Director Will Forbes
Starring Terry Crews, Jamila Velazquez, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges
Rated MA
Score 3/6

Ex-gang member John Henry is a quiet man with a violent past. When two immigrant kids on the run from his former South Los Angeles gang leader Hell stumble into his life, John is forced to reconcile with his past in order to try and give them a future.

For those of you who might not be aware the movie is inspired by an American Folklore hero John Henry “steel-driving man”—a man tasked with hammering a steel drill into rock to make holes for explosives to blast the rock in constructing a railroad tunnel. Henry’s prowess as a steel-driver was measured in a race against a steam-powered rock drilling machine, a race that he won only to die in victory with hammer in hand as his heart gave out from stress.

I have always been a fan of a western and even though this might fall into the ‘cowboys and six-shooters’ hole of the genre this really comes as a new western particularly if you look at the music leading into the final confrontation. I will admit that I am not overly familiar with Terry Crews’ or Ludacris’ film roles except maybe in The Expendables (Crews) and The Fast in The Furious Movies (Bridges). It should also be noted this marks director Will Forbes’ first time in the director’s chair.
I enjoyed Crews’ solid performance as John Henry, I loved Bridges’ look as Hell which was certainly better then some of the villains from the Marvel and DC comic book movies. It was also good to see that even though guns where used in this movie neither John Henry nor Hell actually use a gun, though Crews’ Henry had a powerful moment with a gun. Though unfortunately Hell did come across as enough of Menacing villain as he probably should have.
I also loved the dynamic between Jamila Velazquez Ken Foree they had some lovely comedic moments together. I couldn’t help but a couple of times I found myself thinking of Craig Moss’s 2012 movie Bad Ass starring Danny Trejo.

It will be interesting to see if there will be any potential sequels and if other folk-heroes will be featured.