End of the Road

There was an uneven sense of direction here; some excitement mixed with periods of lagging, almost senseless interlude that had no payoff. An initial conflict, which was given a lot of screentime, was never revisited and seemed only to serve as an "Oh, it's like that" moment - which added little to the main plot overall in my opinion. The kids were, as is often the case, unpleasant, disobedient, and bratty. Ludacris, usually fun to watch, was kind of wasted here as a lovable slack-off type. Latifah vacillated between take-charge 'equalizer' and scared victim - which I blame completely on the director, who really needed to pick a lane and tighten this actioner up. As it is, time is spent on scenes showing us hooray-for-family moments when that family should be galvanized, on the move and planning to survive.

After watching her deliver a descent performance in her limited role in Hustle, I had hopes from this movie which had Queen Lateefa in the lead role of a single mom on an unexpectedly dangerous road trip with her family, something that was evident in the trailer and caught viewers attention too. But then, this was the end of it.

One cannot totally blame the actors if you have a script that hasn't got enough element for a thrilling road trip (was it the budget issue or inexperienced direction, can't really say).

Yes, the suspense that unfolded mid-way was good, but once you have finished watching this movie you too would feel that it wasn't good enough to be recommended as your weekend ride.

TRYING to disregard all the obvious social "messages" in this...

This was decent for the first half, act one. Where they are merely building characters.

Catalyst happens, act two....

If you have half a brain you INSTANTLY know who "Mr Cross" (The bad guy) is. Because of this, act two feels more like going through the motions. The repeated "mystery" behind Mr Cross is somewhat pointless because you will probably already know who it is.

The reveal, act three....

From here.. It's exceptionally fitting that Ludacris is starring in this film... because it all gets so very, very, very, ludicrous. It almost borders on an unintentional comedy. There are too many logic errors to list - wild leaps that wouldn't really be possible.

All the acting was good, the constant unnatural lighting was an odd choice... purple, orange, green, pink.... never just normal lights. Made it visually more interesting.

Overall it was an okay watch, but don't really expect too much.

Regarding the "propaganda" aspect.....

I would say the "message" here of exceptional bigotry by white characters is not really a good message for younger audiences. Portraying all white people as racist is no different than portraying all black people as pimp, hookers, or murderous drug dealers --- it's simply not true. Ya can't paint things with such a broad brush. While I don't deny bigotry exists.. I've never seen it to the extent expressed later in this film. And to be perfectly honest, I think it worked pretty well in act one of this film when it first rears its ugly head. However, all the usage after that scene was pointless and didn't add to the story in ANY way.

I honestly wonder if these films which portray such bold, in-your-face, clearly defined, racism are not teaching mechanisms for younger viewers. And while this film avoided any white character using the N word.. it got as close as possible without it. So are they somehow showing younger white viewers what's "okay" in terms of how white people think of and act towards black people?? There's no subtlety in this film, no nuance - which is most commonly what actual racism looks like today. And there are no consequences for the racism, no pushback by other white characters.... it's simply portrayed as "that's what all white people think."

I love Queen Latifah and have followed her for years. She was brilliant in Chicago! I'm just not understanding why any form of racism is ok.

I would have hoped in todays times she would have been better and held herself to a higher standard.

If I was from Arizona I would definitely be offended, no matter what my color is!! Lol

I've been through Arizona many times and have yet to run across the people portrayed. The acting was below par and the story line was way too ridiculous for me.

The creepy housekeeper watching her go upstairs with the bag..omg! Who wrote that part of the script 🤔 If I was a housekeeper at a hotel I would definitely be offended!! 😂

Everyone can complain about the obvious racism in the movie, but that still doesn't change that it just was not a good movie. Very disappointing.

Listen, I'm a big Queen Lah fan... But this movie was terrible. From the very first interaction, I knew this movie was going to be rough. Ludacris looked absolutely ridiculous and his attempt to act was 'okay' at best. The writing was so bad and the characters were completely unbelievable. It was predictable and poorly thought out. Netflix movies are getting worse and worse. They're losing their edge while trying to stay woke and relevant. It's not working. I will say a couple of the action scenes were enjoyable, but that's as good as I can get. I knew exactly what was going to happen and who the villain was within the first 20 minutes. I only watched the entire thing because Queen Latifah is one of my favorites.