Checked out the new action movie Proud Mary, starring Taraji P. Henson as a hit-(wo)man for the mob. Think of this is a kind of try-hard female-led John Wick and you’d be on the basic flow of the flick.
Henson plays a hired killer for a local mob boss (played by a surprise Danny Glover) who has her kill the father of a young boy. Feeling guilty for orphaning the kid, she decides to help him… but a rival crime boss has his tentacles on him. So Mary has to go to war with everybody to set him free.
The movie has a lot of heart and that’s its saving grace. Without it, the fairly thinly drawn characters aren’t very interesting and the action is only serviceable, though you can tell they are trying really hard to make it better. I just don’t think they have the skills. But, still, the character has great affection for the kid. You could argue that we get a bad-ass female-led actioner like this and she’s ruled by her mothering instinct… but is that so bad, really? And, besides, John Wick killed all the fools for killing his dog (and stealing his car)…
Overall, a decent mid-range, B level action flick with a pretty good cast and more ambition than skill. I’ve seen much worse, it’s really right in the middle of the pack. For a January release, it’s not so bad.
Score: 75