Author: Jim McLennan

2025 in Action Heroine Films

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Time for our 12th annual preview of what might be to come in the year ahead for action heroine fans. But first, a review of 2024, which was… a mixed bag. On the plus side, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga came out, and I really liked it. On the other hand, going by the box-office, I might have been the only one, merely the biggest failure of what has been a continued dismal run for GWG in the movies. The second part of Rebel Moon was… not good, and the Netflix animated version of Tomb Raider was mediocre. There was positives, however: Griselda lived up to expectations, and The Shadow Strays came out of nowhere to deliver the year’s hardest-hitting action.

Next year has some promising titles though. Carrying forward from last year we have Ballerina, which… Well, we’ll get into that. The even longer-delayed In the Lost Lands, looks finally to be coming out too. Below, you’ll find more information on both of those, as well as a good number of other projects, currently slated for release in 2025. More or less, anyway. As we’ve seen previously, any dates given will be subject to change. In addition, like Strays, it’s possible the best films of 2025 may sneak up on us from behind and provide an unexpected groovy treat. [And that’s the first and last Finitribe reference you will see on this site!] Thanks to Dieter, for pointing me in the direction of some of these.

Note that I’m only including films which are listed as 2025 in the Internet Movie Database, though I don’t need a specific release date. Things like the reboot of Cliffhanger, now starring Lily James instead of Sylvester Stallone (that’s quite the casting change!), might show up this year. Or they might not. You will just have to wait and see!

Alpha (TBA)

“Two fierce female agents tackle dangerous missions in a thrilling world of espionage, as they navigate perilous situations, execute daring stunts, and face unexpected turns in this action-packed adventure.” Well, I admire the idea, though Bollywood has tended to be rather more macho. One of the reported stars here is Alia Bhatt, who was in Raazi, one of the few genuine GWG movies out of India. However, I’d be less skeptical if some of the supposed promo pics on the IMDb did not involve face-swaps rather than actual pictures, and particularly poor ones at that. I will believe this film exists, when I see it.

Ballerina (June 6)

Or, to give it its full title: From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. Sheesh. This has been a troubled production, with the product delivered original director Len Wiseman (a.k.a. Mr. Kate Beckinsale) apparently requiring very significant reshoots. The good news: the reshoots were helmed by Chad Stahelski (Atomic Blonde), so if anyone can make the film kick significant quantities of butt, it would be him. Plot looks nothing special: “An assassin trained in the traditions of the Ruska Roma organization sets out to seek revenge after her father’s death.” But then, are we really watching this for the story, rather than Ana de Armas-inspired mayhem?

Cleaner (February 21)

“A group of radical activists take over an energy company’s annual gala, seizing 300 hostages in order to expose the corruption of the hosts. Their just cause is hijacked by an extremist within their ranks, who is ready to murder everyone in the building to send his anarchic message to the world. It falls to an ex-soldier turned window cleaner, played by Daisy Ridley, suspended 50 stories up on the outside of the building, to save those trapped inside, including her younger brother.” In other words: “It’s Die Hard in… a skyscraper”? However, Ridley says, “I would say this is probably the toughest action I’ve done.” It’s also by Martin Campbell, who did Dirty Angels. You decide if that’s a promise or a threat!

The Gorge (February 14)

“Two highly-trained operatives become close after being sent to protect opposite sides of a mysterious gorge. When an evil emerges, they must work together to survive what lies within.” Those operatives would be played by Anya Taylor-Joy, sent there by her boss (Sigourney Weaver) and Miles Teller. Nice to see Taylor-Joy doing more action after Furiosa. This is directed by Scott Derrickson, who did Doctor Strange, and judging by the rather detailed trailer, has some promise. However, this is an Apple TV production, and those have proven to be hit or miss, from what I’ve seen of them. But at time of writing, it’s #2 on the IMDb among next year’s films, behind only 28 Years Later.

In the Lost Lands (February 28)

“A sorceress travels to the Lost Lands in search of a magical power that allows a person to transform into a werewolf.” Shooting on this finished two years prior to its release date, which feels a bit long. However, it marks the re-union of Paul W.S. Anderson, a.k.a. Mr. Milla Jovovich, with… um, his wife, Milla Jovovich. Who would be the sorceress in question, Grey Alys. Dave Bautista plays her ally, Boyce, and – as it was when I wrote about it in last year’s preview! – this is based on a short story by George R.R. Martin. At least it’s one he completed, so there won’t be any Game of Thrones shenanigans here. Hopefully it will also be a bit more memorable than Monster Hunter.

Ji (TBA)

“When the head of a Korean crime syndicate, Jin Eun-Ji, arrives in the Philippines to rescue her kidnapped mother, she finds herself caught in a deadly game of betrayal and revenge between rival gangs.” This is still listed in pre-production, and I don’t know who is playing the heroine. However, its IMDb page lists Yayan Ruhian, who was in both of The Raid movies, so I’m interested. The director, Pedring Lopez, gave us the fairly decent Maria a few years ago, another reason to be hopeful. Might end up being one we carry forward into our 2026 installment, however.

K-Pop: Demon Hunters (TBA)

Okay, I was about to write this one off as some kind of obvious fake, and blatant fan service… But, guess what, folks? It actually exists, being an animated project for Netflix made by Sony Pictures Animation. This is apparently “a musical action adventure that follows the story of a world-renowned K-Pop girl group, as they balance their lives in the spotlight with their secret identities as bad-ass demon hunters, set against a colorful backdrop of fashion, food, style and the most popular music movement of this generation.” I have written about Barbie movies here before, so you can probably expect a review of this in due course.

Powerpuff Girls: the Revenge of Mojo Jojo (August 25)

“Mojo Jojo, has escaped prison, and now plans to destroy Townsville once again. It’s up to Blossom, Bubbles, (and Buttercup to stop Mojo Jojo to finishing his masterplan.” Well, this is unexpected. But is it real? From what I can tell, it appears to be a fan film, rather than an official production. Yet it lists Genndy Tartakovsky as a supervising producer and storyboard artist, and he wrote/directed many episodes of the original show. I loved the Powerpuff Girls back in the day. But can you go home again? I fear not.

Predator: Badlands (November 7)

“In the future, a Predator traverses on an alien wasteland, while two sisters discover their horrifying past.” After Prey, director Dan Trachtenberg goes back to the Predator well, though in a different way. It appears this one might be more focused on the monster. He said, “The creature is front and centre, leading the charge. He’s still badass, but there’s something there that touches you emotionally, too.” However, the film also starts Elle Fanning playing multiple characters – perhaps both of the sisters mentioned in the synopsis. “She faced intense challenges on this movie — dramatically, physically, logistically,” added Trachtenberg, cryptically. 

Star Trek: Section 31 (January 24)

“Emperor Philippa Georgiou joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, and must face the sins of her past.” I’ve kinda lost track of the multiple different incarnations of Trek: I leave that to Chris, since she has been a fan forever. But since Georgiou is played by Michelle Yeoh – sorry, these days, that’s Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh! – this might rise above the “I’ll do something else while it’s on in the background” level of the shows. Her character, particularly when in evil mode, has been a lot of fun to watch, because she doesn’t care about politeness. It helps this will also be a one-off movie, rather than a series.

Uppercut (February 28)

“When Elliott (Ving Rhames), a tough ex-boxing champion, accepts the challenge to train Toni (Luise Grossmann), the two mismatched characters form an unlikely alliance. Their sparring and Elliott’s keen insights show the resilient young fighter that real strength comes from the challenges you overcome when life throws its biggest punches your way.” On the upper end, this could be Million Dollar Baby. or Girlfight. But that synopsis seems rather too cliché-ridden, so I’ve a feeling it is more likely to fall short of those lofty ambitions. Rhames is usually worth watching though. Interestingly, this is an English-language remake of the director’s Leberhaken, which also starred Grossmann, a former professional athlete.

