Usually, I would make this a review, but let’s be honest, most of you have seen this movie. This is why I’m writing this “Let’s Talk” now because a slew of you have written up and down my timeline about how this movie wasted your time. Lifetime has been doing it for years, but I get it. You expect it, at this point. With that being said, I decided, after watching it with my best friend and talking to her TV, that we would discuss what went well and what didn’t as a family. Cool? Ok. here we go.
Let’s start here. Do I think this movie wasted my time? Yes, yes I do, but because the trailer was deceiving. Watch it again…for me…please. This is the last time I’ll ask you to watch something from this movie in this discussion.
Now, from my perspective, this trailer has me thinking this is going to be a real thrill ride from beginning to end. I assure you it was not. Here’s what always bothers me in movies. When they mention someone precious to the family who died and we don’t get enough time to get to know that person in order to really care about how their absence effects the family we’re viewing. We didn’t need all the mention of Jake. For me, I already knew that if she was moving her, her kids, and her brother from Arizona to Texas with her mom, that she was broke. Money was an issue. They also drove and didn’t fly, so again, it was known that money was the issue for this family on top of the fact that dad died of cancer. Sad but I honestly don’t care in this movie.
Flip side. Here’s what went well, when I looked back at it. The sheriff as the villain was, at a certain point, predictable. Literally, two seconds before he’s revealed as Mr. Cross, I said, verbatim, to my best friend, “If it’s just the sheriff, I will be mad, and I don’t know what I’m finna throw at the TV.” I never found anything soft enough to throw, but all the random questions we had earlier in the movie made sense once he was revealed. Earlier in the film, when the sheriff calls Brenda to get her to come back and speak to the police, my best friend and I wondered why he just didn’t tell Brenda that her and her family were in danger. We know why. He was the danger. Later, when they kidnap Cam and he finds Reggie and the daughter in the restaurant, he mentions that Mr. Cross is the most dangerous and feared man in the area. My best friend goes, “How do you know that he’s killed over 50 men and you haven’t made an effort to catch him?” Again, makes sense now.
Let’s talk about this purple hue. WHAT. WAS. THAT. NETFLIX? You know when I’ve seen a purple hue like that on TV or in a movie? When I was watching P-Valley and this was because the lights in the club were purple. This wasn’t outside. You know when else I’ve seen this purple hue? In Halloween movies where, again, there are purple lights outside. You mean to tell me that it’s just purple outside in Arizona? No! I don’t think so. This purple hue was unnecessary and I have no idea why it was added. It did nothing for the film, the scene, or my eyes. It was distracting and I’m not sure what the filmmakers were going for here, but it need some answers.
I also want to know how many people know that the sheriff is Mr. Cross. My assumption is that he would kill anyone who knew who he was, but he kept making it a point that if he got his money, he would let them go. This is why it made me think of all the people who may have done this before. Maybe the 50 people he killed were all people he told the same thing he told Brenda.
Now, as a black woman, I am about to make a statement that I never thought I’d make. There was a lot of unnecessary racism in this movie. It added nothing to the plot. It just seemed like they wanted to address it…just because, and I don’t like that. For me (now, this is just me), racism in a film is supposed to drive the plot or scenery in some way that effects how we see the emotion, the surroundings, the characters, etc. The racism in this movie almost seemed like they had to add it because it was a black family traveling through, what’s widely known as, a very racist part of the country. However, I was waiting for this racism to pop up somewhere else and be the reason for something, and I never got that and I was mad. Don’t just add racism to add racism.
But y’all tell me. What did I miss? What else should we discuss and is it just me or is Netflix turning into Lifetime where you start to not expect the best from the network?
BLACK WATCH 