![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Review: Black and Blue (2019)
This was a pretty thrilling movie!
Spoilers.
Story
In terms of the story, you could say that it was a pretty standard cop thriller. West came across incriminating evidence tying dirty cops to drug dealers. For the rest of the movie, she tried to run away from both the cops who were after her as well as the gangs who thought that she'd killed their people.
I thought the way that this story unfolded was very thrilling. Over time, we saw that many police officers were allied with Malone and Smitty. However, the Black community could only see her police vest and refused to get involved for fear of being subject to more hostile aggression from the police. The only person who would help West was Mouse, and eventually he saved the day by uploading West's body camera footage.
What made this story special, was the emphasis on relationships between the police and the Black community in the USA. West was of both African American descent and a cop. The Black community could only see her as a cop, but she also couldn't accept the hostility from the police against the Black community.
Characters
Alicia West
West was a character who wanted to make a change in her community. She'd been in Afghanistan for a long time, and as such, was a little out of touch in terms of how volatile and hostile the relationship between the police and the Black community was.
Over the course of the story, she bonded with Mouse, and through their interactions, we saw how West's hopes and ambitions clashed with how the Black community felt about authority figures.
In the end, Malone taunted West by saying that him getting arrested changed nothing, but we can't say that that's entirely true. West said that his arrest was maybe the start of some change. For one, the police captain said that they were already being scrutinized for misconduct, so this would give IA a reason to exact change. In addition, at the beginning of the credits, we saw footage of West in a police car riding through possibly a Black neighbourhood, with some little girls waving at her. I think we're meant to be hopeful that since West had proved that she wasn't out to get members of the Black community, that members of the community would warm up to her, and over time, maybe the community and the police would work together rather than against each other.
Mouse/Milo Jackson
Mouse was a distant acquaintaince of West. She went to his supermarket and later his house for help. As mentioned above, through his interactions with West, he soon came to realize that while she was a little naive about police relations, she did only have well wishes. In the end, he offered to take the body camera out of Kingston Manor and upload it to the police station database.
Through Mouse we also got to see some of the extremely aggressive and hostile behaviour from the cops. Mouse was paranoid when West came to him for help so he called the police to his supermarket. Before asking anything, the cops took his ID and ran him through their database in case he was wanted for anything. The cop who held him down was also unnecessarily rude. That interaction left such a bad impression that Mouse no longer wanted to point them to West. This interaction showed how police aggression would lead the Black community not to trust the police to help them. The police didn't even treat them like normal people and it was hard to put one's trust in someone like that who waved a gun around.
Terry Malone
Malone was the dirty cop who was out to get West's body camera and kill her. As he was hunting her down, he told her that the New Orleans Police was a mess after Hurricane Katrina, and he had to take a cut of the drug money in order for the police force to stay afloat. Of course, it was hard for me to take him seriously because of how evil his character was.
His justification for taking out Zero and the other drug dealers he was colluding with was because IA was breathing down his neck and he needed to get rid of witnesses.
In the end, he told West that his arrest didn't mean anything, but he was also a bit vague about that. Did he mean that dirty cops would continue to take drug money? Did he mean that the Black community and the police would never get along? Aside from all of that, it was not something he had a right to speak on, and it was nice seeing him get justice in the court of law instead of just being killed off.
Darius Terrow
Darius was a drug dealer. He had a business relationship with Malone. Malone told him that West had killed Zero, and he put the entire community on her tail. Realizing that she couldn't escape, West made a gamble and came clean to Darius in hopes that he'd see the truth.
After Darius saw the camera footage, he understood that West was being framed and that Malone actually killed Zero and then stabbed him in the back.
As a drug dealer and a popular man, it seemed that he was also a leader of the community. He'd sent a message to many people in the community to keep an eye out for West. Missy's son Jamal even got the message, which shows how far Darius' reach was.
Kevin Jennings
Jennings was West's partner. We thought he was cool until we found out that he knew about the illegal drug cuts that the narcs were taking.
His whole thing was that he was the kind of guy to turn a blind eye. He wasn't actively involved in the drug deals, but he knew about them, and did nothing to stop them. We never found out where he was going to drive West, but like West, I wouldn't be surprised if he drove her straight to Malone, seeing as how Malone was in contact with him to get details on West.
In the end, he realized that he had the power to stop these terrible happenings but never did so. He took a stand when he allowed Mouse to leave Kingston Manor with West's body camera, and when he shot Malone to protect West.
I think it was important that a character like Jennings was included because I think that people like Jennings help facilitate crime. They don't necessarily participate, but they let it go, and so it keeps going on.
Missy
Missy was West's best friend before she left for the army. We learned that West was in juvie, so we could assume that Missy and Alicia were living in a rough area. Alicia wanted Missy to come with her to leave the bad neighbourhood but she refused.
In the present day, Missy had a 10 year old son Jamal, and was running with Darius, the local drug dealer. So she was on the opposite side of West, and was incredibly skeptical of trusting West.
After seeing the body camera footage, I think she realized that she was being to hard on West. While they weren't going to immediately reconcile, I think their friendship is on its way to remending itself.
Deacon Brown
When West first went on patrol with Brown, it was a bit of a shock because of how aggressive he was with other members of the Black community. Brown was convinced that he was no longer part of the Black community and was firmly a cop now.
Other
The main draw of this movie was probably the emphasis on police relations with the Black community. I don't live in the US, so I can't say as to whether this was an accurate portrayal, but I think this movie did draw attention to how these relations have gotten out of control in recent years.
Overall
I recommend this movie! Other than it being a really good thriller, I thought that its message was very important, that we needed to be mindful of the fact that police were systematically mistreating certain communities. I think the end wanted to tell us that we could be helpful that people were trying to change the police from the inside.
