End of the Road – Movie Review
Director: Millicent Shelton
Writer: David Loughery (Screenplay)
Writer: Christopher J Moore (Story)
Cast
Plot: In this high-octane action thriller, a cross-country road trip becomes a highway to hell for Brenda and her family. Alone in the New Mexico desert, they have to fight for their lives when they become the targets of a mysterious killer.
Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: End of the Road starts as Brenda (Latifah) must relocate her family, Kelly (Lee) and Cam (Dixon) across America. They are joined by Brenda’s brother Reggie (Ludacris) for the trip, as the family tries to regroup after her husband and their father’s death.
When the family overhear a murder in the room next door, they find themselves getting involved in bigger problems. After Reggie takes a bag of money from the room, they find themselves being hunted down by killers in New Mexico.
Verdict on End of the Road
Characters
Brenda is a widowed mother who is forced into relocating her family across America. She is an ER nurse, which shows how easily she can operate under pressure. Brenda can break down any problems they are facing and must step up when they clash with a cartel gang.
Reggie is Brenda’s brother who agrees to join the family on the road trip. He is seen as a slacker, but he can get the jobs done with how he handles everything in life. Reggie ends up getting the family in trouble and finds himself wanting to fix the problems.
Kelly & Cam are Brenda’s children who aren’t happy about moving across the country. They are still grieving the loss of their father while being typical children in road trip movie.
Performances
Queen Latifah is wonderful in the leading role, going completely against type, being a strong determined action star. This works well because we are used to seeing Ludacris in all action roles in the Fast franchise. The rest of the cast do well, even if they don’t get too much more than the typical characters to work with.
Story
The story follows a family that is traveling to relocate after the death of the husband and father. Their trip takes a turn for the worse when they hear a murder and start getting tracked by a killer hunting for their missing money.
Like many road trip movies where things go wrong, this keeps the story on the edge of your seat, as we left to see if they can make it. the movie leans heavily into a racial undertone, which shows the difficult traveling situations the family face.
The journey itself is filled with peril that does put their lives in danger but they never feel like they are in true danger, despite being against a ruthless criminal. Deep down this story is about bringing a family closer together after a tragic death months before and seeing their lives changed.
Themes
End of the Road is an action thriller that follows a family who gets caught up against a ruthless criminal in New Mexico. It has family cars in car chases and some fun one-liners along the way. Things might not ever feel completely intense but by the end of the film, it offers enough action to keep us along for the ride.
Where to Watch: End of the Road is available on Netflix
Final Thoughts – End of the Road is a fun, against-type casting action movie.