Below are trailers for some of the movies discussed above.

Impulse

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★★½
“Two’s company…”

This is one of the more successful efforts to spin a conspiratorial narrative – at least until the final act, where it topples over into implausibility. It’s a bit like how QAnon were not wrong about the rich and powerful being involved in sex trafficking… it just wasn’t out of the basement of a pizza restaurant. The heroine here is Sofia (Gudic), a journalist who is investigating a series of odd murders, in which powerful men are killed in highly compromising positions. These are assassinations carried out by an escort-assassin, Theda – yeah, one of the less subtle anagrammatic names I’ve seen – on behalf of a shadowy, super-powerful group of the wealthy and famous, under the oversight of Zane (Cassavetes).

Complicating matters is that Theda (also Gudic) is the spitting image of Sofia, just with dark hair, so when a fellow journalist, David (Ferrigno), see the hitwoman leaving the scene of a killing, he becomes convinced Sofia is moonlighting. Of course, there are only a few possible ways this can be resolved, such as a coincidental doppelganger, long-lost twin sister, or severely split personalities. I won’t reveal which way the film goes. But there is a sharp ring of plausibility to the way the cabal obtain blackmail material in order to get a politician, Governor Hughes (Kirkland) on their side, then manipulate him to do their political bidding. Though perhaps most chilling is the way the group quickly moves on when Hughes is no longer of use.

As someone who used to be into conspiratorial stuff (back when it was still fun, which slowly ceased to be true after 9/11), I enjoyed these elements, and nods to things like mind-controlled assassins. But at the end, it shifts into some kind of occult ritual scenario involving baby sacrifice, which makes the whole thing smell weirdly like misinformation. The powerful will act to retain  or increase their power: there’s no need for any motivation beyond that, including spooky cosplay. Naturally, Sofia – or is it Theda? – is on hand to witness these rituals, and face off against the cabal members in their lair, including both Zane and the person responsible for her situation. Credit the makers for delivering a surprisingly downbeat ending.

Gudic seems to be having adequate fun in her dual roles, though I’d certainly like to have seen more of Theda in action. It feels like her murderous talents are wasted here, even if making someone choke to death on a large, realistic-looking dildo does demonstrate impressive imagination. The ease with which she apparently shrugs off her programming is a bit troubling: if I was an evil overlord, I’d be having words with my abuse-induced control department minions. More action, and to be frank, more gratuitous nudity, would have been welcome. What’s the point of having an escort-assassin who never undresses? [Though there is a scene involving two girls, a bath and a lot of red wine] Overall, I was adequately amused, albeit not much more.

Dir: Patrick Flaherty
Star: Dajana Gudic, Lou Ferrigno Jr., Nick Cassavetes, Rob Kirkland

Black Doves

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★★★★
“Never bet against black.”

This was my favourite new television show of 2024, and might have been my pick overall. It’s a very strong mix of action and drama, with a fabulous cast of characters. I think I might have to go back to the first season of Killing Eve to find anything as good in our genre, and it’s not dissimilar in other ways too. Helen (Knightley) is married to Britain’s Minister of Defence, Wallace Webb (Buchan). But unknown to him, she is a Black Dove, mining information from him to pass on to her handler, Reed (Lancashire), for sale to the highest bidder. She’s also having an affair, but her lover is killed, along with two others, in murky circumstances. 

Reed calls in her top assassin, Sam (Whishaw), to protect Helen, fearing she might also be targeted. He has a history with Helen, dating back to before the birth of her children with Wallace. Things spiral out of control, involving the suspicious death of the Chinese ambassador, his missing daughter, a previous hit Sam botched, and Helen’s relentless pursuit of revenge, while trying to keep her family life intact. It’s a lot of balls to keep in the air, but the script does a fine job of avoiding confusion, with the wrap-up proving particularly admirable in its clarity. While I’ve read complaints about it being implausible, I have definitely seen worse. There’s room for both this, and more grounded spy shows like Slow Horses.

