Bounty Killer (2013)
Starring: Matthew Marsden, Christian Pitre, Barak Hardley
Writers: Jason Dodson, Colin Ebeling, Henry Saine
Director: Henry Saine
Synopsis (from the Blu-ray):
20 years in the future the world is a
wasteland, run to the ground by corporations who are about nothing
but profit. Their selfishness has laid waste to society and they must
pay. A special breed of outlaws set out to exact vengeance from
these white collar criminals, and they dispatch their victims in the
most creative and bloody ways possible. Top assassin Mary Death is as
beautiful as she is lethal, but her main rival, the mysterious
Drifter, is setting the bar pretty high in this vicious game of
revenge.
Review:
I must admit that I was completely
unaware of this film's existence until about a month ago. A buddy of
mine told me he thought I'd like it, and that there's a whole lot of
head trauma involved. I never checked out the trailer, and had no
idea it was based off of a short film and graphic novel. After a look
over the Blu-ray cover I figured it could be either really awesome
cheese or absolutely terribad. Review blurbs like “The Road
Warrior Meets Kill Bill” usually can't be trusted.
After checking out the film I can say
the nods to The Road Warrior and Kill Bill are legit. Bounty Killer
also largely comes off as a film being based in the same world as the
amazingly addictive Borderlands game series. It has a similar
setting, with shops and how little towns are spread out on a vast
wasteland, and many of the characters in the film could easily
co-exist in said game. It's also very tongue-in-cheek like
Borderlands. Bounty Killer is pretty self aware of how corny it is,
and that makes it a whole helluva lot of fun. Everything is
over-the-top, from the deaths to the drama. It's very on point for
what it is.
The story moves
along at a breakneck pace with insane action and violence, only
stopping a few times to let you breathe and soak up some character
backgrounds. On a visual level, Bounty Killer looks pretty fantastic.
A lot of work was put into creating an apocalyptic world on an
obviously small-scaled budget. I love all the backdrops, displaying war
torn looking cities and whatnot. One area called the Badlands looks
gorgeously straight out of a comic book. I hope people will catch on
to that vibe being intentional.
The characters are probably going to be
pretty love/hate for most. They are what they need to be for this
kind of movie. Matthew Marsden and Christian Pitre are both pretty
good as the main bounty killers, Drifter and Mary Death. They have a
good connection on screen together and it only gets better as their
history unfolds. Barak Hardley as Jack, Drifter's gun caddy, is the
show stealer, though. Jack is a comic relief character, and he and
Drifter have some legitimately funny moments with one another
-especially during a moment with a maniacal gang known as the
Gypsies. There's also some familiar faces, such as Gary Busey,
Kristanna Loken, Alexa Vega, Abraham Benrubi, and Beverly D'Angelo
-who's sporting a strong resemblance to Mother Firefly.
With the action comes a healthy dose of
gory death, and like my buddy assured me, a bunch of head trauma.
Bounty Killer is anti-noggin. Heads say goodbye to the world in all
manner of ways. We get a mix of practical effects -which look pretty
damn good- and CGI blood-spray. The gun-play is plentiful and
exciting, and there's plenty of road rage laid out across desolate
landscapes. The death toll is damn near uncountable.
Final Thoughts:
Gotta say, Bounty Killer is not bad at
all for being a no-brainer post apocalyptic action festival of death.
It's an unashamedly cheesy good time that delivers the violence in
full. Fans of Borderlands and the Mad Max series should check it out. It's a bit of those with the soap
opera acting and epic style music of Starship Troopers. A fun 93 minutes.
- Eric (Brobocop)
