''Proud Mary'' is a 2018 American
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
directed by
Babak Najafi
Babak Najafi Karami ( fa, بابک نجفی, born 14 September 1975) is an Iranian-Swedish film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He is known for directing the 2016 film ''London Has Fallen''.
Biography Early years
Najafi was ...
, from a screenplay written by
John S. Newman and Christian Swegal. The film stars
Taraji P. Henson, Jahi Di'Allo Winston,
Billy Brown,
Danny Glover,
Neal McDonough
Neal McDonough (born February 13, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' (2001), Deputy District Attorney David McNorris on ''Boomtown'' (2002–20 ...
,
Xander Berkeley
Alexander Harper Berkeley (born December 16, 1955) is an American actor and voice actor. Since beginning his career in the early 1980s, he has appeared in over 200 film and television projects. His film roles include '' Terminator 2: Judgment Da ...
,
Margaret Avery
Margaret Avery (born April 15, 1944) is an American actress and singer. She began her career appearing on stage and later had starring roles in films including '' Cool Breeze'' (1972), ''Which Way Is Up?'' (1977), ''Scott Joplin'' (1977), and ''T ...
, and follows an assassin who must look after a young teenaged boy after a hit job goes wrong.
''Proud Mary'' was released on January 12, 2018, by
Screen Gems, which was also the film's production company. Upon release, the film received negative reviews from critics and grossed $21 million.
Plot
In
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, assassin Mary Goodwin kills her target Marcus Miller in his apartment. Before leaving, she notices Marcus’ young son Danny in his room, oblivious to her presence. A year later, Danny – unaware Mary has been keeping an eye on him – is working for a drug dealer who calls himself Uncle. When a customer, Jerome, tries to short him, Danny pulls a gun and takes the full payment. He buys himself food and delivers the money to Uncle, who beats him for taking a portion of the money. Dazed, Danny rests on a bench, but a man steals his bag, forcing Danny to chase him and fire in the air. The thief drops the bag, but Danny faints and is found by Mary.
Danny awakens in Mary's home, and she offers him food and first aid. Noticing the marks from Uncle's abuse, Mary confronts the dealer, but she is forced to kill Uncle and his men. Leaving Danny at her apartment, Mary attends a meeting with her associates Tom, Walter, and their employer, mob boss Benny Spencer. They meet with Luka, who is Uncle's uncle and head of a rival mob, and assure him that they had nothing to do with Uncle's death. Mary encourages Benny's suspicion that Walter was responsible for eliminating Uncle and his crew, and Benny instructs her to kill Walter. Discovering Mary's cache of guns, Danny opens up to Mary about his life, unaware she is his father's killer.
Mary follows Walter on his routine jog and kills him. Luka sends his men to ambush Benny, killing several members of his crew. Determined to retaliate, Tom – Benny's son and Mary's ex-boyfriend – visits Mary's apartment and questions Danny. Tom tortures one of Luka's men, learning of an upcoming meeting of Luka and his crew, and Benny invites Mary to bring Danny to his wife Mina's birthday dinner. Buying Danny new clothes, Mary tells him about her similar childhood and coaches him on what to say to Benny, warning that he is not to be trusted. At the dinner, Mary tells Benny that she wants to leave her criminal life behind, and Tom confronts her, having deduced that Danny is Marcus’ son.
Mary tells Danny to start a new life elsewhere with her stash of money, should anything happen to her. Before Tom and Mary storm Luka's hideout, he warns her that Benny will not let her leave his crew alive as she knows too much. The two kill Luka's entire crew, but Mary is wounded in the attack and they fail to find Luka. Refusing Tom's help, Mary returns home and tells a shaken Danny that Benny will never release her. Danny goes to Benny's office – where he is spotted by Jerome, who works for Benny – and demands that Mary be allowed to move on, holding Benny at gunpoint. Having learned Danny's true identity from Tom, Benny tells Danny the truth about his father's death and takes the gun, but Mary appears. Sending Danny away, she pleads with Benny to let her go, but he cruelly refuses, declaring that she must train Danny as an assassin. Mary kills Benny and escapes unseen.
Tom learns from Jerome that Danny was the last person seen with Benny. Mary finds Danny and shares her remorse for his father's death, promising to keep him safe. While Mary returns to her apartment, Danny is captured by Tom's men and brought to him. He confirms that Mary killed his father and informs her that he has Danny. She arrives to save him, single-handedly killing all his men. Freeing Danny, she and Tom find themselves in a standoff, but Mary walks away. Tom fires at her, and Mary shoots him in the chest, finishing him off with a bullet to the head. Outside, Mary reunites with Danny; as the credits roll, they drive away to a new life together.
