Capsule Review: End of the Road (2022)

I always have a soft spot for thrillers involving cross-country road trips gone wrong, with notable movies like Duel (1971), The Hitcher (1986) and even its 2007 remake and Joy Ride (2001). Netflix’s latest film, End of the Road, is one of those aforementioned thrillers.

And interestingly enough, TV vet Millicent Shelton — who directed various series episodes from Barbershop: The Series (2005) to The Equalizer reboot (2022) — flipped the rules of the road-trip thriller genre for a change. A change where instead of white people are usually involved in such a situation, End of the Road features a black family led by Queen Latifah as Brenda, a single mother whose husband recently died from cancer. His death has ultimately affected her financially after she was forced to sell their California house to foot the costly medical bills.

Realising she’s no longer afford to live comfortably in the big city, she decided to hit the road in her SUV with her two kids, Kelly (Mychala Faith Lee) and Cameron (Shaun Dixon) alongside her brother Reggie (Chris Bridges). And so, they head on a cross-country journey to Houston until midway through, they have to take a long detour. They decided to make a stop at a motel and the night where they are about to sleep, they heard some loud noises including a gunshot next door.

Brenda and Reggie end up checking out the room next door and found a man bleeding to death. Things get worse from there when Reggie reveals to his sister the next morning that he took the dead man’s bag full of cash. He figures the money is enough for them to start a new life but Brenda disagrees and doesn’t feel comfortable at all. Then comes a mysterious phone call threatening Brenda and her family if she does not return the money.

End of the Road gets off to a promising start as Shelton and screenwriters Christopher J. Moore and David Loughery establish the family dynamics between Brenda and her family. It also helps that Queen Latifah and Chris Bridges are charismatic enough in their respective roles as Brenda and Reggie while the younger ones played by Mychala Faith Lee and Shaun Dixon deliver equally decent supporting turns.

Shelton even shows some directing flairs earlier on, where she injects racial tension during a scene where Brenda and her family encounter two young white road bullies (Micah McNeil, Jasper Keen).

But as the movie progresses further, it grows increasingly formulaic, particularly if you are familiar with this kind of genre. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with sticking to such a formula as long as it was skillfully done with enough palpable tension and thrills. It’s just too bad Shelton lacks the sustainable narrative and technical know-how to make End of the Road an above-average effort. The subsequent action sequences are nothing more than run-of-the-mill set pieces. At one point, there’s a car chase scene inappropriately accompanied by DUCKWRTH and Shaboozey’s rap song, “Start a Riot” playing in the background.

End of the Road is currently streaming on Netflix.