Starring
Julia Batelaan, Emma de Paauw, Joost Bolt, Annelies Appelhof.
Directed by Colinda Bongers & Thijs Meuwese. (2017/91 min).
AVAILABLE
ON BLU-RAY FROM
Review
by Tiger the Terribleđ¸
I'll
give Molly this much: As post-apocalyptic heroines go, the
movie's titular character is unique. She's not another busty killing machine decked-out in low-cut, skin-tight fighting gear and toting a
cache of sexy weapons.
Instead,
Molly (Julia Batelaan) is the kind of Plain Jane who walks the high
school halls all four years without turning a single head. She's
dressed in filthy rags, wears thick glasses and keeps what she
scavenges from corpses in an old back-pack. Her only physical weapons
are a gun with three bullets, a few knives and a homemade bow &
arrow. While she's more than capable of handling herself in a fight -
even against multiple attackers - Molly often takes as much of a
beating as she gives and her injuries linger throughout the movie. Though quite resourceful, she roams this wasteland as wary and vulnerable as you and I would
be in the same situation.
Molly
is also sort-of a legend in these parts, possessing a telekinetic "power" that appears to serve as a shield against immediate threats to her life.
We often see flashbacks of Molly strapped to a gurney in a dark lab -
presumably before the apocalypse - while undergoing harrowing experiments. Her actual ability is never clearly defined, but
it's assumed she was altered to be used as a weapon.
 |
| Camping sucks. |
While
the story doesn't explicitly reveal the cause of this global
cataclysm, it's implied most the world succumbed to a virus that
turns those infected into violent homicidal maniacs. Sadistic
carnival barker Deacon wants to infect Molly in order to win death
matches he holds on a ramshackle atoll, where survivors regularly
wager ammo on the combatants. While the atoll is definitely an
imaginative piece of set-design on a budget, the underwhelming arena where
the zombies fight looks like someone tried to build Thunderdome in
their garage.
Speaking
of which, Molly draws
obvious inspiration from the Mad Max series, Beyond
Thunderdome in particular (including our hero ultimately laying
it all on the line for a child). However, the film compensates for
its lack of narrative originality with an engaging
protagonist, an aesthetically-interesting look and some truly
jaw-dropping fight choreography. The villains are generic and Bolt's
hammy performance is obnoxious, but Batelaan delivers a terrific
physical and emotional performance. Additionally, Molly has a
unique, strangely surreal visual quality that feels almost dreamlike.
As
for the action, these fight sequences must be seen to be believed.
Not overtly kinetic or flashy, they are impressive nonetheless.
Grueling and brutal without being particularly graphic, the fights
are presented in long takes, unlike hyperactive editing that tends to
detach the viewer from the action. In fact, the exhausting final conflict is presented as an unbroken 30-minute shot. One could
argue the sequence is a distracting gimmick, but it's still cool as hell and must have been a logistical nightmare to pull-off for
everyone involved.
Anyone
who appreciates a good onscreen fight will probably enjoy Molly
for the final act alone. Elsewhere, the
film overcomes most of its story shortcomings by being
visually engaging, as well as taking the time and effort to give us a
main character who's truly unique to the genre. Well made on a low budget, this is an apocalyptic obscurity worth seeking out.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
FEATURETTE
- "Making of Molly"
AUDIO
COMMENTARY - By directors Colinda Bongers & Thijs Meuwese
ASSORTED TRAILERS
KITTY CONSENSUS:
PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS
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