If you’re looking for strong female characters, there are a slew here, beyond Helen and Reed. Indeed, it feels like the entire underworld, criminal and intelligence, is run by women, while the “above ground” apparatus is male-dominated. The one I liked best was acerbic Irish killer Williams (Ella Lily Hyland), whose loyalties are uncertain at first. However, all the supporting cast are solid, and the relationship between Helen and Sam is among the best non-romantic ones I’ve seen recently between a man and a woman. Should mention: Sam’s gay. Very gay, to be honest. This annoyed the people that always annoys. But to me, it didn’t feel done for DEI purposes, or get in the way of the story.

It has been a while since we have seen Knightley here: Domino was the best part of two decades ago. Since then? Some slight sword-waving in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and that’s about it. However, they do a good job of making up for lost time [note: she is not pregnant for the bulk of her action, despite the picture!] There are an especially good pair of fights against assassins sent to take her out, the second of whom is a self-professed big fan. Williams and her female partners also unleash hell, though in her case it tends to be more bullets than punches. A critical and popular success, a second series was already commissioned before the first had aired. If it can maintain the same high standard – unlike Killing Eve – there’s a good chance it’ll be among the best of… well, probably 2026. Can’t wait.

Creator: Joe Barton
Star: Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw, Sarah Lancashire, Andrew Buchan

Jade

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★★★
“Always bet on black…”

Director Bamford has certainly had himself a year. This is the third film of his in 2024 to be reviewed on this site, following Air Force One Down and Hard Home. It’s actually his feature debut, and seems to date back a few years, before getting released. Jade is definitely rougher around the edges than what would follow, although that offers some advantages as well, in that there appear to be more risks taken stylistically. Whether these work or nor is likely a matter of personal taste. For example, how do you feel about a heroine who kills one enemy by throwing her Afro pick at an enemy like a ninja death star, embedding it in his forehead?

Me, I liked it, but have seen other reviews which called it ‘just plain silly’, so to each their own, I guess. It does need some more consistency of tone, I think, and the script is too loose, with elements which don’t matter. The heroine, Jade (West), is a Brit who came over to America with her brother after their parents were murdered, fell in with the wrong crowd and accidentally killed her sibling with a stray bullet. She’s now sworn off guns, but is in trouble after coming into possession of a hard drive, sought after by gang boss Tork (Rourke), with extreme prejudice. While her allies are few, they include her brother’s widow, Layla (McNamara) and a cop investigating things, Reese (Dacascos). 

It’s clear that the main inspiration for Jade is Pam Grier, and her roles in the likes of Coffy and Foxy Brown. This is most apparent in her fabulous Afro, which is so large, you feel it should have its own gravitational well. West is a stuntwoman, a background shared by Bamford, and a lot of the supporting cast too. This comes through, for obvious reasons, in the action, which is reliably well-executed. However, Bamford seems to be trying to find his style, and adopts a few different approaches, not all equally successful. For example, sometimes he goes for a shaki-cam approach. You’d think someone like him would know that’s close to the worst approach when it comes to showcasing stunt work.

As noted, the story has issues too, especially early on, with a particularly rough expositional dump at the beginning. Turns out the whole saga of Jade’s brother and her background in Britain are not very important at all – except for explaining her strong English accent. It’s definitely a case where less would have been more. Still, there’s a good deal to enjoy here, and I will be interested to see where West goes. She seems to have a huge social media presence – 1.1 million followers on something called “Instagram”, whatever that is… Her comic-book style there seems to match the approach in this, and she has potential. As we’ve seen, the same goes for Bamford, and I am looking forward to seeing what he brings to our table, in 2025 and beyond. 

