Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) is a bit high strung, doesn’t really have any close family, and is generally a loner. She’s a defense attorney for folks on death row, and the things she has seen over the years have hardened her. Her legacy and mark of success is tied to how many people she can help. She has had a particularly rough day, losing a client, and doesn’t feel like being alone, so she finally responds to the man who has been asking her for a date on Tinder for the past three weeks. Slim (Daniel Kaluuya), on the other hand, is quite different. He works at a Costco, is much more of a religious guy who doesn’t drink, always sees the good in people, has faith in the system, and likes to spend time with his family. He’s always seen the mark of success as having a happy and healthy family.

The two are on their first date, having a late dinner in a diner and getting to know one another. While sparks aren’t flying, they do make a general connection. Afterwards, Slim drives Queen home, but along the way, their car gets pulled over by a bigoted cop. While Slim tries to be accommodating to the officer’s increasing demands, Queen has seen this too many times and starts to speak up. Things quickly escalate once the officer pulls out his gun, and the resulting altercation leaves the officer dead and Queen wounded. Slim had never really been confronted head-on by this kind of racial bias until now, and had certainly never killed anyone before, even in self-defense, and so he still wants to try to handle things the proper way. However, Queen tells him that the police will shoot first and ask questions later, and that they need to run. And so the unlikely duo heads off on a cross-country road trip as they try to avoid the police while coming up with a getaway plan. However, it isn’t long before their faces are plastered on every TV and newspaper, and while some folks see them as the black Bonnie & Clyde, and heroes for taking down a racist cop, others cannot condone their actions, no matter what the reason.

At its core, Queen & Slim is a romantic road trip movie. Queen starts off as this walled-off woman who keeps all of her cards close to her chest. She is not really religious, and doesn’t seem to even really like other people. She has some darkness in her past that she won’t talk about. Meanwhile, Slim is a genuinely nice guy, but has led a bit of a sheltered life, and these events start change him. Over the course of their road trip, Queen and Slim find themselves falling in love. She starts to let her guard down and open up more, while Slim loosens up and becomes more open to trying new things. They have a way of making each other better people. But as they think about a possible future together, they must also consider the real possibility that they may not make it out of this thing alive.

A second large theme of the film is police brutality and systematic racism. As Queen and Slim make their escape, they encounter many folks who treat them like heroes for killing the racist cop, and video and tales of the incident sparks anti-police protests and demonstrations. However, Queen and Slim never asked to be icons or role models, and aren’t quite sure what to do with this.

I have mixed feelings about the movie. There were some really great elements, and some that didn’t really work for me. First, the positives. I found the acting performances to be superb—Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith are captivating. The two actors make the chemistry between their characters feel palpable, and their blossoming love for one another feel believable. Bokeem Woodbine also brings a lot of humor to the story as the wild Uncle Earl, who lives with his harem of strippers, and begrudgingly helps his niece. The film generally finds a nice blend between the drama and humor, with some genuinely tense moments added in that make you hold your breath. The movie also has a beautiful look and style, and an excellent soundtrack.

As for the negatives, the film follows the same general pattern of driving, side excursion or obstacle, more driving, repeat, and this can make the movie feel a bit too long or drawn out at times. There were some of these side excursions that could have been trimmed down a bit it the film wasn’t trying so hard to make a political statement while also telling this road trip love story. Another aspect I wasn’t really a fan of was the use of voice-over. In the commentary, the filmmakers say this mechanism was to allow the viewer to get into the characters’ heads. However, these moments felt very jarring and abrupt—more like the audio was suddenly out of sync or that the filmmakers needed to alter the dialogue in post. Finally, while I fully understand what they were going for, I wasn’t a fan of how the filmmakers chose to end the story. The filmmakers really wanted this extra layer of a political statement to the film, and maybe, as a white person who typically doesn’t have to worry about these kinds of things in his daily life, I just couldn’t fully appreciate this aspect. That said, I still quite enjoyed the film at a higher level, even without the more personal connection to the material at a deeper level.

