Director: Joe Lynch
Cast: Salma Hayek, Hiroyuki Watanabe, Laura Cepeda

As you no doubt know, just about anyone who is in the acting profession will inevitably see that there are some roles that they are simply not suited for. One obvious way to see that is with comedies; not everyone has enough of a sense of humor (subtle or sledgehammer style) or comic timing to land the lead role in a production that attempts some sort of gag on a regular basis. But the kind of casting (or miscasting) I really want to talk about is when it comes to action movies. Some might think that all you need for a good action movie is plenty of butt-kicking, but that's incorrect - you need the right person to do the butt-kicking. Not everyone can be an action hero. For example, apart from Hong Kong superstar Sammo Hung, can you name any action actors who happen to be significantly overweight? (Well, come to think of it, Steven Seagal in recent years.) For that matter, you don't exactly see a lot of action heroes who are really skinny, for the simple fact that a fragile-looking person kicking butt risks coming across as silly. You also don't see a lot of action stars who are excessively tall or pretty short. But there are some areas where there are relaxed standards when it comes to movie action heroes. For one thing, you don't have to be excessively handsome to be a movie action hero, as rugged people like Charles Bronson or Jason Statham have proven. You also don't have to be of a particular ethnicity to bring in ticket buyers; in fact, there is strong evidence to suggest that action movies with multiracial casts actually clean up at the box office, such as the more recent entries in the Fast And Furious series.

But I feel I should point out that those above observations I have made when it comes to movie action heroes are for male action heroes. When it comes to action movies that have females doing the butt kicking, standards are somewhat different, and different enough that have resulted in the number of action movies with females doing the butt kicking is much, much smaller in amount than those with men. Sure, some of the standards are the same. Few people want to see a female action hero who is too fat or too skinny, and there also isn't that much call to see a female action hero who is too tall or too short. Plus, it doesn't seem to matter what ethnicity a woman action hero happens to possess. But there are further qualifications for wannabe action heroines that may pose to be a challenge. Unlike with men, it seems to be expected that an action heroine has to be quite beautiful. Not only that, the physical requirements that an actor or an actress have to go through may well prove to be difficult, if not impossible, for many women. But at the same time, actresses do have a few advantages over their male counterparts when it comes to action roles. I think it goes without saying that when an action heroine takes off her clothes, the results are a lot more pleasing than when it comes to male action stars taking off their clothes. As it turns out, my observations of female action heroines have noted that more often than not they don't have to take off their clothes to give the audience a thrill. When I see a woman brandishing a shotgun and using it to commit hard violence, well, I have to admit that the sight of that is extremely pleasing to my eyes.

Yes, I have to admit that I often get a big kick out of movies that concern women who kick serious ass. For this web site, I have reviewed several such movies concerning ass kicking women, ranging from the American effort The Stranger starring Kathy Long, to Hong Kong efforts like Naked Killer. And in my private time, I have watched a lot more over the years. Not all of what I have seen of this particular genre has been good (you can skip all American Cynthia Rothrock movies, for one thing), but every such movie always has at least some interesting angle. So you may think that when I first saw the Blu-Ray for Everly several years ago that I immediately pounced on it. Well, to tell the truth, no. One reason why I turned my nose up at it at first was that it was handled by the boutique label by The Weinstein Company - which hadn't exactly had a good track record at that point, or beyond for that matter. (And if my first sight of the movie had happened a few years later, there would possibly be another Weinstein-related issue I'd have with the movie.) But one day, when the clerk at my local video store offered me a free rental for being a loyal customer, I reluctantly picked it up because all the other choices looked even worse. But not long into watching it, I realized I had found something special, something I knew should be much better known. But before telling you the reasons why, first the plot. The title figure of Everly is played by Salma Hayek (Lonely Hearts), a prostitute under the thumb of a Yakuza gangster boss by the name of Taiko (Watanabe, Gamera 3). We learn that Everly has finally had it with being under Taiko's control and being separated from both her young daughter and her mother. So she has secretly been working with a police officer to gather enough evidence to take Taiko down. But Taiko has found out what Everly has been doing, and orders some of his men to raid the apartment that Everly has been staying in, and kill her. However, Everly secretly has a gun given to her by the police officer, and somehow, she manages to gun down all the would be assassins. While it may sound that Everly can now make a getaway, various circumstances - ranging from more assassins to corrupt police officers - make it impossible for Everly to leave the floor of the apartment building she's stuck on. Everly then engages in a never-ending battle fighting the various forces trying to kill her, but how long can she hold out for?

