Salma Hayek might be a total badass in Everly, but director Joe Lynch’s latest film has few other noteworthy qualities. It’s bargain bin, ultra-violent nonsense that will only appeal to anyone who likes 90 minutes of blood, gore and guns going off.
Hayek plays Everly, a woman who was kidnapped by Japanese gangster Taiko (Hiroyuki Watanabe) four years ago as a sex slave. However, instead of selling her off like other girls, he kept her locked up in an apartment for four years. When she’s attacked in the apartment, she kills everyone in sight and attempts to escape Taiko’s grasp. Taiko locates her mother and five-year-old daughter and plans to kill them. Everly offers up her life instead.
Then, for the next 80 minutes or so, Everly has to survive every possible crazy person Taiko can throw at her. She even comes up with the silly idea of having her mom and daughter come to her, which has some unfortunate consequences.
The movie is really set up as a stylish tribute to Lynch’s favorite action movies, all set in one room. Each set-piece comes right after the previous one and he tries to one-up himself constantly. It gets a bit repetitive, as we know Everly is going to figure out some crazy way to survive the next barrage of killers. Some of these scenes are also painfully uncomfortable to watch, especially the sadist torture. That was a bit unnecessary. I mean, Everly even has to kill a dog with a grenade. That’s how crazy it gets.
Everly comes out on Blu-ray on April 21. The only bonus features are two commentaries - one with Lynch, producer Brett Hedblom and editor Evan Schiff, and the other with Lynch and cinematographer Steve Gainer. There’s also a music video for “Silent Night.”
Everly might do well if you’re looking for a movie to watch that is completely brainless, but there are much better action movies out there. There’s only so much joy someone can get out of watching Hayek get acid poured on her leg or seeing a guy stick his finger in her bullet wound.
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