Jean-Paul’s Rating: 2/5 stars

Bottom Line: A mess of a movie that relies too heavily on massively unlikely scenarios to tell a not terribly interesting story.

My brother and I went to see “Black and Blue” because there was nothing else showing. Neither of us had heard of the movie. He, having looked at the trailer before recommending we see it, said it’s either a poignant story about police misconduct in the Black community or a horror movie. It was neither, though I think it was attempting to be the former and any horror aspects were of the bad movie variety.

The movie takes place in New Orleans, a perfect setting for either a horror movie or a movie about police misconduct so it’s sad that this was neither. It follows rookie police officer Alicia West (Naomi Harris) who, in a series of events that would absolutely never happen in real life, witnesses the execution of two drug dealers by other police officers. Having been found out by said murderous police and having recorded the entire thing on her body camera, she flees for her life into a world where none of the police can be trusted and neither can the residents.

The rest of the movie is one extended chase scene with occasional bad dialogue with lots of heavy handedness about social issues. The action is pretty decent, though. The movie racks up an impossibly high body count, but the director uses the back alleys and close quarters slums to pretty good effect. it doesn’t quite make up for the movie’s massive failings, but it’s enough to give the movie two stars instead of one.

There is no reason to see “Black and Blue” unless you want to have something on in the background while you do mindless tasks around the house or at your job. It’s kind of perfect for that. Otherwise, see the HBO series “Treme” if you want to see a good show about the struggles in New Orleans.