Thursday, January 22, 2015

Review: Everly

by Patrick Bromley
Joe Lynch is having his moment.

With Everly, the third feature from Joe Lynch (and only the second for which he'll take credit), the director takes a huge leap forward as a filmmaker, creating what is destined to become a new cult action classic. He directs it like he's got something to prove, and prove something he does. Some smart producer is going to give Lynch the keys to a pretty big castle based on the work he does here.

Described by Lynch as Die Hard in a room, Everly stars Salma Hayek as the title character, single mother and former girlfriend of a mob boss who is found out as police informant as the movie opens. For the rest of the running time, Everly is trapped in a single apartment and must face a revolving door of assassins -- each more outrageous than the last -- while desperately trying to stay alive to protect her mother and young daughter.
Disclosure: I am an unabashed fan of Joe Lynch. I have written about him many times on this site because he's a filmmaker who I want to see get the success he deserves. I listen to his podcast (co-hosted with Adam Green, of whom I am also a big fan) The Movie Crypt every week. I love Holliston, the sitcom on which he is a star and producer. I think Wrong Turn 2 is one of the best DTV horror movies I've ever seen and the only film in that franchise worth a goddamn. And when Lynch was going through his Knights of Badassdom debacle over the last two years, I was firmly and very vocally on team Lynch (#NotJoe'sCut). This doesn't not mean that I am automatically going to like Everly just because Joe Lynch directed it. But the fact that I think Everly is good -- like, really good -- is yet another reason I like Joe Lynch so much.

So with Everly we get the first movie made by Joe Lynch from the ground up. His first movie, Wrong Turn 2, was a for-hire gig that got his foot in the door. His second, Knights of Badassdom, was also for-hire, but you can't even tell it's Joe Lynch's movie (because it isn't; the film was taken away and released unfinished). Here's a movie for which he wrote the story and contributed to the screenplay, which is credited only to his friend Yale Hannon (Lynch retains story credit). The script was on the Black List at one point, which I have to believe is mostly because of the audaciousness of the idea -- we've seen so many "Die Hard in a..." rip-offs, but never one with the balls to remain in a single room the whole time. As a representation of what a purely "Joe Lynch movie" looks like, Everly is a blast: kinetic, violent, and funny in a way that speaks to a lot of technical know-how but just twisted enough to feel like it comes from a specific voice.

What I love about the film -- besides the way the thing moves -- is how it juggles a whole bunch of tones and influences at the same time. It's not a checklist of things that Lynch is referencing; he's just absorbed so many films in his lifetime that they've all rattled together in his brain and regurgitated out on screen here. It feels, at times, like the movies Jack Hill used to make in the '70s. Sometimes it's thrilling in an action movie way; other times, our enjoyment of the violence is turned against us. Sometimes it's melodramatic and operatic; other times, its emotion is sincere. Everly has a relationship with a man who is bleeding out on her couch (credited only as "Dead Man" and played by Akie Kotabe) that's one of the best things about the movie. His last gesture is genuinely moving, and the fact that moments like this can coexist in the same movie with the brilliant exploding elevator gag is a testament to just what a fascinatingly off-kilter ride Everly is.
Lynch himself has said (in an interview with our friend Heather Wixson) that Everly is his version of a Takashi Miike film. That comes through loud and clear, between the energy of the violence, the bursts of black comedy and ultimately just how fucking crazy the movie gets; when one of the assassins -- an outlandish sadist who travels with kabuki'd-out sidekicks -- shows up and the movie gets really dark and twisted, it's impossible not to think of Miike. Again, though, it's not an imitation. It's just another of the voices in Lynch's head that bleeds its way out onto the screen. And bleeds and bleeds and bleeds.

Salma Hayek is great. She has to be; she's carrying the movie. It's fun to see her kick ass, at which she is entirely credible, and the movie doesn't make the mistake of making her an action hero by turning her into "one of the guys." Everly never loses her femininity nor her maternity, and it's great to see a female action hero who is much defined by her gender as it is irrelevant to her abilities. This is a role that was once attached to Kate Hudson, and while I'm fascinated by the idea of Li'l Goldie Hawn: Action Hero, I have a suspicion that that's exactly what we would have gotten -- an action movie in which a slight, skinny woman fires a lot of guns. Hayek is slight as well, but in a different way: she's shorter, but earthier and more voluptuous. Neither she nor Lynch ever push her sexuality, but they don't need to -- it is impossible for Hayek to not be sexy (the mix of sex and violence starts the movie off in an icky place which, again, recalls the movie's '70s exploitation roots). She also never pushes the "badass chick" angle, which might be my favorite thing about her performance. Every time Everly fires a gun, it is not from a place of some bullshit backstory in which she's a trained killer. It comes only from a place of necessity. She has to survive.
But ultimately, Everly is Lynch's show. He directs the shit out of it. I would say that his work here is going to launch him to "bigger and better" things, but that would imply that there is something wrong with the scale and quality of Everly. It is exactly the movie it should be, never obviously treading water nor outgrowing its admittedly gimmicky hook. Enough weird shit keeps coming in and out of the room that, coupled with Hayek's sense of panic about keeping her family safe, keeps us consistently invested as well as entertained. The timing of sequences is never exactly what you think it's going be (editor Evan Schiff and cinematographer Steve Gainer deserve special mention for the breathless look and pace), as just when you think Everly's in for the fight of her life she manages to take out the next round of killers in hasty and often unexpected ways. It's the rare high-concept movie that at once lives up to and exceeds its own premise.

