“Black and Blue” (Drama/Action: 1 hour, 48 minutes)

Starring: Naomie Harris, Tyrese Gibson and Frank Grillo

Director: Deon Taylor

Rated: PG-13 (Violence and profanity)

Movie Review: “Black and Blue” goes out of the way to vilify numerous police officers to prove the ethics of one. The movie becomes an action film more than the thriller and drama it would like to be. 

Alicia West (Harris), a military veteran, is a rookie policewoman with the New Orleans Police Department. On her bodycam, she inadvertently captures incriminating footage of fellow officers murdering a young drug dealer. 

West needs to get her bodycam back to station headquarters. Her task is not easy. West becomes a track star as she must evade corrupt police led by Detective Terry Malone, and criminals, running through a part of New Orleans where police are not liked. Her only ally is a stranger named Milo (Gibson)

Even bloodied and weathered, Harris has a beautiful appeal. She is dynamic as an actress, but this script does not do her justice. She portrays an action star here when the movie should be a drama with Harris showcasing her talents.

Instead, on-foot chases of racial and socioeconomically tension-filled instances exist without the needed drama that Harris and a few others could supply. The concluding scenes are lackluster because the acting becomes unconvincing. Also, the story elements are resolved too conveniently. 

Peter A. Dowling’s script is lacking because it takes a plot and overly complicates it in an irrational manner. For example, Harris’ character decides she should get her footage to her precinct by other means more than three-fourths into the screenplay. 

Well, the characters are not the brightest bulbs. Apparently, someone blew out their candles. These asinine actions are typical in a Deon Taylor movie, who last directed “The Intruder” (2019).

Grade: C (In this case, do not back the blue.)

“Countdown” (Horror: 1 hour, 30 minutes)

Starring: Elizabeth Lail, Jordan Calloway, Talitha Bateman and P.J. Byrne

Director: Justin Dec

Rated: PG-13 (Profanity, violence terror, bloody imagery and suggestive material)

Movie Review: Justin Dec (“Rolling,” 2008) is the director and writer of this supernatural horror film. The cast thinks with half of a brain, and that is not the good half. Actions of these people are moot. 

Quinn Harris (Lail), a young nurse, downloads a new app on her phone called Countdown. The app exhibits a person’s lifespan down to the second. Soon, Harris discovers the app is legit and some malevolent being comes to collect at a person’s time of death, tormenting people just hours before they die. 

Harris, her sister, Jordan (Bateman), and Matt Monroe (Calloway) work to find a way to stop their fates.

“Countdown” is not a consistent story. Story elements change constantly to make the messy plot workable. The result is a narrative that is lacking, even with story shift tweaks. Originality is present with the initial idea, but the script is pedestrian material.

Grade: C- (Do not download this app.)

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar works and lives in Valdosta.