Body Cam - A Not Bad but Not That Good Either Thriller Horror Movie

Still browsing through HBO Go, I noticed this film which I could not remember where I saw but I know it was pretty new. It was a 2020 released movie and intrigued me with its premise. OK I will get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

During the time when police brutality was on the spotlight, a couple of police officers Renee (Mary J. Blige - The Umbrella Academy TV series, Mudbound etc) and her partner Danny (Nat Wolff - Paper Towns, The Fault in Our Stars etc) found the body of another police who was killed viciously. Renee noticed from the patrol car's camera of the possible suspect (played by Anika Noni Rose - Dream Girls,  Princess and the Frog etc), but since the detectives were unable to find proof, she tried to investigate by herself.

As she was looking into the matter, the other police seemed to second guess her due to her past behavior and emotional instability, although she still got the support from the police sergeant Kesper (David Zayas - Dexter TV series, Skyline etc). Things started to get weird when further development on the case seemed to hint of possible supernatural beings.

So what was the real reason for this police killing? Find them all in this thriller horror movie.

End of Brief Story Line

When I watched this movie, I did not realize the supernatural element would be quite a lot and so I was a bit surprised when the first scene was shown and subsequently few more times with jump scare scenes which successfully shocked me. But the movie was not only focusing on the supernatural aspect. To me it was more of a thriller with an investigation into the murder of fellow police officer.

The investigation itself was done in a not very slow pace since every time there was a new lead, we would be shown something scary related to the suspect. In addition there was also a back story of Renee with her personal traumatizing experience which was shown just enough to make us understand her. Basically the movie did not feel boring, plus with a duration of around 1.5 hour, it was quite packed and did not feel draggy. 

However, I quite agree with some critics views that there were a lot of potentials which did not get further explored, such as the social aspects (racial police brutality and whatnot). Though for me who was just looking for some mystery solving combined with supernatural sense, I did not have too much complain as it has some surprising twist and a quite satisfying conclusion. Mary J. Blige as the lead cast did her job decent enough while the rest adequately performed their roles. 

As a movie categorized under horror, mystery thriller, this one has got some decent effects. with sound effects that were not bad, considering they still managed to give me the shock effect from the jump scares. Oh there was also a song sung by Mary J. Blige herself titled "Can't Be Life" but somehow it was not catchy or memorable enough. 

Overall there was nothing really special about this movie. It might not win the hearts of critics but it was enjoyable enough as time killer and not as bad as many other films out there. So if you are looking for police procedural movie with some supernatural elements (not too scary or horrifying), then this could be an option. But if you want to see high quality type, then better look elsewhere.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars