On July 12, Netflix released the Cincinnati-filmed Point Blank.
The gritty chase drama is a remake of a 2010 French film in which Paul (Anthony Mackie), an emergency room nurse, must work with Abe (Frank Grillo), a criminal and murder suspect on the run from the cops and at least one kingpin, to get back his pregnant wife, Taryn (Teyonah Parris). As Netflix describes it, “Bad guy? Good guy? Makes no difference. Right now, he’ll do anything to get his family back.”
The film also stars Marcia Gay Harden, Christian Cooke, Boris McGiver and Markice Moore.
Production began in Cincinnati in August 2018 and filming took place in locations across the city, from downtown to North Avondale, Clifton to the West End and more. And since it was filmed around Cincy, the movie has several fun local Easter eggs. Some don’t make sense, and some will warm your heart.
Here are a few:
- In one scene, Abe says to his brother Mateo (Christian Cooke) to meet him at Colerain and Central, which don’t intersect
- Paul mentions Graeter’s Ice Cream when he and his wife are in the baby’s nursery and then Taryn is shown eating a pint of Vanilla Bean
- In case the Graeter’s name drop didn’t tip you off that you were in Cincinnati, when Taryn is watching the news and her husband is called into work to assist with a gunshot victim, she says, ““In Cincy, this late? Really?”
- Dixie Terminal downtown is used to portray a transit terminal — and, fun fact, it was once a bus and streetcar terminal from the 1920s to the 1950s
- A police station scene is filmed in Over-the-Rhine’s Rothenberg Preparatory Academy, and you can see ArtWorks’ “Mr. Dynamite” James Brown mural in the background of several shots
- When Paul and Abe supposedly pull out of UC Medical Center’s parking lot (which is in Clifton), and you can see Rusconi’s Pizza Pub, which is on W. Sixth St. downtown
- You can see a King Records mural from We Have Become Vikings in the background of a scene filmed downtown
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- You can see at least one CityBeat newspaper box on screen
- The ChoreMonster mural at 1401 Central Parkway is visible in an overhead car shot
- A carjacking happens outside “Chuck’s Astro Wash,” which is actually Howdy Car Wash (4444 Reading Road, Paddock Hills)
- You can see The Phoenix (CityBeat is right across the street; they filmed several scenes right outside the office)
- The mansion from the opening scene is at 961 Avondale Ave. in North Avondale
- Another mansion featured — owned by kingpin “Big D” (Markice Moore) — is at 976 Lenox Place in North Avondale
- A door is shown for the Seven Hills Community Kitchen, which is supposedly located in the alley by Uptown Church at 118 W. Ninth St., Downtown (there is no such kitchen/door)
- Abe walks toward the Cincinnati skyline toward the end of the film and the Kroger building visible
- A news reports says a “pawn shop in the OTR”
The movie is currently streaming on on Netflix. And while it doesn’t have the greatest rating on Rotten Tomatoes, we’ll still watch to catch Cincinnati being Cincinnati onscreen.
This article appears in Jul 17-24, 2019.