Universal’s 4K release looks and sounds great. The picture remains quite clean and detailed, even in the darker scenes. And the audio track provides clear dialogue and some nice immersive sound—this is especially noticeable when Queen and Slim find themselves in a small dive bar with a live band. As Queen and Slim are driving, they often turn on the radio, and the audio track does a nice job of showcasing this music, even if it’s a bit heavy on the bass at times. The 4K Ultra HD release includes both a 4K disc and a Blu-ray disc packed in standard UHD keepcase with a slipcover, and contains an insert with a code to redeem for a 4K Movies Anywhere digital copy of the film as well as a code for a bonus digital movie. The Blu-ray and 4K discs both include the same assortment of bonus material—about 20-minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes, and an audio commentary with the filmmakers. I didn’t really care for the way these behind-the-scenes featurettes were done—they reminded me of the voice-overs from the film. Most of the audio was taken from some separate interview with the filmmakers, which we see a glimpse of, looking almost VHS-quality. Instead of just making that available to watch, the audio was chopped up and used as narration for several other featurettes, airing over unrelated raw behind-the-scenes footage. There were also some normal interviews with the cast members mixed in, which were much nicer to watch as you could actually tell who was speaking. There is one really nice featurette where the screenwriter reads her screenplay over the footage of a scene—it was interesting to see/hear all of the unspoken details that are mentioned in the screenplay. I also really enjoyed the audio commentary, which gives some great insight into the filmmakers’ process.

What’s Included:

Film: (2:12:23)

4K Ultra HD:
• 2160p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• HDR 10
• Audio: English Dolby Atmos, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Blu-ray:

• 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English Descriptive Video Service, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Digital (code may not be valid after 3/31/2021):

• 4K digital copy redeemable via Movies Anywhere
• Bonus Digital Movie (Redemption Deadline 8/10/2020)
  Additional bonus digital movie redeemable at www.upherewards.com. At the time of this review, the list of available titles includes Nocturnal Animals, The Beguiled, The Deep, Honey 3: Dare To Dance, Hard Target 2 and Les Misérables, but these change every 4 months or so.

Extras:

All of the bonus material can be found on both the 4K Ultra HD and the Blu-ray discs. There is a convenient Play All option to watch all of the featurettes back-to-back.

• Feature Commentary with Director/Producer Melina Matsoukas and Writer/Producer Lena Waithe (2:12:23)
  The two women provide an interesting and informative commentary, giving a lot of insight into the story and characters. They talk about the decisions behind their choices in both the script and how certain scenes were shot. For example, they explain all of the real-life cases they make reference to in the pivotal scene where Queen and Slim are pulled over by the police. The women also talk about the music used in the film, and share some fun behind-the-scenes stories about the production.
• A Deeper Meaning (5:55)
  The cast and filmmakers talk about the characters and themes of the film. Some of the topics include how the characters aren’t really given names until the end of the film, how Queen starts off as the Malcolm X type and Slim as the Martin Luther King type but swap roles by the end, and the deeper meaning of the ending. Most of the interviews play as audio over clips from the film and behind-the-scenes footage. Participants include director/producer Melina Matsoukas, screenwriter/producer Lena Waithe, producer Michelle Knudsen, and stars Jodie Turner-Smith (“Queen”) & Daniel Kaluuya (“Slim”/executive producer).
• Melina & Lena (4:58)
  Director/producer Melina Matsoukas and screenwriter/producer Lena Waithe talk about their working partnership and way of collaborating, and the messages they are trying to convey. The video footage looks like it was recorded on an old VHS tape, so mainly just the audio is used, which plays over behind-the-scenes footage and clips from the film. Other audio portions of this discussion are also used for the other featurettes—pretty much wherever these producers are interviewed.
• Off The Script (3:17)
  As the film’s final sequence plays, screenwriter Lena Waithe reads the non-dialogue portions of the screenplay. The screenplay dialogue and text also appear on the screen.
• On The Run With Queen & Slim (4:33)
  The cast and filmmakers talk about filming in Cleveland (during a polar vortex) and the warmer weather of New Orleans. Participants include stars Daniel Kaluuya & Jodie Turner-Smith, director/producer Melina Matsoukas, and screenwriter/producer Lena Waithe.

Final Thoughts:

Queen & Slim is an entertaining road-trip drama/love story featuring some amazing performances by Jodie Turner and Daniel Kaluuya. At the same time, the film also tries to raise awareness and make a statement about systemic racism and the needless deaths of innocent folks at the hands of biased folks in a position of power. Universal’s 4K release looks and sounds great, and contains some nice bonus material that gives some real, deeper insight into the film. This is definitely one worth checking out.