Cast
*
Taraji P. Henson as Mary Goodwin
* Jahi Di'Allo Winston as Danny
*
Billy Brown as Tom Spencer
*
Danny Glover as Benny Spencer
*
Xander Berkeley
Alexander Harper Berkeley (born December 16, 1955) is an American actor and voice actor. Since beginning his career in the early 1980s, he has appeared in over 200 film and television projects. His film roles include '' Terminator 2: Judgment Da ...
as Uncle
*
Neal McDonough
Neal McDonough (born February 13, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' (2001), Deputy District Attorney David McNorris on ''Boomtown'' (2002–20 ...
as Walter
*
Margaret Avery
Margaret Avery (born April 15, 1944) is an American actress and singer. She began her career appearing on stage and later had starring roles in films including '' Cool Breeze'' (1972), ''Which Way Is Up?'' (1977), ''Scott Joplin'' (1977), and ''T ...
as Mina
*
Rade Serbedzija Rade may refer to:
* E De people, a people group in Southeast Asia also called "Rhade" or "Rade"
* places in Lower-Saxony, Germany:
** Rade, Neu Wulmstorf, a village in the district of Harburg
* places in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany:
** Rade, Stei ...
as Luka
*
Erik LaRay Harvey as Reggie
Production
In January 2017,
Taraji P. Henson signed on to star in ''Proud Mary'' with
Screen Gems still looking to secure a director for an April 2017 principal production start in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
.
In February 2017, the film received a January 26, 2018, release date and
Babak Najafi
Babak Najafi Karami ( fa, بابک نجفی, born 14 September 1975) is an Iranian-Swedish film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He is known for directing the 2016 film ''London Has Fallen''.
Biography Early years
Najafi was ...
signed on to direct.
On April 5, 2017, the rest of the cast was announced as the film commenced principal production.
On July 20, 2017, the first official trailer for the film was released along with a teaser poster. A new release date of January 12, 2018, was also confirmed.
Release
Box office
In the United States and Canada, ''Proud Mary'' was released on January 12, 2018, alongside ''
The Commuter'' and ''
Paddington 2'', as well as the wide expansion of ''
The Post'', and was projected to gross around $20 million from 2,125 theaters in opening weekend.
It made $3.2 million on its first day and $10 million over the weekend, finishing 8th at the box office and last among the new releases.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has a approval rating based on reviews, with an average score of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''Proud Mary'' proves Taraji P. Henson has more than enough attitude and charisma to carry an action movie—just not, unfortunately, one this indifferently assembled." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Odie Henderson of
RogerEbert.com praised Henson's portrayal as the title character and the performances from Winston, Brown and Glover, but criticized the production for supplying the film with "awful cinematography" for the actors and "problematic" editing in both the action and dramatic scenes, concluding that: "I am giving a mild thumbs down here, but if you're a fan of Ms. Henson, don't let me stop you from seeing this. Hell, if you make it a hit, perhaps Screen Gems will do its damn job next time."
Glenn Kenny
Glenn Kenny (born August 8, 1959) is an American film critic and journalist. He writes for ''The New York Times'' and '' RogerEbert.com''.
Biography
Kenny attended William Paterson University, where he majored in English literature.[The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...]
'' also praised Henson for her subtle delivery of the titular character but felt the script doesn't give her enough material to fully display her actions. Devan Coggan of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' gave the film an overall C+ grade, calling it a "paint-by-numbers B-movie" that's occasionally elevated by Henson bringing "haunted intensity" to her title role, saying that "''Proud Mary'' could've been an enjoyable guilty pleasure
.. but its stale script and baffling directorial choices hold it back." ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
''s
Peter Travers
Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...
criticized Najafi's direction of a "rote script" that lacks emotional connection between its characters and bringing nothing new to the "reformed menace trope" done better in ''
Gloria'' and ''
Léon: The Professional'', concluding that: "It's one thing to watch Henson's Mary shoot her way out of a world of trigger-happy male oppressors. It's another to watch her continually get shot down by a movie that's not worth her time – or yours. It should be ashamed of itself."
[ ]
See also
*
List of black films of the 2010s
References
External links
*
{{Babak Najafi
2018 films
2018 action thriller films
2010s American films
2010s English-language films
American action thriller films
Blaxploitation films
Films about assassinations
Films about organized crime in the United States
Films about orphans
Films directed by Babak Najafi
Films set in Boston
Films shot in Boston
Screen Gems films