Black and Blue

The conundrum at the center of the plot of this movie (and its title) is this: In many American cities like New Orleans, where the film is set, African Americans identify as black (part of the community of color) or “blue” (a police officer), but not both. So when rookie officer Alicia West (Naomie Harris, Moonlight) witnesses a murder by some corrupt detectives, recording the incident on her bodycam, she’s stranded between her two worlds. As she’s hunted down by a gaggle of corrupt cops, the black community doesn’t want to help because its members distrust police.

Which raises the question: Who’s the target audience for this movie? Sure, it’s got a black protagonist who’s honorable and sympathetic, but she’s a police officer and not a very good one at that. And other than the one ally she picks up — a convenience store manager named Mouse (Tyrese Gibson, The Fate of the Furious) — most of the other African American characters are part of a drug gang or undifferentiated poor people. So, not much of an advancement for the portrayal of African American characters on screen.

As a crime action drama, Black and Blue isn’t terrible. It moves the action briskly along, doesn’t always take the easy plot turn and figures out moderately creative answers to the various traps into which it drops Alicia and Darius. Prolific director Deon (The Intruder, Traffik) specializes in high-tension movies, and he powers through a lot of eye-rolling moments by maintaining suspense even in the face of audience disbelief.

Let’s just hope the next movie that’s focused on an African American woman cop will also allow her to show off how well she can do her job, not just avoid the bad guys.