice surprise!! Simple and straightforward, but authentic, uncomfortable, harsh and at the same time very entertaining. The film is more or less about police corruption and drug dealers going after one honest rookie, Naomie Harris, who is alone against everyone. Frank Grillo as the bad guy is awesome, the shootouts are raw and the squalor of New Orleans is captured believably. A movie full of bad guys. 7.5/10. (01/05/2020)

I expected something more nonsensical but ended up with a pretty decent crime film for a one-time watch. It won't offend you, but it probably won't impress you significantly either. The main storyline offers a decent plot that tries to stay grounded and avoids throwing in overly clever plot twists that could end up burying the film. The setting in the less-seen New Orleans was a nice change of pace (seeing NY, NY, and more NY gets old after a few films). The cast was pleasantly surprising; I was particularly pleased with Frank Grillo as the corrupt anti-drug cop, more so than Naomie Harris. Tyrese Gibson also avoided overacting in his supporting role. The film's atmosphere is solid, with its portrayal of corruption not making for an optimistic viewing experience. The only disappointing aspect for me was the action—not so much the number of suspenseful sequences but the B-movie quality of the execution. Hollywood only manages to capture realistic shootouts occasionally. Overall, it was okay. I give it 63%. (01/22/2020)