Spoilers.
Story
In terms of the story, you could say that it was a pretty standard cop thriller. West came across incriminating evidence tying dirty cops to drug dealers. For the rest of the movie, she tried to run away from both the cops who were after her as well as the gangs who thought that she'd killed their people.
I thought the way that this story unfolded was very thrilling. Over time, we saw that many police officers were allied with Malone and Smitty. However, the Black community could only see her police vest and refused to get involved for fear of being subject to more hostile aggression from the police. The only person who would help West was Mouse, and eventually he saved the day by uploading West's body camera footage.
What made this story special, was the emphasis on relationships between the police and the Black community in the USA. West was of both African American descent and a cop. The Black community could only see her as a cop, but she also couldn't accept the hostility from the police against the Black community.
Characters
Alicia West
West was a character who wanted to make a change in her community. She'd been in Afghanistan for a long time, and as such, was a little out of touch in terms of how volatile and hostile the relationship between the police and the Black community was.
Over the course of the story, she bonded with Mouse, and through their interactions, we saw how West's hopes and ambitions clashed with how the Black community felt about authority figures.
In the end, Malone taunted West by saying that him getting arrested changed nothing, but we can't say that that's entirely true. West said that his arrest was maybe the start of some change. For one, the police captain said that they were already being scrutinized for misconduct, so this would give IA a reason to exact change. In addition, at the beginning of the credits, we saw footage of West in a police car riding through possibly a Black neighbourhood, with some little girls waving at her. I think we're meant to be hopeful that since West had proved that she wasn't out to get members of the Black community, that members of the community would warm up to her, and over time, maybe the community and the police would work together rather than against each other.
Mouse/Milo Jackson
Mouse was a distant acquaintaince of West. She went to his supermarket and later his house for help. As mentioned above, through his interactions with West, he soon came to realize that while she was a little naive about police relations, she did only have well wishes. In the end, he offered to take the body camera out of Kingston Manor and upload it to the police station database.
Through Mouse we also got to see some of the extremely aggressive and hostile behaviour from the cops. Mouse was paranoid when West came to him for help so he called the police to his supermarket. Before asking anything, the cops took his ID and ran him through their database in case he was wanted for anything. The cop who held him down was also unnecessarily rude. That interaction left such a bad impression that Mouse no longer wanted to point them to West. This interaction showed how police aggression would lead the Black community not to trust the police to help them. The police didn't even treat them like normal people and it was hard to put one's trust in someone like that who waved a gun around.
Terry Malone
Malone was the dirty cop who was out to get West's body camera and kill her. As he was hunting her down, he told her that the New Orleans Police was a mess after Hurricane Katrina, and he had to take a cut of the drug money in order for the police force to stay afloat. Of course, it was hard for me to take him seriously because of how evil his character was.
His justification for taking out Zero and the other drug dealers he was colluding with was because IA was breathing down his neck and he needed to get rid of witnesses.
In the end, he told West that his arrest didn't mean anything, but he was also a bit vague about that. Did he mean that dirty cops would continue to take drug money? Did he mean that the Black community and the police would never get along? Aside from all of that, it was not something he had a right to speak on, and it was nice seeing him get justice in the court of law instead of just being killed off.
Darius Terrow
Darius was a drug dealer. He had a business relationship with Malone. Malone told him that West had killed Zero, and he put the entire community on her tail. Realizing that she couldn't escape, West made a gamble and came clean to Darius in hopes that he'd see the truth.
After Darius saw the camera footage, he understood that West was being framed and that Malone actually killed Zero and then stabbed him in the back.
As a drug dealer and a popular man, it seemed that he was also a leader of the community. He'd sent a message to many people in the community to keep an eye out for West. Missy's son Jamal even got the message, which shows how far Darius' reach was.
Kevin Jennings
Jennings was West's partner. We thought he was cool until we found out that he knew about the illegal drug cuts that the narcs were taking.
His whole thing was that he was the kind of guy to turn a blind eye. He wasn't actively involved in the drug deals, but he knew about them, and did nothing to stop them. We never found out where he was going to drive West, but like West, I wouldn't be surprised if he drove her straight to Malone, seeing as how Malone was in contact with him to get details on West.
In the end, he realized that he had the power to stop these terrible happenings but never did so. He took a stand when he allowed Mouse to leave Kingston Manor with West's body camera, and when he shot Malone to protect West.
I think it was important that a character like Jennings was included because I think that people like Jennings help facilitate crime. They don't necessarily participate, but they let it go, and so it keeps going on.
Missy
Missy was West's best friend before she left for the army. We learned that West was in juvie, so we could assume that Missy and Alicia were living in a rough area. Alicia wanted Missy to come with her to leave the bad neighbourhood but she refused.
In the present day, Missy had a 10 year old son Jamal, and was running with Darius, the local drug dealer. So she was on the opposite side of West, and was incredibly skeptical of trusting West.
After seeing the body camera footage, I think she realized that she was being to hard on West. While they weren't going to immediately reconcile, I think their friendship is on its way to remending itself.
Deacon Brown
When West first went on patrol with Brown, it was a bit of a shock because of how aggressive he was with other members of the Black community. Brown was convinced that he was no longer part of the Black community and was firmly a cop now.
Other
The main draw of this movie was probably the emphasis on police relations with the Black community. I don't live in the US, so I can't say as to whether this was an accurate portrayal, but I think this movie did draw attention to how these relations have gotten out of control in recent years.
Overall
I recommend this movie! Other than it being a really good thriller, I thought that its message was very important, that we needed to be mindful of the fact that police were systematically mistreating certain communities. I think the end wanted to tell us that we could be helpful that people were trying to change the police from the inside.