A trailer for End of the Road, a family road trip thriller starring Queen Latifah, has been made available on Netflix. The suspenseful plot centres on Brenda (Latifah), a recently unemployed widow who packs up her family and moves across the nation in search of a fresh start. The couple’s search for a better life takes longer than intended, however, as they become the target of an unknown assailant. The opening two minutes of the video include a high-speed automobile pursuit through the desert, intercut with glimpses of a distraught Brenda, before flashing back to the events that triggered her distress.
Ludacris’s character, Brenda’s brother, is visible in the background as the family of four (including himself) travels down a desolate road surrounded by vast stretches of a barren landscape. They’ve been on the road for three and a half hours, and their final goal is Houston, Texas, a city the youngest family member seems to know very little about based on their chats. As the journey progresses, Brenda’s brother expresses his doubts about going on it. His concerns are justified when, during a break at a wayside hotel, they witness the murder of a stranger.
When Brenda’s brother steals a bag of money from a crazed killer who seems determined to get it back, a simple family’s attempt to do the right thing takes on a whole new dimension. One of their own may be guilty, but that won’t stop this tight-knit clan from sticking together to protect themselves from the murderer. The film End of the Road was adapted by David Loughery from Christopher Moore’s script. The Intruder, Obsessed, and Fatale are just a few of the thrillers that have established Loughery as a major figure in the field. Millicent Shelton, who stars in the TV show “30 Rock,” is the film’s director.
Shelton told ESSENCE Magazine, “When I originally read the screenplay, I realised that I needed to represent this family as a typical middle-class family, but also underline their experiences as a Black family travelling through the South.” And furthermore: We wanted to get at the heart of that experience by making it relevant to the realities of African-Americans in the United States today. Despite their hardships, the family remains united through their shared joy and affection for one another. Shelton claims she made “a new genre of cinema” with End of the Road, which she describes as a “family-based action road trip thriller,” despite the film’s traditional classification as a thriller.
The filmmaker summed up the film’s unique qualities thusly: “Having that blend of action and the heart of a family makes it truly remarkable.” The cast of End of the Road also features Beau Bridges, Mychala Faith Lee, Shaun Dixon, and Frances Lee McCain in addition to Queen Latifah and Ludacris, two rappers-turned-comedic-actors. On September 9, Netflix will unveil End of the Road to the world.