Catch the Fair One

Dirty, desperate Saulnieresque thriller that promises a lot but hits a bit of a lull in the third act and never quite recovers. Everything here is solid, and the subject is one that needs more attention, but it never quite goes either big enough or deep enough to go beyond a one-woman rampage, and relies a little too much on film shortcuts to sell the realism. Glad I saw it, will recommend it, but not quite top shelf.

It has some moments that are very potent, but ultimately it's kind of just a thriller that can't quite find its footing emotionally... which is strange given the instantly emotional subject matter. Maybe part of that is the writing, but Reis is not able to handle some of the material. She isn't BAD, but there are some really flat line reads in places that really demanded more. The physical stuff is believable, given her actual athletic background. I do like how it doesn't wrap up cleanly.

Went into this knowing literally nothing about it, and would recommend that approach – really wants to be a twisted, nasty 80s style exploitationer, but is almost a victim of its own success; Wladyka and Reis sell the queasy, and sleazy, aspects of human trafficking so well that the film can’t quite handle its abrupt shift to simplistic bloody revenge film, which ultimately cheapens its impact. Still entertaining, with Reis a commanding lead, and an interesting deployment of Dunn in support.

Nice little production, but the script throws in the towel in round 1 already. Just assorted genre tropes with a bugging amount of continuity flaws, especially considering how straightforward and grounded everything plays out. With the exception of a female boxer protagonist there's hardly an original or exciting idea. It's short, so there's that at least.