If you have any doubts about Lynch or about Everly, I'll leave you with this: Lynch has seen and loved enough action movies -- the right ones, mind you -- to know to set this movie at Christmas. This is great news, as it gives all of us the perfect excuse to revisit it at least once a year. I suspect I'll come back more often than that. Everly is the first great action movie of the year.

17 comments:

  1. Good review Patrick. I'm a sucker for any action movie whatsoever, so I willl absolutely be checking this one out. Selma Hayek is one of my favorite actresses right now. She almost always finds something interesting to do with any part she is given, and she isn't afraid to do some off the wall movies, and Everly sounds like it falls under that category.

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    1. So I come back having just watched Everly, and I gotta be honest, I fucked up. I was planning to go to sleep after watching it. Nope. This thing is packed with action from the first moment of the movie, and I fucking loved every second of it. I would tell everyone here to rent it or buy it with the ultra VOD thing going on, particularly because it isn't getting a huge theatrical release, but also because we need more movies like this coming out. Everly fucking rocked.

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  2. GREAT review Patrick - my expectations for this have been hopefully high and now I have every reason to believe it's going to be great. "Knowing" Joe through Holliston and The Movie Crypt podcast I'm not sure I've ever felt quite so invested in seeing a movie succeed FOR the filmmaker's sake - glad to see this one is going to satisfy me as both an action movie fan and a Joe Lynch fan. I think you're right about Kate Hudson - initially I was disappointed just because it seemed like more of an interesting stretch for her than for Salma, but I could see how it might have flopped - I'd still welcome a L'il Goldie Hawn: Action Hero movie at some point though!

    Hope you don't mind a bit of cross-promotion here but I recently subscribed to "Deadly Magazine" where you can find the above-mentioned interview with Joe and it's great (Heather's right, your writing in particular stands out) - lots of stuff I think just about anyone who visits this site would like so I'd recommend everyone go for it - best $5 I'll be spending every month!

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  3. Thanks a million for the kind words Patrick!
    Steve Gainer, ASC

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  4. I'm AMPED for this movie! Thanks, Patrick!

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  5. Scheduled for release February 27, 2015. Any word on distribution?

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    1. Radius TWC is putting it out on "Ultra VOD" starting tomorrow, with limited theatrical at the end of February.

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  6. So glad this is as cool as the trailer makes it look, and how TMC podcast has been talking about it. Very much looking forward to this. #TeamJoe

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  7. Just rented Everly on VOD. I feel like I've been pushed through a meat grinder and spit out the other side, but in a really good way. It's one of the most psychologically disturbing films I've seen in awhile, but it still manages to provide you some moments of rich catharsis. On several occasions while watching it, I found myself laughing nonsensically, as much in relief as in joy. It's a powerful movie. Thanks for the recommendation!

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  8. I watched it tonight (via iTunes) and absolutely loved it. Salma was phenomenal and the action never felt repetitive, which seems like a trap a lesser filmmaker would have easily fallen into. So much fun. Here's hoping Joe Lynch blows up from this (uh...in a good way. Not in like a rocket launcher-y way)

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  9. I'm so happy to hear that everyone is a) checking it out and b) loving it. It's a hell of a movie. Thanks, guys!

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  10. Action was good. In particular i really like how during the action scenes they would allow Everly to run outside the camera shot but let the action continue without being able to see her like the shotgun scene in the doorway. Wasn't a fan of to much else. I feel like maybe I need to re watch it with all this positivity.

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  11. Forgot to mention that Salma's Cleavage was awesome too

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    1. It's a rare movie that can open on a fully nude Salma Hayek and still manage to only go uphill from there.

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  12. Just checked this out on VOD. I kind of blew up your twitter feed but wanted to comment here too. I've been looking forward to this since hearing about it after it screened at Fantastic Fest. It did not let me down! You said everything right in your review. Salma Hayek is just fucking incredible in this movie.

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