There are a whole lot of good reasons to see, “Proud Mary” which was just released to theaters. I’d seen a good bit of advertising but no reviews which wouldn’t have meant anything to me anyway because I was really looking forward to seeing the movie.
First, there was Taraji P. Henson the movie’s star. She has tremendous talent and presence, it was impossible to take your eyes off her when she was on camera. She was able to overcome, for the most part, poor dialogue, a weak plot, and a great departure from believability.
The movie has a killer soundtrack! Versions of, “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” “Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” “Comin’ From Where I’m From,” and of course, “Proud Mary” was almost worth the price of admission… almost. Danny Glover was either miscast or disinterested in his role as Benny, a family-oriented mob boss. There was the possibly unnoticed reunion of actors Margaret Avery (Shug) and Glover (Mister) from The Color Purple playing a married couple so there’s that.
The co-star of the movie was Jahi Di’Allo Winston, last seen as young Ralph Tresvant in the New Edition biopic. As “Danny” he was either highly predictable or totally unbelievable. There was a bit of chemistry between him and Henson (Mary) and you just kind of had to accept their motivations with almost no character development.
It might seem as if my review is little different than others that combined for a 23% Rotten Tomatoes score but I want to point out the positives. There were two great action scenes in which Mary was every bit the badass you hoped she’d be when you bought your ticket. If you came to see “Cookie” from “Empire” with guns, you got your wish. Taraji was able to more or less carry the movie which she was pretty much left to do. I for one am glad to have seen the movie, although the next time will be on cable. The theatre showed previews for Henson’s upcoming film, “Acrimony” which will be released in March, which looks like “Diary of a Mad Black Woman Part 2,” but I’ll probably see that one as well. Because there’s no such thing as too much Taraji!
ENIGMA IN BLACK 