I feel after giving that plot description for Everly, I should mention that the events of the movie are for the most part confined not just in the same apartment building, but in the same particular apartment suite. That fact might make some potential viewers blanch, making them wonder how the movie could keep up the entertainment when continuously confined to such a small area. Well, remember that 12 Angry Men managed to be entertaining from start to finish despite almost all of its story taking place in one small jury room. But if that's not enough to convince you, let me assure you that the makers of Everly did a lot to make sure viewers would be continuously entertained. The first and most obvious way is with the central protagonist. Let's face it, Salma Hayek, even at the age of 48, is certainly a lot sexier than Henry Fonda. She even shows some skin at the beginning of the movie, and while it isn't a lot, she looks great throughout the remainder of the running time. And while Henry Fonda was just content to stand around and make long speeches, Hayek on the other hand just throws herself into her role. The role of Everly would be a very big physical challenge for any actress, with lots of running around, jumping around, and brandishing guns and other kinds of weapons. Hayek isn't just willing to do all this; she gives it her all while at the same time making it believable this particular woman is able to do all this physical activity. Yet at the same time, Hayek finds the time to handle all the moments where her character has to deliver dialogue. At the start of the movie, her delivery is that of a frightened and cowed woman, and we in the audience believe it. But as the bullets start flying and she gets more confident and determined, her tone of voice gets more confident. This is also believable, especially since there are some points where the progress of her character is sent back momentarily by a few steps, and she briefly shows her internal fear or some other negative emotion. Hayek always finds the right tone no matter what new challenge for her character comes up, so her character Everly ends up being believable, engaging, and sympathetic throughout.

But the character of Everly is not the only one in the movie that appears and helps the movie to always be interesting despite basically staying in one setting. For example, one of the would-be assassins (played by Akie Kotabe of Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw) Everly guns down at the beginning of the movie isn't instantly killed, and stays gravely wounded but conscious and talkative for a very long time. Although the character does not advance the plot, his presence does bring in some interest as he speaks, with him revealing that though he knows he's done bad things, he now regrets doing those things. It all adds a little something to think about, and gives Everly some extra dimension. This also happens with the eventual appearance of Everly's mother (played by Laura Cepeda) and Everly's young daughter. While both are quickly sucked into the violence and mayhem happening in the apartment suite, the movie still manages to have these characters put in some humanity into the carnage. Everly's mother is angry that Everly has been out of her life and her granddaughter's life for several years, but she still has love and concern for Everly. As for the villains of the movie that appear, it is kind of a mixed bag. Most people gunning for Everly in the movie are nameless prostitutes or thugs, but that is kind of expected. There is some fun with one yakuza member just named "The Sadist" (Togo Igawa, Ninja), an expert torturer who takes extreme pride in his work and comes across as creepy and amusing all at the same time when he gets his hands on Everly. On the other hand, the character of the main villain Taiko is somewhat disappointing. For starters, he has much less presence in the movie than you'd think. In the first hour of the movie, we only hear his voice about a couple of times, and for the rest of this time the movie seems to completely forget about him. Eventually he does make a couple of appearances, but what he says and does is pretty underwhelming. He can only seem to talk in clichés ("And so it ends, not with a bang but with a whimper," when he thinks he's cornered Everly), and there is nothing about him that stands out, even with the actor's performance.

If I had been the producer of Everly, I would have requested screenwriter Yale Hannon not only to punch up the character of Taiko, but also to fix some glaring holes in the plot. For example, while the apartment building's elevator gets destroyed by a grenade at one point, it's not explained how "The Sadist" subsequently manages to get a heavy and bulky "man cage" from the lobby to Everly's apartment. And despite Every having access to several phones during the fight for her life, it never occurs to her at any point to call the FBI (since the local cops are corrupt and keep her from fleeing the scene) or a local news agency to report what is happening to her. Aside from a few slip-ups like that, I do admit that the story of Everly does manage to move from scene to scene fairly briskly while at the same time making sure every scene has something to engage the audience. Some viewers might object that there is somewhat less action in the movie (mainly in the first half) than what they are expecting. But to them, I would point out that when the movie does showcase action, it's always done well enough to make any waiting worth it. The mayhem, gore, and brutality are extremely strong, at times enough to make you wonder how the movie managed to get an "R" rating instead of "NC-17". I think the reasons why the action and violence in Everly is so effecting is that director Joe Lynch (Knights Of Badassdom) injects the elements of struggle and pain as the bullets fly and the grenades explode. The sheer emotion that comes from that makes us care about Everly and hope she will overcome everyone trying to kill her, and also make the action more involving and exciting despite all of it only taking place in one specific area. It also shows that with some creativity, a good director can look past his or her imitations and still manage to entertain his or her audience. Also, it shows that 12 Angry Men, while still a good movie, would have been even better had the jurists in their small room had access to machine guns, grenades, and martial arts weapons.

(Posted April 9, 2023)