If you’ve needed reinforcement that there is a racist cop attacking innocent black person problem in this country, the tautly written opening of Queen & Slim lays it down frighteningly in spades on how such a thing could quickly spiral out of control when bad cops’ egos are bruised (one bad burn and they are ready to grab their holsters). After this mismatched pair retaliates by firing back in self-defense, they go on the run. They had been on a lousy first date, but now are obliged to each other to form a partnership and go from state line to state line to any hideout spot deemed friendly.

At one point, they go to a safe harbor on behalf of a white couple known as the Shepherds’; forgive me, but if the Shepherds spent their lives protecting runaways or fugitive cases shouldn’t they have chosen to do it in a town where there weren’t nosy white racist neighbors living across the street? This is one of a few instances where logic in the script goes slack.

As the film develops the adrenaline continues to leak for the moviegoer, for there are too many run-ins with a number of supporting characters too loud and colorful by half, and one too many leaps of faith taken by our too trusting protagonists. Front and center, Jodie Turner-Smith’s Queen thinks her man chews his food noisily, and finds many likewise topics that bother her. Funny that her character is an attorney who has lots to say about social injustices in the early scenes yet has less of an attorney’s voice once on the lam; her intelligence is muted. Daniel Kaluuya’s Slim has the idea to get them to Cuba; somehow we sense they are never going to get there, you can smell the predestination early. They duo gets known in viral news as the black Bonnie & Clyde, but while there were some genuine beautiful moments shared between the leads, by the end I thought a truer moniker would designate them as Natural Born Ciphers. There are still some imperative topics to contemplate with Queen & Slim if you can manage to make the time for it.

132 Minutes. Rated R.

DRAMA / ADULT ISSUES / WEEKDAY SOCIAL ISSUES

Film Cousins: “Thelma & Louise” (1991); “Jungle Fever” (1991); “The Hate U Give” (2018); “If Beale Street Could Talk” (2018).