Jolt - Rabbia assassina

Plot

A bouncer with a slightly murderous anger-management problem that she controls with the help of an electrode-lined vest she uses to shock herself back to normalcy whenever she gets homicidal.

Cast

Kate Beckinsale leads, Jai Courtney supports....ish, Bobby Cannavale stars, Stanley Tucci is wasted, David Bradley shines and Susan Sarandon is there as well for some unknown reason.

Verdict

Kate Beckinsale channels her inner (And outer) Charlize Theron and delivers a fast paced action movie which oozes style and offers an interesting premise. But does it deliver? No, not really.

Now let me put it out there, I don't like action flicks for the most part. I like substance and action movies rarely offer that, for me to enjoy one it needs to paint outside the lines and bring something different than the others. Gun battles, fist fights, car chases and explosions? We've seen them before, literally thousands of times. Give us something new.

Jolt provides a new concept I'll give it that, in fact I kinda liked it and Beckinsale took it and ran with it the best she could. It got my attention early and I was excited to see the direction it was going to go, alas it starts strong then staggers its way into generic Hollywood action territory and my attention was lost.

Jolt in someone else's hands could have been good, as it is sadly is a disappointing middle of the road action flick.

Rants

There's been an influx in female lead action films lately and unsurprisingly the misogyny has been rife as a result. Me, I welcome it however on the very same terms as a male lead. Namely, it needs to be believable and often they're simply not. I can't take Tom Cruise seriously as an action hero anymore than I could Paul Reubens! Alas when it comes to girls the same problem can rear its head, if they look absurd during action scenes then it flatlines the whole film. I don't care if the hero is male or female, just make me believe they're capable of the feats they're pulling off!

Breakdown

Beckinsale is on point Great concept Stylish Kind of fizzles out half way through Wastes a lot of its cast Relies on a lot of tired tropes.

It is very puzzling that there are a number of very negative reviews with "1" or "2" ratings. I suspect those didn't even watch this movie. Look at the distribution of ratings, most are in the "5", "6" and "7" categories. It definitely is not a "1" or a "2".

Beckinsale is great as the young woman who battles with impulse control, and with her great strength and speed can wreak lots of havoc if she is so inclined. She uses a self-administered shock ("jolt") to keep herself from following through when something agitates her. Most of the time. It should not be taken any more seriously than an action comic book, not everything has to be plausible. Plus there is an interesting thread of a story there. Did you know in war they taught dogs to go towards enemy tanks, with a bomb strapped to them?

But it is mostly hilarious with inventive situations and inventive dialog. But caution, the language is often really hard-R rated. It isn't a great movie but as fun entertainment it definitely hits the spot if you are in the right mood

My wife and I both enjoyed it, on Amazon streaming movies.

It's a semi-dark, action comedy with an incredibly sexy leading actress. So wtf do the uptight prudes who dissed this film expect? If you're going to give this film a go do it with an open mind, without expectations, and it might keep you pleasantly occupied for 90 minutes or so.

There is no way this is as bad as a 1, 2, or 3 as others have said. It is "decent" at its worse (meaning watchable), if you are willing to put up with a lot of standard problems that a TON of action movies have in them. It is an over-the-top action movie with a fairly new twist (giving the movie its name). A better script would have made this so much better though!

Semi-spoiler but not really: I was able to look past many of the "problems" mentioned above and decided with its tongue firmly in place, its campiness made it an acceptable romp in the action genre. The motivation behind the twist in the end was a stupid trope and really disappointing...

Lindy (Kate Beckinsale) has anger issues since childhood. She was institutionalized but nothing helped except an experimental treatment from Dr. Munchin (Stanley Tucci). She self-induces electrical shocks to her body whenever she has murderous thoughts. It's a lonely existence until she starts dating nice accountant Justin. When he's murdered, she seeks revenge while police detectives Vicars (Bobby Cannavale) and Nevin (Laverne Cox) investigate.

The idea is interesting but it starts to wear thin sooner than expected. The first part's issue is that it gets repetitive. She has murderous vision, she gets a jolt, and the scene resets to normal. It happens over and over again. Once the premise is stated, the whole series of cinematic moves is not needed. The comedy needs to be better and I'm not sure that Kate Beckinsale can deliver it. She can definitely deliver the cool but she struggles to lead in this one. I like the start but the movie peters out over time.