Notable Cast: Salma Hayek, Akie Kotabe, Hiroyuki
Wantanabe, Laura Cepeda, Togo Igawa, Aisha Ayamah
“That’s a lot of dead whores.”
After the debacle of edits and release dates that plagued
Joe Lynch’s last picture Knights of Badassdom, it was somewhat of a
relief to see his next picture Everly pop up so quickly. I had my
hesitations for a horror and humor director to take his craft into the action
realm. Yet Lynch’s obvious love for grindhouse and cult action cinema shines
brightly in Everly as the film mixes the influences of early Robert
Rodriguez and Takashi Miike into a rather potent and extraordinarily fun film.
It’s the kind of picture that might alienate a more mainstream audience with
its quirky humor and gore, but for genre fans it’s the kind of flick that hits
all of the right buttons in the right sequences.
Everly (Hayek) has had enough. After being kidnapped and
made to be the slave girlfriend of yakuza boss Taiko (Wantanabe), she finds
herself at the end of her rope. With a young daughter being brought up by her
mother, she makes the decision to get out no matter the cost…or die trying.
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| Ready. Aim. HOLY SHIT! |
As it was mentioned above, there are a few reasons why Everly
was dumped to VOD and limited theatrical releases. Namely, it’s the kind of weird
action flick that a mainstream American audience simply would not grasp and
support. Hayek, despite a spot on turn as the titular heroine in the film, is
not the A-list name she was ten years ago and Lynch as a director is something
of big name mostly in cult circles. This doesn’t stop either of them from
giving Everly their all and really maximizing the material to its full
modern grindhouse potential.
The term ‘weird’ is used in a lovingly way with Everly
too. On top of the rather cut and dry concept at play here with the ‘escape the
building’ idea and the video game like waves of baddies that show up to prevent
such (complete with boss battles like The Sadist and Attack Dog), Everly
uses its Japanese yakuza streaks to outrageous benefit. There is a definite
Miike influence in many of these aspects, particularly the use of gore and dark
humor in balance with one another that brings to mind the era of Ichi the
Killer, and this is combined with a more streamlined and Hollywood punch
tactic. The film does take some strange turns – including the previously
mentioned Sadist character and a brief leap into some horror components, but it
flows pretty impressively between the various influences and styles.
Shockingly, Everly packs some dramatic aspects to balance
out the fun grindhouse pieces. While the inclusion of her daughter and mother
seems a bit forced in moments, Lynch and company play it pretty close to the
chest and throw some great curves into that plot progression to make it work.
There is even a great sort of friendship dynamic that the Everly character makes with one of the yakuza men she has shot. Not to mention the final moments of the film with the slow chimes of a Christmas song
that punctuates the more dramatic beats in the film. So for those questioning the
sheer absurdity of Everly, know that it does throw in just enough depth
to balance it out.
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| Talk about 'bullet to the head.' |
While the expectations for Everly were mixed to begin
with, the resulting film was much more entertaining and effective than one
could have hoped for. Lynch has an obvious love for the grindhouse action films
of yesteryear, but the modern sensibilities to not make the film an homage to such.
The results are gory, funny, and amusing to say the least. Everly is a
massive surprise this year even if it’s more or less geared towards the vulgar
auteur crowd.
Written by Matt Reifschneider
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