Neil Marshall’s Duchess

Rarely have movie femme fatales been as foul-mouthed Scarlett Monaghan, but to be fair, the Hays Code never let Lana Turner or Rita Hayworth have much opportunity to cuss out the men they manipulated. Monaghan is also a particularly fatal fatale, thanks to her boxing skills. Unfortunately, she has a knack for getting mixed up with the wrong guys, but at least Robert McNaughton treats her right, while he is alive. When he is betrayed, she starts gunning for revenge in Neil Marshall’s Duchess, which releases Friday on digital and on-demand.

Monaghan caught McNaughton’s eye while picking pockets for her “Fagin.” When he beat her, she fought back, but McNaughton finished him. After that, she was his fulltime lover, arm candy, and confidante. Danny Oswald and Billy Baraka, McNaughton’s partners from his merc days, also got along with her dubbing her “Duchess.”

Their new business is dangerous, but extremely lucrative. They smuggle diamonds, but not “blood diamonds,” except they’re all blood diamonds. Before long, they are all double-crossed by Tom Sullivan, another old friend, who wasn’t as old and clearly isn’t as friendly. Sullivan’s goons murder McNaughton, but Monaghan survives through a fluke. Together with Oswald and Baraka, Monaghan hatches a plan to avenge her lover and take back what is theirs.

By far, Duchess is the best film Marshall has made with his fiancée (or whatever) Charlotte Kirk, for many reasons. First and foremost, the brassy Monaghan is the first starring role that truly suits her. Watching her playing an impeccably coifed and made-up peasant in The Reckoning was just ridiculous. This time around, she actually earns intentional laughs as the trash-talking Monaghan.

Of course, it is all pretty silly, but Marshall and Kirk competently deliver the vicarious payback satisfaction. Sean Pertwee and Hoji Fortuna are entertainingly gritty and grizzled as Oswald and Baraka. Although not precisely a villain, per se, Stephanie Beacham also chews the scenery nicely, as McNaughton’s buyer Charlie, whose professional ethics are worthy of a Sydney Greenstreet character. Although prominently billed, Colm Meaney has only one scene as Monaghan’s incarcerated, but he still does his thing, smirking and swaggering all the way.

Duchess is surprisingly fun—trashy fun, without question, but it still counts. Recommended for fans of heavily armed women exploitation thrillers, Duchess releases this Friday (8/9) on VOD.