End of the Road (2022)

Directed by Millicent Shelton. Starring Queen Latifah, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Beau Bridges, Mychala Lee, Shaun Dixon, Frances Lee McCain, Tabatha Shan, Jesse Luken, Keith Jardine. [R]

Latifah is moving her family to Houston, but the cross-country trip takes her to hell and back when they end up in the cross-hairs of a ruthless and mysterious criminal. Cliché-ridden thriller connects the dots every step of the way, offering only the “novel” approach of the added layer of racial threat to each of the family’s tense encounters…but that component wears thin fast when it repeats and retreats so many times (racists in the New Mexico desert must be all bark and no bite…). Evidently lacking faith in the material as is (for good reason), director Shelton tries jazzing things up with neon lighting during nighttime scenes, but why that aesthetic choice in this environment? A key twist about an hour in is telegraphed too far in advance to be an effective surprise, but what chance did a mediocre formula programmer really have on the astonishment front? Latifah was one of the executive producers.

41/100