end of the road

Queen Latifah movies End of the Road review (2022)

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Queen Latifah movies End of the Road review Queen Latifah finds a dead end in a clumsy Netflix thriller. A few authentic moments of racial tension aside, this derivative and trope-heavy journey aren’t worth taking.

In End of the Road, Queen Latifah plays Brenda, a woman mourning her late husband.

In the Netflix thriller End of the Road. Chris “Ludacris” Bridges’ character Reggie finds himself at an isolated roadside motel, staring at a bag full of shrunken-wrapped cash that has been left for dead. Reggie grabs the bag, ignoring lessons learned in films like No Country for Old Men and A Simple Plan, where with body count comes easy money.

Maybe Reggie assumed the rules didn’t apply in that genre because those movies were always about white people. Rhodes End differentiates itself by leaning into a predominantly black cast and crew, titled Queen Latifah. The film climaxes with his declaration, “I make my own rules.” Queen Latifah movies End of the Road review.

By the time the mic drop moment arrives, End of the Road has already branched out from the unrelated thriller, desperate for a bag of cartel money to move things into territory that’s too goofy and parody. Is. Although this in itself can be enjoyable. Who doesn’t love watching Queen Latifah break free of zip ties to defeat a trailer park full of neo-Nazis?

Queen Latifah plays Brenda, a woman at the end of her rope who mourns her husband, who recently died of cancer. He mortgaged his L.A. home to afford his chemo. Now he is gone and so is his home. Brenda, her level-headed teenage daughter Kelly (Michael Faith Lee), teenage son Cam (Shawn Dixon), and charmingly irresponsible brother Reggie pack into their SUVs to drive to Houston.

Queen Latifah movies End of the Road review
IMAGE SOURCE BY BLU-RAY

Queen Latifah movies End of the Road review

Queen Latifah movies End of the Road review. Recently Brenda has been getting a secret ring that looks like the collar of a horror movie franchise. This is actually Mr. Cross. He doesn’t do movie trivia but loves to play games. What comes out is a race-per-clock thriller with road rage and racists that are mostly predictable, except for a handful of qualifying incidents.

The action is clumsy. Depends on writing tropes. Dramatic scenes undermine the artistic range of a charming rapper-turned-actor like Bridges. And director Millicent Shelton makes some curious stylistic decisions along the way, whether it’s a sapphire light or a montage that has the feel of an R&B music video.

The latter aesthetic makes sense when you consider Shelton’s background. He began working on Do the Right Thing and directed music videos for artists such as Kwame and Salt-N-Pepa before writing and directing television as widely as 30 Rock and Pee-Valley.

Being a black woman who has worked behind the scenes in Hollywood for more than three decades, Shelton becomes somewhat of an unsung icon. And there are moments in End of the Road that is perhaps as powerful as they are because of its attitude.

The opening shot, for example, introduces us to Brenda through the convex security mirror in a gas station convenience store, immediately reminding us of how the guys in the film see a dreaded woman. He is someone who is to be surveyed. And Queen Latifah’s finest moment in the film is a scene where Brenda settles into her emotions, tired of how much she must smile and bear it.

Well into their road trip, but before money even comes into the picture, the family is charged by two dangerously aggressive racist hillbillies with rifles in their pickup trucks. There’s a game of chicken and then there’s a collision on the road

To defuse the situation and ensure the safety of her black family, Brenda apologizes to them, considering what they are doing now is an extreme disgrace. When the blondes laugh it all off as if they’re all joking around, it gives Queen Latifah an emotional, angry, and hurt performance – as if trying to suppress her own tears.

This is a film that has very few authentic moments and many absurd ones. But that short performance, directed by a fellow black woman, is the heartwarming

HOLLYWOOD

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