I Love Taraji Enough to Be Honest About the Absurdity of ‘Proud Mary’

***Some small plot spoilers are in this review*** It’s hard to face the question begged by films such as Proud Mary, Sony Pictures’ newest action film that drew attention for its Black woman lead and subsequent lack of promotion: What do you do when a film you want to support falls short of your hopes? Or worse, what if it’s downright, well, bad? Such is the case with Proud Mary, a film so ridiculous that is, if one is to be honest, an early frontrunner to be one of the worst movies of the new year when weighed against many of our expectations. The movie follows Mary, the drug muscle assassin with a heart of gold as exhibited by her maternal instinct to spare the life of a child during a hit. One year later she finds the boy she made an orphan – now a brusque preteen working for a rival drug cartel – and her guilt blends with love as her maternal instinct lends itself to her protectiveness of him. Mary takes him in and their relationship builds through his foul-mouthed-yet-endearing banter with Mary, played by a naturally charming-yet-no-nonsense Taraji P. Henson as they run through the checklist of the surrogate parent-meets-orphan meet cute: When’s the last time you ate? Mary asks Danny, played by Jahi Di’Allo Winston, as he eats too fast. What’s with all the questions, lady? But when Danny changes clothes, revealing his scars, Mary storms out the door to “teach him some manners,” referring to a man named “Uncle” who is a leader in the rival drug cartel for whom Danny worke…