Dir: James Bamford
Star: Shaina West, Katherine McNamara, Mickey Rourke, Mark Dacascos

Dirty Angels

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★★★½
“Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap.”

It’s important to realize that this is a throwback to movies from an earlier, simpler time. One when action movies could consist largely of a red-blooded American hero, killing evil furreners in spectacularly violent ways. And it didn’t matter much whether the person playing the hero was actually a foreigner themselves i.e. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thirty years later, we are supposed to be more tolerant, and watch films where nuance has replaced shallow stereotypes. We have met the enemy and he is us, or some similar guff. Dirty Angels cares not one whit for such niceties. Its sole concession to ‘progress’, is a hero with a vagina. Who is still actually a foreigner, Eva Green being French. 

She plays Jake, a hard-ass soldier who has been causing trouble for the military brass, since an incident in Afghanistan where the rest of her team was killed. She gets a chance to put things right after ISIS kidnap a batch of girls from a school in Pakistan and take them back over the border. It needs to be a majority female team because reasons, and so we get minions referred to only by their skill-set, e.g. The Bomb (Bakalova) or Medic (Rose). I was a little worried by the latter’s presence: going by her recent films, she should have been called The Bomb. However, she’s a minor presence compared to Green, whose irresistible force beats the immovable object of Rose.

Adding to Jake’s enthusiasm, the ISIS leader behind the kidnapping is Amir (Iskander), the same man responsible for killing her comrades. However, they can’t cross the border armed, so before launching an assault on Amir’s compound, they first need to liberate the necessary weaponry. This all provides Campbell, recently seen here with The Protégé (and he has Daisy Ridley’s The Cleaner out early next year), with plenty of opportunities for some seriously messy violence, and a high body-count on both sides. Throat slitting, head shots and some severe stabbing ensue, though there is some dodgy CGI. An exploding helicopter at the beginning is shockingly bad. Fortunately, it is not a portent of what’s to come, with a lot of good, practical effects work instead. 

In other reviews, I’ve seen a lot of predictable whining from predictable whiners, but the bottom line is, I was entertained. A very significant portion of that is down to Green, whose intensity fuels the whole movie. [This represents a reunion with Campbell, who directed Green for her breakout role in Casino Royale] With someone less effective in the lead role – coughRubyRosecough – this could potentially have been a whole star lower. Again, it is a throwback to times where a crap action film could work, given a star with enough charisma, and once more I’m thinking of Arnie. There’s nothing new or innovative here, certainly. I was not looking for such, just a cacophony of giant fireballs and mild to moderate xenophobia. Sometimes, that really is all you want. It’s the simple things which matter…

Dir: Martin Campbell 
Star: Eva Green, George Iskander, Maria Bakalova, Ruby Rose

Demon Hunter, by Aubrey Law

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Literary rating: ★★½
Kick-butt quotient: ☆☆☆½

I wouldn’t call this great literature, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, in many ways, it’s not very good. But I must admit: I was entertained, and was far from unhappy to realize that I’d picked up an omnibus of books 1-5 further into my reading list. I’m not sure I’m going to bother with reviewing those following installments; certainly not independently, it would be a bulk package, if at all. But I’m going to read them, and probably enjoy them. What’s interesting is, the author has created a protagonist who is, in many ways, a terrible person. But by then pitting them against arguably worse people, the reader is left on her side.

It begins a long time in the past (round about the birth of Christ, I think), when royal princess Annis has to flee after her mother, Amelia, kills her father. Annis had been trained in the dark arts, and vowed to continue building on these skills, until she is eventually powerful enough to take revenge on Amelia. Over a millennium later, her lifespan extended unnaturally and now a skilled Black Witch, Annis is captured by witch-hunters, tortured and executed, her soul descending into hell. After biding her time in torment for centuries, she seizes the chance to escape, finding herself in modern-day Los Angeles and occupying the flesh of a sex slave called Ashley.

