End of the Road Review

If you're going to use racism as a backdrop for a low-budget movie, you had better find a point for its inclusion. Otherwise, it comes off as cheap and exploitative, used to give "oomph" to a film otherwise devoid of greater cinematic purpose. Netflix's "End of the Road" is a tidy little thriller to which bigoted white people terrorize Brenda (Queen Latifah), her brother Reggie (Ludacris) and her two kids (Mychala Lee and Shaun Dixon) in a subplot wholly unrelated to the story.

It's a shame, really, because this is otherwise a tightly-woven yet somehow breezy way to spend a lazy afternoon gripping the arm of your couch in light suspense.

After losing her husband and her house, Brenda takes her family from California to Texas to live with her mother. She's understandably low on funds, but after a murder in the motel room next door, her brother spots drug money and takes it. The man was shot by another looking for the dough, either by the notorious "Mr. Cross" or one of his goons, and, that's it, that's the plot. It plays out like a network crime show (such as an episode of Latifa's The Equalizer TV revival perhaps?), but simplicity is not inherently problematic. What soured me were the numerous scenes where Brenda is bullied by local racists, later even kidnapped by some, moments which felt like its from an entirely different movie. 

The cops are never portrayed as such either, which is a missed opportunity given all the controversy with the police.

I won't spoil much else of the plot, but there is never any reason given why her family is the target of the prejudiced outside to paint parts of the US as, well, prejudiced. Segregationists are everywhere here lamentably, and every time our heroes met hidebound locals, it left behind an ugly, slimy stain on the rest of the picture. There's no explanation as to why the heinous denizens are so hostile, or any exploration into how it is hurting the family- bad things just happen, and only because "they" are white and she, her brother and her kids aren't.

But the stunt casting of two famous musicians intrigued me no doubt, and to my great surprise, both Queen Latifah and Ludacris are excellent. Neither ham up their roles, grounding both characters so that they seem like real people in real situations, even though we know it's just a direct-to-streaming flick. She brings a sense of grief and desperation that's told all through her face, be it an intense stare or a crack in her voice, and he balances humor and immaturity with the realization that he has royally screwed up.

And despite clearly working with a limited budget (anytime a chase scene is filmed at night, primarily with close ups of the actors, I can smell the finance department's involvement), director Millicent Shelton handles the minor action with a professional touch, giving everything a heavy layer of polish and slickness. I'm not sure how much "End of the Road" cost to make, but it looks probably a few million more expensive than it actually did.

It's just a shame that the basic narrative core is surrounded just sleaze. "End of the Road" isn't interested in the psychological cause or result of discrimination, but maybe showing how baseless and ubiquitous it is was the point, and I somehow missed it?