Jolt

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.

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.

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...

I had to bring up Crank because the similarities are definitely intentional: this is an R rated, single syllable titled, hyper violent, potty mouthed action movie with an English lead. Though it would have served it better to really go for the extremes the same way Crank did.

It's entertaining enough, with a script that had some fun ideas and turns, but most of the good stuff was underdeveloped. Probably would have fared better with a better director. Still, the cast is good(always fun to see Stanley Tucci) and the action is decent.

For the less than 90 minute runtime, this is a pretty enjoyable waste of time.

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.