She’s not happy about it, and certainly has the skills to punish those unfortunate enough to be on her lengthy list. Methods of dispatch Annis can use include: making your heart explode, forcing you to kill yourself, and – a personal favourite – Exoskeleton, a spell that violently relocates all the victim’s bones to the outside of their body. Given everything she can do, seems odd that the main quest in this book is for a weapon, the Judas Dagger, forged from the thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas Iscariot for his betrayal of Christ. Compared to Exoskeleton, sticking ’em with the pointy end seems very low-energy. Admittedly, there are a lot of entities on her trail too, though so far none pose much of a threat.

You could call this trash, to which I would nod, and reply, “Yes. Your point being…?” So far, there have been precious few indications of pretension or depth, with Annis simply reacting – usually violently – to the circumstances in which she finds herself. There’s hardly a sympathetic character here. Sonja, another sex slave who is rescued by Annis, comes closest but she quickly ends up turned into a ghoul who needs blood to survive, and isn’t too fussy about its source. I hope we get someone who represents a bit more of a challenge for Annis, because when you can stop an opponent’s pulse dead, most battles don’t last long. Albeit a bit guiltily, I confess to being not disinterested in finding out.

Author: Aubrey Law
Publisher: Independently published, available through Amazon, both as a paperback and an e-book
Book 1 of 7 in the Revenge of the Witch series.

Take the Ice

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★★
“Just about skates by.”

There’s no doubt that women’s sports very much plays second fiddle to their male equivalent, though the gap varies from sport to sport. The WNBA is experiencing a surge of popularity, though the NBA is still a financial behemoth. This documentary focuses on ice-hockey, and the debut season in 2015 of the first professional women’s competition in the US, the National Women’s Hockey League. Though semi-professional is closer to the truth: the league could only afford to pay its players around $15,000 a year, meaning almost all of them had to have day jobs, from teachers to paralegals to engineers, to cover the expenses. Commissioner and founder Dani Rylan spends most of her time seeking sources of finance, though finds the men’s league less than thoroughly supportive.

To be honest, I can’t blame them. There’s a vague sense of entitlement coming off the NWHL, not realizing they are largely competing with the NHL for the same fans and money. Why should the NHL help a rival start-up, just because they have women players? That’s the harsh reality here. I respect Rylan for putting in the work and starting the league, but this is capitalist equality in action. There were points at which I wanted to reach into the TV set and remind the NWHL, nobody has a “right” to funding in the world of professional sports. You have to earn it, whether you are male or female, and doing so starts with the quality of your product.

It may have been a mistake to start with just four teams, because with all of them making the playoffs, the entire regular season felt kinda pointless. And how did Boston end up with eight members of the US national team, while none of the other franchises had more than a couple? Wasn’t there some kind of a draft to balance the teams? Unsurpisingly, the Boston Pride won the inaugural championship – without, it seems, too much trouble. The film does make some effort to make this less of a procession, by telling the story of Denna Laing, a player on the Boston team who suffered a spinal injury during a game, which left her paralyzed.

I felt these elements, concentrating on the players and their stories rather than the business, worked better, but were frustratingly brief, except for Laing. There’s not enough of a narrative in the game-play to sustain things, and I suspect I’m an outlier, in that most other people watching the documentary probably will already be well aware how the first season ended. The league is still going, albeit under different ownership, although it’s interesting the film didn’t come out for more than six years after the season covered by it. I’ve been to ice hockey games, both here and back in the UK, and at various levels. But I’d have to say, in contrast to, say, Perfect, there is not much here likely to make a fan, if you weren’t one already.

