By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
It is good to see
Terrence Howard back on the big screen after his star turn as Lucious Lyon on the hit TV show, "Empire." Howard, who makes everything he is in even better, is set to star in the Civil Rights drama "Shirley" and is currently in
"The Walk" from director/co-screenwriter
Daniel Adams ("Panama").
In "The Walk," Howard plays Lamont Robbins, a widowed paramedic who is raising his teen daughter Wendy (Lovie Simone, TV's "Power Book III: Raising Kanan"). Wendy will be bussed to a "white" school in South Boston because of the 1954 Supreme Court ruling (Brown v. Board of Education).
Lamont and Simone are trying to deal with all that, but across town police officer Bill Coughlin (Justin Chatwin, "Reagan" and TV's "Shameless"), his wife Pat (Anastasiya Mitrunen, "The Kiwi") and their wild, child Kate (Katie Douglas, TV's "Pretty Hard Cases") aren't too pleased with the turn of events. Actually, Kate is much more open with her racism than her parents who at least try to be tolerate.
Bill is assigned to escort and protect the Black students to their new school. He knows that is going to bring trouble. Plus, it doesn't help that Kate hangs out with the wrong crowd. Her dad especially hates that she's seeing the son of his old high school buddy Johnny Bunkley (Jeremy Piven, "The System"). He is an ex-con and not a great role model.
Things take an ugly turn when Lamont and Wendy are driving home one night and encounter Kate and her friends and they start throwing rocks at their car.
Lamont and Wendy narrowly escape injury. Wendy is so shaken from the incident that Lamont has to remind himself and her to always "stay in control when white people are out of control." That gets harder to do when Wendy arrives at the school and is greeted by a crowd of angry white students and all hell breaks loose.
Then an act of courage, turns out to be a defining moment for Kate, Bill, Wendy, and Lamont and it has the potential to change their lives.
There are impressive performances in "The Walk," from Howard and Chatwin, to Simone and Douglas. Even Malcolm McDowell has a moment as a crime lord.
Yet, in the end, "The Walk" doesn't always pack as strong a punch as you would expect for a movie dealing with such powerful subject matter.
Even so, "The Walk" is an important movie and a vivid reminder of how far this country has come and how far it has to go.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Watch This Trailer For
"THE WALK"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
