Proud Mary

A professional killer faces the consequences of her crimes in the fourth film from director Babak Najafi (London Has Fallen). The promising, blaxploitation-infused opening credits give way to a disappointingly dour action thriller that nevertheless boasts a serious selling point in leading lady Taraji P Henson (Hidden Figures). When her hitwoman, Mary, mows down some gang members while protecting a boy she's inadvertently orphaned (Jahi Di'Allo Winston), it triggers a war between her boss (Danny Glover) and a rival crime lord (Rade Serbedzija), a situation further complicated by her relationship with her employer's obsessive and vindictive son (Billy Brown). The action is passable, albeit sub-John Wick, but Henson makes the most of her lines, bringing weight and heart to the table in a multifaceted performance that sees her pivot between sass, steel and maternal concern. If the film lacks flavour as a whole, the bond between Mary and her young charge is genuinely touching, and watching her take out a dozen henchmen flanked by the title track is a pulsating moment, indeed.