I saw this film quite a while ago, but it just lingers on in my mind exactly how bad it was. It seemed very much during my watch that Queen & Slim's producers aimed for a self-determinist leaning project for its audience. Unfortunately, the final product left me very cold with its bitter, boring take on Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde. Both this movie and that predecessor portray two lovers on the run in the U.S.A. The '19 film's pair is Black and their transgression is killing an overly aggressive, insensitive white cop. This impetus is meant to set off an echo chamber in the real time and space of African-American horrors today. Yet, Queen & Slim lets out a very light chime at best.

As the titular Queen, Jodie-Turner Smith gives off banality; it's a fluke that demanding others treat you like royalty will always pay off in a democratic republic. Seeking refuge, Queen confronts Goddess, another black woman who acts lackadaisically toward her. Queen calls Goddess a "bitch" and gains entry. There's a weird, coded nomenclature to the film's dialogue betrayed here. Another telling moment involving the two outlaws occurs when they pray over food, and Queen thanks her maker for the air that allows them all to breathe. She implies a God who's quite simply fearsome and terrible.

Lastly comes Queen and Slim's anticlimactic finale involving the law, or largely, white male authority. This confrontation is so stale and unexciting as to be an unintentional howler, and so it sort of misses the mark as great exploitation. As far as social commentary, cinema's seen this before. So what the heck? Pass.