A judge shows she is much tougher than she sets out to be in this action thriller from A Day to Die For helmer Wes Miller.

Judge Jaeda King is in a bit of a situation. Her marriage isn’t going great due to her husband’s recent venture into helping homeless families get meals. And to make matters worse, she is somewhat ridiculed for her being a female in a male-dominated courthouse. She is to oversee and sentence criminal Sean Samuels, who has been found guilty of murder. When she hands down the sentence, Sean is ready to accept the consequences. However, someone is not and he’s going to make it known.

Sean’s older brother Gabriel, a crime lord known as “Black Caesar”, has sent his band of goons to break in the courthouse and not only steal files that will clear Sean of his crimes, but in the case of Gabriel, take the courthouse hostage in order to put those responsible on his own “trial”. When Judge King realizes what’s going on, she soon reveals that she has a special set of skills that will help not only help herself, but the officer responsible for stopping Sean and Sean himself, who makes a deal with King in exchange for helping her get out of the courthouse. It becomes a battle of wits between King and Black Caesar. Who will reign supreme?

Wes Miller has come up with something brilliant. With a lot of Die Hard style flicks coming out possibly to pay homage to the retired Bruce Willis, this can be best described as “Die Hard in a Courthouse”. What’s even more great is that the hero, or in this case heroine, is not a bulked-up action star in the vein of a Stallone or Schwarzenegger. Our heroine is a normal person with problem who we see in the opening of the film, working hard in martial arts to protect herself.

Naturi Naughton is excellent in the role of the Judge herself. A protagonist is not perfect by any means, finds herself in situations affecting both her work and home life, we see Judge somewhat clouded during her martial arts training in the film’s opening. She is stressed out at home, having an argument with her husband, played by Tobias Truvillion, over his recent business venture where she thinks he has no hope. Of course, there is something that underlies the surface that’s revealed later in the film.

Jason Mitchell is great as Sean, the criminal who is sentenced and who in the face of dealing with his brother’s antics, feels conflicted and decides to make a deal with King in order to make his life right. In the same vein King is trying to make things right when all hell breaks loose. What’s even more shocking in a good way is Lance Gross, who will forever be known for his role of Calvin Payne on Tyler Perry’s House of Payne. While he slowly began to put behind his comic wit in Perry’s Temptation, he goes full 180 here in the role of central villain Gabriel, aka Black Caesar. He is a mastermind who makes quite an impact while his goons do most of the work, notably Shiobann Amisial, who is Black Caesar’s tough as nails enforcer who gets in on a fight scene against King.

The final moments leave room for a sequel, which I am all for because the way the film ends, it deserves to have one.

Call Her King is a wild ride of emotions and action galore, with great performances by Naturi Naughton, Jason Mitchell, and Lance Gross. I hope there will be a follow-up because we have a new action heroine on the horizon…and her name is King. Jaeda King.

WFG RATING: A-

BET+ presents a BLacklight production. Director: Wes Miller. Producers: Wes Miller and Andrew van den Houten. Writer: Wes Miller. Cinematography: Ron Bowjack Bourdeau. Editing: Mark Twin Jones.

Cast: Naturi Naughton, Jason Mitchell, Lance Gross, Johnny Messner, Nicholas Turturro, Shiobann Amisial, Tobias Truvillion, Artrece Johnson, Han Soto, Charles W. Harris III, Garrett Hendricks.

The film will debut on BET+ on July 6.