London has practically fallen. It is largely run by two criminal organizations,
who are both in danger of being overrun by a psychotic new street gang. Ada has
only two friends, her former Special Forces comrades, Roman and Curtis. Together,
they only number three, but a little training and discipline make them more than
a match for dozens of cheap thugs. Ada also has a brother, but ne’er do well Edward
is more of a hindrance than a help in James Nunn’s Wildcat, which is now
playing in select theaters and on VOD.
After
their service, Ada and Roman gigged as partners in rather grey areas, until they
split up. Unbeknownst to him, she went completely straight to care for her daughter,
Charlotte. Unfortunately, that was how crime boss Frasier Mahoney got to Ada.
He kidnapped Charlotte, holding her hostage until Ada pays off Edward’s 500,000
Pound debt. To make the 24-hour deadline, Ada plots a heist to rob the jewels
Mahoney’s rival, Christine Vine, will be temporarily storing at a high security
depository.
Basically,
the plan is to steal the jewels, fence them for cash, and lay a trail pointing
back to Mahoney, all before successfully making the trade for Charlotte. The
timing will be tight, especially when the feral street gang starts pursuing Ada
and her friends.
Wildcat
probably sounds
like typical B-movie material, probably because it largely is. However, it is elevated
by Nunn’s snappy execution and a first-rate supporting cast. Previously, Nunn
helmed the vastly superior Scott Adkins One Shot/One More Shot duology.
Although Wildcat is a much more modest film, he finds a worthy action “leading
man” in Lewis Tan. Most of the action is dominated by gunplay, but there are
several nifty sequences that show off Tan’s martial arts skills.
Recovering actress Veronica Ghent just wants to be alone, like Garbo. Instead, she has
to talk to fellow guests at her secluded retreat about local witch lore, as if
she were part of the cast of Lux Æterna, or even one of Dario Argento’s “Three
Mothers” films. (The latter would be aptly fitting, since the Italian auteur is
on-board as an executive producer.) There is definitely something about place
and its sinister history that exerts power over the present in Charlotte
Colbert’s feature directorial debut, She Will, which opens Friday in New
York.
The
frosty Ghent will be a difficult assignment for her nurse, Desi Hatoum, but
viewers will soon understand why she is so bitter. Having just endured a double
mastectomy, the former sex symbol learned her former director-lover, Eric
Hathbourne is making a sequel to their greatest hit, without her. His career
seems to be cruising along just fine, even though it is an open secret he had
an inappropriate relationship with the underaged Ghent back then.
She
wants to block out all news of Hathbourne and the rural artists’ retreat is
just the place to do it. It was built on the outskirts of a forest where women
were burned during the Scottish witch-hunting era. Of course, it also happens
to be smack dab in the middle of a cellular dead zone. Not surprisingly, Ghent can’t
stand the artsy types, but she is strangely “receptive” to the environment.
She
Will is
a dynamite debut that is not well-served buy reductive labels like “#metoo
horror,” or whatever. It is enormously stylish and heavily atmospheric, but
also ambiguous with respects to its supernatural goings-on, in the right kind
of way. As Ghent, Alice Krige truly becomes a grand dame of horror, in the
tradition of Joan Bennett in Dark Shadows and the original Suspiria or
Tilda Swinton in the remake. She is regal and also quite something to deal
with.
