Black and Blue was a surprisingly solid corrupt-cop centric thriller from Deon Taylor, director behind Traffik, and features some strong performances by Naomi Harris, Frank Grillo and yes, even Tyrese Gibson.
Black and Blue
(2019)
Genre(s): Comedy, Mystery
Warner Bros. | G – 75 min. – $19.99 | May 22, 2018
Date Published: 05/27/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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Sony Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3.75/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: New Orleans rookie policewoman Alicia West (NAOMIE HARRIS) inadvertently captures the shooting death of a young drug dealer on her body cam. After realizing the murder was committed by corrupt cops, she teams up with the only person from the community who’s willing to help her, Milo Jackson (TYRESE GIBSON). Now, she finds herself on the run from both the vengeful criminals (MIKE COLTER) and the lawmen (FRANK GRILLO, BEAU KNAPP, JAMES MOSES BLACK) who desperately want to destroy the incriminating footage. Quick Hit Review: Black and Blue is a topical social crime-thriller from director Deon Taylor whose last movie I watched, 2018’s Traffik actually wasn’t half bad, though mostly because Paula Patton gave a memorable performance. This go around, he gets another great performance from Naomie Harris who, like Patton, really hasn’t gotten her due, at least in leading roles, despite being in Hollywood for nearly two decades (my first movie seeing her in was After the Sunset in ’04). Here, she’s in her element and is aided by a sufficient and consistent script — by Peter A. Dowling, the writer behind 2005’s Flightplan as well as 2014’s Reasonable Doubt — that never really lags, which tends to happen with these survival-type thrillers. The supporting cast hold their own. Frank Grillo, kind similar to Harris, needs more leading roles which he at least has had a few here and there, and in the villain role, is perfectly menacing given we only know his name and he’s just a bad dude, no background given. Tyrese Gibson meanwhile shows he can play serious, something he lacks in the bombastic Fast and Furious franchise, not going to say it’s a powerhouse job of acting, but I found a little more respect and can only hope he finds more of the dramatic-centric roles. My quick summary, Black and Blue is a surprisingly well done thriller that kept my attention and was all around entertaining throughout its reasonable 100-minute running time and is the very least worthy of a rental. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.25/5 |
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This release comes with Sony’s easily damageable slip cover. Inside is a code for the Digital HD copy. Not a ton of features, but there are two featurettes: Line of Fire (4:02) and Be the Change in Big Easy (3:44) as well as five Deleted Scenes (4:46). |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Sony Pictures releases Black and Blue onto Blu-ray presented with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. Although the movie has a darker tone with the story, the picture actually looks rather good, along with the sharp detail, colors do have a fine pop to them and there were no obvious signs of artifacts, aliasing or other flaws that can crop up even on new releases. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| The disc includes a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 which was aggressive with a good amount of depth with ambient noises, including off-screen chatter from both cops and civilians, coming from the rear speakers while the center channel with the central action coming through with good clarity. This isn’t exactly reference quality, but certainly a respectable lossless track. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
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Overall, Black and Blue was a surprisingly solid corrupt-cop centric thriller from Deon Taylor, director behind Traffik (which I rather enjoyed for the most part), and features some strong performances by Naomi Harris, Frank Grillo and yes, even Tyrese Gibson. This is well worth renting. |