Sometimes I get in the mood to watch a crazy, messed-up action flick. Not the Jason Statham mindless action fare, though sometimes that works, see “Safe”. I’m referring to the more, out-there action, like Die Hard through a Tarantino prism. Case in point the new-to-Netfilx Salma Hayek film “Everly” in which she plays a high priced prostitute who after a grizzly attack, decides to fight back in a big way.
I will warn you though, the movie opens with sounds of a brutal gang rape, you don’t see it, but the sounds were enough to get my wife out of the room and leave me and the bloodied Ms. Hayek alone. From there though it’s a insane ride that never leaves the building as she and other prostitutes are housed is riddled with bullets. Their boss, the mysterious Taiko has discovered Everly (Hayek) has betrayed him and puts a bounty on her that pits the other girls of the house against her as well as some colorful, almost super villain type characters.
This movie is gory, fast, kinda goofy, and even absurd at times. What makes it stand out as a better than most like its kind is the performance of Salma Hayek. She single-handedly saves this movie from being utter garbage wrapped in a bloody torture porn blanket. She plays it relatively straight, even as the violence gets amped up to 11 leading to a almost comical crescendo. I wouldn’t have bought most of what occurs if Hayek wasn’t leading the way. This by no means is her kind of movie, and I would almost accuse this of being a Liam Nesson “Taken” rip-off, if it wasn’t so bat-shit crazy. Again this one isn’t for everyone, as you can see by the Rotten Tomatoes score of 28% that accuse this of being bad for all the reasons I claimed to have enjoyed it. Like I said, sometimes I’m just in the mood for this kind of action, but I also know I am always in the mood for Salma Hayek.
–Robert L. Castillo
