Urbanworld Film Review: ‘Black and Blue’
, every bit her match in the role of a reluctant ally — is impressively in sync, “Black and Blue” feels imbalanced and overlong, favoring fast and repetitive chase scenes over well-calibrated tension.And the premise itself is a bit too closely matched with Antoine Fuqua’s far more effective “Training Day,” down to a brazenly re-created bathtub scene that stands as a pointless remake rather than homage.
West learns quickly that she can’t really trust anyone while plotting her escape from fellow officers who put the blame on her and demand her head on a silver platter, a shady criminal group that includes the intimidating Darius and the vicious Terry Malone .
For the most part, legendary cinematographer Dante Spinotti keeps the unimaginative but serviceable action clean and coherent, occasionally recalling the blue-tinted atmosphere of Michael Mann’s “Heat,” which he also lensed. Still, it’s not the sweaty and adrenaline-heavy cat-and-mouse pursuits that pack the fiercest impact here. It’s the quietly played scenes that prove most memorable after the end credits. In one, a young black boy, convinced of West’s guilt, points a gun toward her.
If only Taylor’s film on the whole had been closer in purpose to the elements at which the abovementioned scenes succeed. Instead, “Black and Blue” registers as a standard-issue cop thriller with merely fleeting insights on the racial and social issues it aims to dismantle, while often being overwhelmed by Geoff Zanelli’s redundantly severe score that competes with the onscreen action.
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