Queen & Slim | Film Review

Hey Guys x

I'd heard about this film for a long time before it came out. And while the majority of the things I'd heard were positive, I had heard some things about the ending that made me really reluctant to watch it - which is why this review has taken so long! Not to spoil anything, but don't go into this film thinking that everything will end happily ever after.

Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) are driving home from a first date when they are pulled over by a police officer. When the situation escalates, Slim kills the officer in self-defence, leading Queen and Slim to go on the run, hoping to leave the country before the police catch up with them. But will they be able to save themselves before it's too late?

I really liked this film. I always knew that I probably would, but I also thought I would find it really disturbing. And while it was disturbing, to an extent, it's still enjoyable, and definitely worth watching.

To start, the film pretty much gets right into the action. There's no unnecessary backstories or things that don't really add to the plot - everything that happens is important to either the creation of these characters, or builds towards the main plot.

Speaking of backstory, it's not that there isn't a backstory, but the backstories of these characters are shown slowly, through dialogue, rather than thrown at the audience all at once. It was really well done.

The film forces you to put yourself in the situation of the main characters, and to think about what you would do if you were faced with the same dilemma. This makes everything that happens in the film feel that much more stressful and heightened.

My favourite thing about the film was the really interesting dynamic between Queen and Slim. The fact that these characters don't know each other well makes the film really interesting because the audience are learning about them almost at the same thing that they're learning about each other.

This is also a testament to the writing of the film. It is so well written, particularly the banter between these characters, that you can almost see the way that these words leapt off the page when these characters were being created.

However, that's not to say that everything about the film was perfect. My main gripe was that I found a few of the things that happen in the film a bit unrealistic. For a start, the way that Queen was a lawyer (and it was made very clear that she was smart and good at her job), but once things got going, she started planning heists and breaking the law like she was a character from GTA. It felt a bit jarring in the beginning, when we didn't really know who she was.

In the same vein, the characters make a lot of unrealistic, and at time idiotic, choices that put them in further jeopardy. For example, without giving anything away, the club scene. Now while the scene itself has received a lot of praise (which I agree with), while watching, I couldn't really enjoy the scene because I couldn't stop thinking that they shouldn't have been there in the first place.

Overall, this film is engrossing, engaging, powerful and poignant, and is a film that everyone should watch. It definitely isn't a fairy tale, but it's real, and that's what makes it work.

7.5/10

Lou