Jolt (2021)
July 24, 2021 5:19 AM - Subscribe

Lindy (Kate Beckinsale) is an acid-tongued woman with rage issues who controls her temper by shocking herself with an electrode vest. One day she makes a connection with Justin, who gives her a glimmer of hope for a shock-free future, but when he is murdered she launches herself on a revenge-fueled rampage in pursuit of his killer.

This movie is smarter than that summary gives it credit for. Although it doesn't quite stick the landing, 95% of it is a tightly-written dark superhero movie that will make you believe Kate Beckinsale can beat up anybody. With Stanley Tucci as the nervous Dr Munchin who treats her and Laverne Cox as the relentless Detective Nevin who's chasing her for most of the movie, Jolt delivers exactly what it says on the tin, with some smart twists, including a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid gag that I totally saw coming but made me laugh anyway. It's what I wanted Gunpowder Milkshake to be (don't get me wrong, I loved GM, but I still give it a B to Jolt's A).


Currently on Prime in Canada.
posted by Mogur (12 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
I rather enjoyed this. Crank meets Atomic Blonde. Beckinsale is great and clearly having a fun time.
posted by slimepuppy at 11:15 AM on July 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


This movie, at the very least, is better than the first five minutes would have you think! I roughly predicted every plot point, but I guess I'm trained to enjoy iffy Kate Beckinsale action movies so I liked it.
posted by grandiloquiet at 11:17 AM on July 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


It's also on Prime in the US. (Watching it now)
posted by miss-lapin at 12:43 PM on July 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


I liked this a lot. The dialogue and cinematography has style.

Beckinsale in an action movie and actually gets to emote through a spectrum of emotions for once!

Her character even has a wardrobe - she gets to wear more than one change of clothing through the film. Points off for impractical footwear by choice, though.

High powered cast, and they deliver.

I really wanted her to yeet a baby, even just as an altern... sweet.
posted by porpoise at 6:56 PM on July 24, 2021


That they had a meal at "Restaurant", and then wound up at "Police Station" is some good Repo Man shit right there.
posted by Mogur at 8:29 PM on July 24, 2021 [3 favorites]


I found this disappointing. However, this is an origin story and generally they are generally not as engaging because they are setting up characters and the world with a bit of plot. I definitely would be interested to see what comes after this.
posted by miss-lapin at 8:33 PM on July 24, 2021


We liked this one, and I'm wanting to see the sequel to this more than Gunpowder Milkshake
posted by jazon at 8:36 PM on July 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


Personally, I'm very much not a fan of recent movies swinging for the fence in order to tease sequels.

Both this and 'Gunpowder' are fine as standalone movies.

Like, I'll go see the sequels, but I'd rather see something new like 'Gunpowder Milkshake' or 'Jolt' over the recent 'The Hitman's Second Cousin's, etc.' But I understand the financing environment. Just lament it.
posted by porpoise at 11:44 PM on July 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


I enjoyed this more than Gunpowder Milkshake, but I think I have to go back and rewatch the latter because I wasn't in the proper mood when I watched it. I think I was for this because the fact that I could tell every single beat that was coming didn't bother me, whereas usually it does. I agree with someone over on the GM thread that said it's nice for women to get big, loud, empty, dumb movies for a change. It will be nice when we don't have to compare them to each other, or everything else out there.

Honestly, I'm shallow enough to enjoy the simple pleasures of watching a beautiful, mature woman beating the living shit out of manspreaders and dirty old men. Almost everyone was a caricature but I liked her weird relationship with Stanley Tucci, Jai Courtney, who looks like a walking thumb to me and acts about the same level, was less thumb-like here, and it is always nice to see Bobby Canavale. Loved the supreme geek girl and the nervous awe the boys held her in.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 10:26 AM on July 25, 2021 [3 favorites]


Perfectly enjoyable 90 minutes of thumping. Not "good", but good is overrated a lot of the time.

It might be worth mentioning that a lot of it seems to be shot in the UK, and the villain's skyscraper is actually the Tate Modern, which I found genuinely disorienting.

(I sometimes wonder if anyone ever watches Cold Comfort Farm wondering when she's going to start shooting people.)
posted by Grangousier at 5:29 AM on July 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


I had fun! Like, is this a good movie? I don't know. But it's perfect in what it's trying to do. It's meant to be everything it does and it just does it.

She kicked so many men in the crotch and I loved it! I l also loved that Justin was "fridged" (well ...) but she was like "but ... he wasn't my boyfriend ... exactly ..." because it was such a great inversion of "sad man get revenge because his girlfriend was killed." Lindy was just angry and she just found something to be angry about.

I don't know how much I love the tease that this may become a franchise but whatever, I had more fun than I expected. This knew what it was and just did it.
posted by edencosmic at 6:13 PM on August 25, 2021


This knew what it was and just did it.

Pretty much. And it was good dumb fun. Just the right level of humor to balance out the drama. Though, I felt the final scene with Justin was a bit of a letdown. If anyone was deserving of her ultimate beat-down, it was him. He got off easy.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:14 PM on April 28, 2022


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