Movie Review: John Henry (2020)
Directed by: Will Forbes
Starring: Terry Crews, Ludacris, Joseph Julian Soria, Jamila Velazquez, Ken Foree
Rating: ★
My uncultured, non-American ass was confused when I first saw this movie pop up to watch. Since when did DC have another Steel movie on their release slate? Why doesn’t this have any DC branding at all? Is this meant to be in the DCCU? Can Terry Crews ever hope to be as gloriously cheesy as Shaq? A quick google search revealed the concept of John Henry as a folklore hero, a revelation that was interesting enough to me to make me decide to watch this movie. A choice I have since regretted.
John Henry follows the titular character, a former gangster now trying to live a quiet life, being pulled back into crime when two Mexican immigrant children come to him for help from a gang they’re being pursued by. A gang controlled by John’s brother, dramatically named Hell and played by Fast and Furious alumni Ludacris himself. The story of the former criminal turned quiet man grappling with the notion of returning to crime one last time is certainly nothing unique, especially for black crime movies, and John Henry seems almost intent on sticking to its formulaic story very, very closely. The set-up behind the two children is somewhat interesting; they found their brother in America by following the return address of letters their separated parents sent years before. It’s a cool idea that I could see making a movie on its own, but here it’s merely backstory for the very standard plot.
Tonally, the film has no idea what it’s trying to be. At times, it tries to feel like a quiet, intimate character-driven movie, with long, scenes of people talking without much in the way of music, fancy direction or indeed anything much of interest at all. Other times it’s like a cheesy, over the top action flick, with gold-jawed Hell sitting upon a literal throne and executing his lackeys in a room coloured only by purple neon as he wields a portable welding torch. Other times it tries to be an epic spectacle, with shots of John picking up and swinging his hammer or carrying his dog’s body around shot with nothing but low angles and scored with the sound of triumphant horns so loud that it drowns out the dialogue. And other times again it’s a comedy, with the prelude to a dramatic scene being a three-minute-long conversation between two gang members involving discussing The Human Centipede. Unsurprisingly for a movie that tries to be so many things at once, it rarely ever manages to be good. At any of the tones it tries to set, or just in general.
There’s a running theme throughout John Henry that people trapped in circles of systemic criminal violence aren’t always bad people, that even people just trying to survive can end up roped into doing bad things and possibly end up dead if they don’t comply; and that even people made evil by such a cycle always have a hope at redemption. It’s a compassionate and in ways very true sentiment, but one that the movie has absolutely no interest in carrying out through its plotting, only through lip service. The movie may preach the outlook that these criminals aren’t inherently bad people, but only people on John’s side of the conflict are treated with any amount of respect or nuance. Hell’s gang members, who we are given no reason to suspect are inherently more evil than John was during his criminal days, appear mostly as masked hoodlums who are either quickly gunned down or ferociously splattered across the concrete with John’s hammer. Reflecting on the irony of the situation might have lead to something interesting, but it happens too late in the already speedy ninety-one-minute runtime for there to be any room for anything other than fight scenes.
The acting in the film is, pretty much across the board, unremarkable. Nothing in the way of objectively bad, but nobody in the cast manages to excel either. Crews initially goes with the strong and silent type for John, a character who carefully chooses his words after years of a quiet, introspective life. It’s an approach that can work with a charismatic actor and a good script, and I think you would be hard-pressed to say Crews isn’t a charismatic actor. What troubles things is that Old Spice ads and Brooklyn 99 show that his charms lie in the realms of over the top energy, not powerful quietness. When writing a character who says little it’s important to make sure what he says counts, but this never comes across with John. The best actor is likely Ken Foree as BJ Henry, something of a wise mentor figure to John who motivates him through his descent back into a life of crime. And even then, his performance is mostly just passable. Even Ludacris, a veteran of over the top movies who was given all the set dressing in the world to prime him for a cheesy villain role plays Hell very mellow.
The film isn’t wholly unwatchable, either in the absolutely terrible way or the excruciatingly boring way. The plot may be an assortment of tropes, but they’re tried and true ones that genre enthusiasts might be able to enjoy on a base level. And for the rest of us, John Henry’s wild shifts in tone and the occasional accidentally comedic moment (an assumed dead trafficker leaning up off the ground to shoot a cop is shot eerily similar to The Lonely Island’s The Shooting) can provide a few unintentional laughs to get through the slog. But even at just ninety minutes, the movie drags. And when it does, you’ll be begging for someone to get hit with that hammer, whether it be someone on-screen or the person watching it.
For what it’s worth, all my research seems to show this movie has nothing to do with the actual John Henry beyond buff black guy with a big hammer. The folklore hero never even used the hammer on any actual people. The man must be rolling in his grave at this character assassination.