Dir: Rachel Koteen
Star: Dani Rylan, Denna Laing, Anya Battaglino, Kaleigh Fratkin

You’re Killing Me

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★★★
“Angelic Upstarts”

Eden Murphy (Miller) has a problem. She desperately wants to get into Pembroke College, but is currently on the wait list. However, classmate Barrett Schroder (Heller) has a congressman for a father, a letter from whom would surely push her application forward. Barrett isn’t exactly helpful, so along with friend Zara (Milliner), she crashes his party, hoping to press her case. A series of events ensue, resulting in Eden being trapped in a bedroom with a passed-out drunk Zara, and a phone belonging to one of Barrett’s friends, Gooch (Deusner). This has some incriminating video footage on it, apparently linking Barrett to the recent disappearance of another classmate. He is very keen to get it back, by any means necessary.

The first two acts here are fairly straightforward siege horror, with Eden trying to figure out how she and Zara can escape a situation that’s increasingly untenable. Their own phones were collected on the way into the venue, and Zara’s current state makes running for it a poor strategy. Instead, Eden has to fight a rearguard action, trying to bargain with the increasingly aggressive Barrett and his henchmen, while barricading their current location and repel attacks. It may helps that she is able to capture Gooch when he tries to climb in through a window, giving them a bargaining chip – and potentially a first-reported sighting of Chekhov’s Hair-dryer… That depends: Barrett might not care all that much about his “friend,” considering he caused the problem to begin with.

This is likely when the film is at its best, because neither Eden nor Barrett are idiots, and both know what’s at stake. This dynamic changes sharply when his parents (played by Dermot Mulroney and the late Anne Heche, to whom the film is dedicated) come home unexpectedly. You thought Bennett was willing to stop at nothing? Mrs. Schroder, in particular, cares not one whit how many bodies will need to be buried by the end of the night. To be honest, I felt this is where the film slipped over the edge of plausibility, quickly descending into carnage which teetered on the edge of ridiculous, and with some questionable pharmacology. 

There were times where it almost felt there was a reel missing too, one escape teetering on the edge of “With one bound, she was free” territory. However, we still get a satisfactory final confrontation (remember that hair-dryer?), and I found myself rooting for Eden more than I thought I might at the beginning. There’s a sense of social commentary here, based around the concept of the rich and powerful being able to get away with anything. But it’s handled lightly enough not to get in the way, and despite problems in the final reel, I was adequately entertained. If it does feel that Miller may have been trying too hard to be an alternate to Samara Weaving, there are certainly much worse things to be!

Dir: Beth Hanna, Jerren Lauder
Star: McKaley Miller, Keyara Milliner, Wil Deusner, Brice Anthony Heller

Lioness, season two

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★★★½
“Hold the lion…”

Interesting the title dropped the “Special Ops” prefix from the title for this series, necessitating a bit of a retro-fix on our season one review for consistency. The sophomore run is another solid television show. Between this and Yellowstone, it feels like Sheridan is the macho version of Shonda Rimes, creating television series that have a recognizable auteur feel to them. In Sheridan’s case, that means two-fisted tales,cbest enjoyed with a cigar and a glass of whiskey. That, in this case, it’s largely focused on female characters, does not make proceedings any less macho or two-fisted. This season certainly left me with a new, deeply held respect for attack helicopters. M134 Minigun go brrrrrr…

It’s the pilot of one such, Josie Carrillo (Rodriguez) who is recruited as this season’s Lioness. The reason is her family are deeply embedded in one of the Mexican cartels; in particular, her father is the chief accountant to the Los Tigres cartel, and her uncle is its leader. A dishonourable discharge is fabricated, and she’s sent back to her family. However, in a sharp change from season one, this is only a minor thread. Indeed, it’s only a few hours after her return that her father figures out what’s going on, and the surveillance team have to go in, guns blazing, to rescue Carrillo. It’s all painfully messy, and if there’s an overall theme in season 2, it’s that anything which can go wrong, will.

