| Blindfire | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Michael Nell |
| Written by | Michael Nell |
| Produced by | Howard Barish |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Halyna Hutchins |
| Edited by | Meridith Sommers |
| Music by | Katy Jarzebowski |
Production company | Kandoo Films |
| Distributed by | Kandoo Releasing |
Release date |
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Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Blindfire is a 2020 American crime thriller film directed by Michael Nell, starring Brian Geraghty, Sharon Leal, Bethany Joy Lenz, Edwina Findley, Chiké Okonkwo and Jim Beaver.
Will Bishop, a white Los Angeles Police Department officer, is struggling through personal turmoil, living in a motel while going through a separation from his wife, Jan, and increasing his alcohol intake. While on duty with his black partner, Nika Wilkins, they receive an emergency dispatch call regarding a violent domestic hostage situation. The caller claims to have locked his wife in a closet and threatens to kill his family.
Arriving at the scene, Bishop and Wilkins hear what sounds like breaking glass and a child screaming inside the residence. Acting aggressively and bypassing standard protocol, Bishop enters the house. He is confronted by an Afro-American man emerging from a room holding a broken beer bottle. Misinterpreting the item as an immediate lethal threat, Bishop reacts instantly and fires his weapon, fatally wounding the man. As Wilkins moves in to secure the scene, they discover that the victim is Andre Hughes, a respected high school football coach who was simply watching a game at home with his young daughter, Lucy.
In the immediate aftermath, Bishop's superior, Sergeant Ward, attempts to reassure him that his actions were justified given the nature of the dispatch call. However, public outrage erupts, fueled by accusations of police brutality and ingrained racial bias. Hughes's wife, Rosie, and his father, Albert, demand systemic accountability, while fellow officer Davon confronts Bishop directly about the shooting.
Michael Talbot-Haynes of Film Threat gave the film a score of 8/10 and called it a "tight thriller, effectively balancing the intense action with truly affecting dramatic moments."
Tom Meek of Cambridge Day rated the film 2.5 out of 4 stars and wrote: "Blue-on-Black violence gets put under the microscope here, shining a light on some of the nuances, municipal shenanigans and complications of deadly police response and the tangled process of justice."
Lapacanzo Sandoval of the New York Amsterdam News wrote that the film "has high ambitions but a very weak story with performances that do nothing to help shape this film" and called it a "look into the dull, boring, uninspired life of the guilty cop with no revelations at all."