‘#FreeRayshawn’ Trailer: Stephan James, Laurence Fishburne Lead Antoine Fuqua’s Quibi Thriller

Quibi is the upcoming streaming service that breaks all of its content into bite-sized chunks for mobile platforms. Despite the gimmicky setup, there’s a load of star-powered content that will be readily available at launch, and one that promises to get a lot of attention if #FreeRayshawn, a “Movie in Chapters” from exec-producer Antoine Fuqua and director Seith Mann.

Starring If Beale Street Could Talk and 21 Bridges‘ Stephan James, plus Laurence Fishburne, and Jasmine Cephas Jones, #FreeRayshawn follows a young Iraq War vet holed up in a New Orleans apartment with his girlfriend and child, claiming he has been framed by police on a drug charge. Fishburne plays a sympathetic cop who wants the standoff to end peacefully, while the situation blows up into a media frenzy.

I don’t know how this will play out on our mobile phones, but this trailer suggests a highly-cinematic story that could’ve been great on the big screen. It’ll be interesting to see how Quibi is received when it launches on April 6th.

 

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.