Action Blu-ray Review

‘Proud Mary’ Blu-ray Review: Taraji P. Henson is a Stone-Cold Killer with a Heart of Gold

May 16, 2018Ben MK





FEATURE: 
When a hitwoman learns she's played a role in orphaning a young boy, she takes it upon herself to become his protector. The question is — how far will she go to keep her conscience clean?


In Proud Mary, Taraji P. Henson plays Mary, a member of a mob family run by patriarch Benny Spencer (Danny Glover). But when she puts a bullet between the eyes of a competing crime boss named "Uncle" Kozlov (Xander Berkeley), in an effort to do right by a young boy named Danny (Jahi Di'Allo Winston), whose bookie father she assassinated one year earlier, Mary inadvertently triggers a war between the two sides.

Directed by Babak Najafi and written by John Stuart Newman, Christian Swegal and Steve Antin, Proud Mary invites loose comparisons to Luc Besson's 1994 classic, Léon: The Professional. Frankly speaking, however, to compare the two films does Proud Mary no favors. That said, the result still merits a rental, if only for Henson's tough yet vulnerable portrayal of the movie's no-nonsense femme fatale.

AUDIO & VISUALS: 
Proud Mary rolls onto Blu-ray sporting a clean 1080p encode and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix, and the results are quite killer indeed. Picture quality is crisp and free of defects, and bold colors and contrast levels make for a very attractive overall image. Meanwhile, dialogue and the barrage of bullets that defines the film's action-packed third act come through loud and clear, as does the movie's soulful soundtrack, which includes such classics as "Papa was a Rollin' Stone," "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" and, of course, "Proud Mary."


EXTRAS: 
Sony's single-disc Blu-ray combo pack includes an UltraViolet digital copy and the following Blu-ray extras:

  • Mary's World (5:34) - A look at the character of Mary, as well as Taraji P. Henson's performance.
  • The Beginning of the End (5:46) - A behind-the-scenes look at the action of the film's climax.
  • If Looks Could Kill (3:57) - A look at the movie's costume and production design.


Proud Mary is available from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment as of April 10th, 2018. The Blu-ray features English and French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 5.1 Descriptive Audio tracks. The film is presented with English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles. The total runtime is 1 hr. 29 min.








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