Proud Mary (2018)

People are voting emotionally.

Fresh and Exciting

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

When I first saw the ads for "Proud Mary" just before its theatrical release, I thought that it was do pretty well at the box office, since the time seemed right to bring back the Blaxploitation genre that thrived for several years in the 1970s. Instead, the movie did sluggish business. After watching the movie, I think I know why it didn't do so well with audiences, though it doesn't boil down to one reason. One reason may be that it was a production by Screen Gems, which has made one bad movie after another over the years; maybe audiences by now associate Screen Gems with bad movie making. Another reason might be that there's very little action in the movie, particularly in the first half. (And what action there is doesn't ever get above a routine level at its best). There's also no sex or real nudity showcased.But I think the real reason for the movie's downfall is the writing. Certainly, the story has a whole bunch of elements that will be very familiar with most audiences. (And the telling of the story is somewhat choppy at times, showing strong indications that important plot and character details were cut down in the editing room.) But even worse that that the characters in the story are unmemorable. There is no character that you'll particularly care about or be interested in. This includes Mary, who comes across as a grumpy figure who almost completely hides her past and feelings. Since there were no engaging characters, I simply didn't care who did what or who felt like whatever. The actors do try their best, but even they can't bring much life to their characters. I'm pretty sure that when they saw the end results, they weren't exactly proud.

Don't go to Boston, it's an ugly city and there's not even one policeman anywhere, to intervene when shots are heard... And, there is this black lady, Taraji P. Henson, she call herself Proud Mary, she can shoot you... She has already shot about 100 men all armed to teeth, just to stay with a teenage black boy to whom she felt guilty for killing his father. And her car is enchanted, does not explode when is thrown by hundreds of bullets, as in many other movies... Without the eponymous song by Tina Turner (which is actually composed by John Fogerty) and Temptations' Papa Was A Rolling Stone, the movie would not be attractive at all. But, I have to say this too, the music does not fit at all with what we see on the screen.

Mary (Traji P. Henson) is an assassin who works for a crime family run by Benny (Danny Glover). She does a hit on a man, but she doesn't know his son Danny (Jahi Di'Allo Winston) is in his room, but Danny doesn't see Mary or know what happened. Mary takes Danny under her wing, but the family thinks that hit -once known - can lead back to them and they let Mary know this. Because of that hit and the hit on Uncle (Xander Berkley) who used Danny to run drugs, there is the fear of a general crime war. Mary wants out. Notables: Billy Brown as Tom, son of Benny and a one time love interest of Mary; Neal McDonough as Walter, Benny's henchman.This is okay, kind of sappy in places, and there should have been more to the story. The acting all around is good and yes, there are many shootings. (5/5) Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Humor: No. Language: Some, not much

Proud Mary starts off with an opening credit scene that made me think "Hey, this might actually be good." Then ten minutes in I realized I was in for a suffocating and heartless movie, with hollow characters and their actions seemingly half assed by the writers so they can finish writing this story that they were forced into writing, just so they'd never have to think about this train wreck of a movie ever again. Maybe "trainwreck" is too big of a word. The movie is so insignificant that a better analogy would a four year old falling off a tricycle... in the middle of the desert...and no one cares. While I was watching this, completely dumbfounded by the thought of any one who green lit this to be made, you get the sense that this was a 2 hour movie that they cut down to an hour and a half, but instead of cutting out any story lines or threads(which this movie is thin on) they just cut the time between the dialogue and moments. Making every scene feel like a suffocating exposition scene building up to nothing. This "action thriller" delivers boring and predictable action that also fails to thrill. Paired with a kid who can't act, Taraji P. Henson does what she can with the generic lines that she was given, and reacts as best she can to the characters full of wood and uninterestingness in front of her. Overall, this movie is GAHbage. It you leaves with a feeling a sorrow that this movie was somehow crafted by professional filmmakers. So I give it a 2.9