Deon Taylor isn't the best director of B movies that are being released on thousands of screens, but he is... *a* director of them, not totally without some measure of competence and among the three Screen Gems movies he's helmed over the past two years, Black and Blue lets him show what he can do with a more-than-competent script, with shades of... May I be high-minded and compare to High Noon? Only this time the law is asking for help from the public to protect from murderous lawman, so maybe that and a large sprinkling of David Ayer in Training Day/End of Watch mode. In other words, it's not as good as those films, but it's no disgrace by any means either.
Plus, he has actors in Harris and (yes) Tyrese Gibson ready to flex, on top of a chewing-the-set-via-gold-teeth Mike Coulter. This is not to say he's made a giant leap into being 'Someone To Watch', yet when his previous flicks were the insufferable Traffik and sorta-passable-because-of-Quaid The Intruder, a hard-boiled programmer (after a long day of work no less) was what the doctor ordered... Up to a point.
Sure, it certainly has its faults at points, including a couple of story contrivances in order to make a couple of lame message/wrap-around points (including one where Tyrese happens to get some, uh, I guess payback, but I wonder what happens right after his character does that to the, oh, nevermind). But it's got well-directed action, some tense set pieces involving the cat and mouse on-the-run dynamics of West vs Everyone, not to mention boiling hot topical themes and issues that resonate under the surface - which is always a plus in a B movie of this kind - and the locations add much credibility as it was all filmed in parts of New Orleans that many coming down for a vacation or such would not ever go to.
It still feels like a slick Hollywood product, though with some varnish and a depiction of poverty and crime that isn't in something people watching can't or wont recognize. It's not fun bad, or something one will remember a year from now, but it can pass 90 minutes well enough (and an enthusiastic black audience helps).
Plus, he has actors in Harris and (yes) Tyrese Gibson ready to flex, on top of a chewing-the-set-via-gold-teeth Mike Coulter. This is not to say he's made a giant leap into being 'Someone To Watch', yet when his previous flicks were the insufferable Traffik and sorta-passable-because-of-Quaid The Intruder, a hard-boiled programmer (after a long day of work no less) was what the doctor ordered... Up to a point.
Sure, it certainly has its faults at points, including a couple of story contrivances in order to make a couple of lame message/wrap-around points (including one where Tyrese happens to get some, uh, I guess payback, but I wonder what happens right after his character does that to the, oh, nevermind). But it's got well-directed action, some tense set pieces involving the cat and mouse on-the-run dynamics of West vs Everyone, not to mention boiling hot topical themes and issues that resonate under the surface - which is always a plus in a B movie of this kind - and the locations add much credibility as it was all filmed in parts of New Orleans that many coming down for a vacation or such would not ever go to.
It still feels like a slick Hollywood product, though with some varnish and a depiction of poverty and crime that isn't in something people watching can't or wont recognize. It's not fun bad, or something one will remember a year from now, but it can pass 90 minutes well enough (and an enthusiastic black audience helps).