Babak Najafi directs Taraji P. Henson, Billy Brown and Danny Glover in this action thriller about a mob enforcer who takes in an orphan from one of her hits, creating a gang war.

Taraji P. Henson is a star I cannot get a fix on. Like Nicolas Cage, her acting style seems to suggest a whole different performance is being restrained under her skin, a schizophrenia that often wriggles free in her expressions and emoting. And also like Cage it means you can never tell if she is lazily overacting or doing something incredibly unique. I’d give her some leeway if this wasn’t such a chore. More interested in homilies than shoot-outs, it struggles with scenes where morally we are to supposed to view some characters as good, others evil, when by action they are all cut from the same dubious cloth. Danny Glover gets some meaty screentime. That improves matters a tickle. But if you’ve come for exploitation or thrills, you’ll leave utterly bereft.

3