As a result, Joe McNamara (Saldaña), the CIA officer in charge of the Lioness program, and her boss Kaitlyn Meade (Kidman), spend much of the series trying to fight the resulting fires. The instigating event is the kidnapping of an American congresswoman by Los Tigres, whom Joe and her team have to rescue from over the border in Mexico. Though Meade and her ultimate boss, Secretary of State Edwin Mullins (Freeman), detect the hand of foreign powers behind the cartel’s actions. Which is why, eight episodes later, Joe and her team are sent to Iran, to stop two Chinese nuclear scientists from joining their weapons program. The message is clear. You think you can cross our border with impunity? That belief operates in both directions.

In between though, a lot of stuff goes bad, as Los Tigres are targeted. Not all the opposition is external either, with inter-agency cooperation notable by its absence, and a shady DEA agent whose loyalties are seriously in question. There’s bad intel thrown in too: what is supposed to be a cartel drug stash house ends up containing children, and a well-meaning attempt to rescue them fails spectacularly. The action scenes may be among the best on TV, especially the sequences book-ending this season. However, I felt there was rather too much political intrigue. I wouldn’t mind it in another show: you get a real sense of how different government departments fight each other, rather than working together. But it’s all time when we should be watching M134 Miniguns go brrrrrr.

Creator: Taylor Sheridan
Star: Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman, Genesis Rodriguez, Morgan Freeman

Lady Scorpions

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★★★
“Growing old gracefully”

Cynthia Rothrock is 67 years old. That is considerably older than I am, and I consider it a victory if I manage to get out of bed in under ten minutes. I am certainly not kicking and punching my way through a slew of bad guys, in moderately convincing fashion. While this certainly has its flaws, it’s hard not to be impressed, especially for anyone familiar with Rothrock’s long career in action movies. Personally, I’m just glad she has moved on from the “erotic thriller” period of her career. Sixty-seven is too old for some things. But there’s also a passing of the torch here, introducing us to a potentially promising action actress in Caitlin Dechelle.

She was Gal Gadot’s main stunt double in Wonder Woman, and also doubled for Betty Gilpin in The Hunt. While still a little rough around the acting edges, you could certainly say the same about Rothrock’s early work, such as Yes, Madam. Here, she plays martial arts teacher Lacy Moore, who is estranged from her workaholic mother Alena (Rothrock). For several decades, Alena has been chasing after drug kingpin Lucien (Fahey), to no avail. He’s now ready to pass on the crown to his loose cannon offspring, Sonny (Manuel), After Alena interferes with Sonny’s activities, he decides to sideline her by kidnapping Lacy’s daughter, Ariel. Very poor judgment on his part I’d say. I suspect I need hardly bother outlining the rest of the film.

Though just in case there is someone who has never seen a film in this genre: Lacy reunites with Alena, and they team up to go after Sonny and rescue their mutual descendant. This involves them working their way through minor henchmen, until they extract Ariel’s location. There’s a rescue attempt, the duo get captured, we learn why Alena is so obsessed, they escape thanks to the help of a bad guy with a conscience, and the expected large fight ensues. There’s not much new here, and what there is, tends to be irritating. Del Castillo worked as a grip on a number of Tarantino films and it seems to have rubbed off, in the shape of inappropriate needle drops and villains who love the sound of their own voice.

In between the rolling of eyes these provoked, however, this has its moments. While it’s clear Rothrock won’t be scorpion kicking anyone, she has a grace and fluidity that’s inspiring. Or, would be, if only I could get up off this damn couch. Wisely, it’s left to Dechelle to do the heavy lifting in the action scenes, and she delivers, especially in a fight against fellow stuntwoman Mamyi Ithou, which I wanted to see go longer. I’ll admit to being a bit disappointed in the ending, since this goes from sixty to zero – more specifically, sixty to a “Six months later” caption – far too quickly. But it remains the best Rothrock vehicle I’ve seen in a while. If this is the way she chooses to go out, I’m fine with it.

Dir: Bruce Del Castillo
Star: Cynthia Rothrock, Caitlin Dechelle, Jeff Fahey, Jose Manuel