Black and Blue

I know I waited forever to watch this movie, but boredom on a random day in the middle of the week finally gave me the time to dedicate to watching and appreciating this film… that and of course the opportunity to record it on my DVR once it was pushed to STARZ Premium.

At first I was concerned about the execution of the movie when I saw the Rotten Tomatoes score of 53%… but then the good old Audience score was a proud 93% so I decided to go at it with an open mind, lol.

The audience did not let me down! I am however, appalled but not surprised by the lack of appreciation and respect for this film from “Top Critics” on the site. They prefer abstract, beautiful art, that gives them layers they can understand. Unfortunately, this topic is not something they can understand.

Anyway… if you haven’t seen it, this is your spoiler alert.

Officer Alicia West (Naomi Harris), is a rookie cop that gets dropped in the perfect scenario of wrong place, right time. After catching some of her fellow co-workers, often referred to as “Blue's”, committing multiple counts of murder of some young black boys that were dealing drugs for them in a community that the police have long forgotten, she is on the run of her life. Doing her best to not be killed herself in a massive cover up, Alicia enlists the help of someone she knew from a past life, Mouse (Tyrese Gibson), to help successfully out these dirty cops and help their community.

Of course it’s hard to believe cops would turn on their own, right? Wrong, this speaks to what’s going on in the world today and it’s the exact reason why “top critics” didn’t appreciate the movie. There’s too much truth in the fact that the wrong crooked cops do is more important to them than the lives they ruin of the black people in these often forgotten communities. Who wants to praise that as a good movie plot? Only the people that understand what’s happening in movies like Black and Blue is true to life.

The evil stares, the condescending attitudes, and the sense of entitlement because of a badge is what black people fear in real life. That fear is greater than the reality that there are still amazing cops out there that actually wear a badge to protect and serve.

ANYWAY! The movie did a great job of depicting things that occur in real life and that’s why the audience gave it the score of 93% like they did. The truth makes people uncomfortable and want to look away, but in this movie Alicia chose to not be one of those police officers that turns their head and lets foul play continue to happen. She did everything in her power to to make sure that didn’t happen and those are the allies we pray for each day when our people are suspected and stopped by the police because of the color of their skin.

I’ll admit, it did have some choices that were less than desirable like the lack of purpose in shooting the black cop that was in on the drug deals and pulled Alicia into this mess or how Tyrese made it all the way into the police station without being noticed until right before the video finished uploading, but I mean it was a movie after all. Everything can’t be on point with reality, otherwise nobody would watch the movies.

Overall, the movie was amazing, I recommend it to anybody that may be curious about if they want to watch it or not. No, it’s not a feel good movie, but it’s a necessary movie and more like it are coming just like Queen and Slim, just like The Hate U Give, and just like every other movie that tells our truth as black people and not the stereotypes that the world thinks are true about us.

Be D.O.P.E.

Movie Release: October 25, 2019
Where I watched: Verizon Fios - STARZ