An average movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Sandra Bullock and since it was on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it was a decent attempt from Bullock to show up in a dark(er) drama and she did give a solid performance. The story also had some potential and the only thing that really prevented the damned thing from being actually really good was some rather sloppy writing. For example, at some point, the main character went to her childhood house and, somehow, the new resident was actually a fancy lawyer who would help her out which did seem to be really too convenient. The fact that he was married with a black woman wasn't really relevant with the rest of the story and it seemed to be simply an excuse so they could add the great Viola Davis to the cast. I also didn’t care much about the sub-plots involving these 2 vengeful brothers. Obviously, they were added to the mix to add a thriller vibe and above all a climatic cathartic ending but I don’t think it was necessary at all. Furthermore, why did they suddenly switch brothers to proceed with this vendetta? What was the added value? Finally, it was pretty obvious that Ruth probably killed this cop by accident but they kept this information for as long as possible and it turned out that she didn’t kill him after all but it wasn’t a strong choice, narratively speaking. Indeed, it turned the main character into a complete victim but what if she did actually kill this cop? After 20 years spent in prison, wouldn’t she still deserve a 2nd chance and wouldn’t she deserve to be reunited with her little sister? In my opinion, this approach would have been even more interesting. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent drama though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Sandra Bullock’s work.