Bounty Killer

Mad Max and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! are just a couple of the exploitation flicks that come to mind in this entertaining slice of low-budget mayhem. In a post-apocalypse wasteland caused by fallout from corporate wars (you can tell this was made after the 2008 financial meltdown), smart-suited city slickers are now the prey of rival bounty killers like Drifter (Matthew Marsden) and the suitably monikered Mary Death (Christian Pitre), who's dressed to kill like a Swinging Sixties go-go girl but with much deadlier intent. However, Drifter unexpectedly becomes a wanted man, leaving on/off lover Mary to go in hot pursuit. Director Henry Saine's second feature is lively comic-book stuff (no surprise it's based on a graphic novel) that packs in a frenetic mix of tongue-in-cheek humour, kick-ass action (including an outrageous nod to John Ford's Stagecoach) and juicy grindhouse-style splatter. The leads are appealing and eye-catching cameos from Gary Busey (as a trigger-happy henchman), Beverly D'Angelo (as a gone-to-seed madam) and Terminator 3's Kristanna Loken as an icy villainess are a welcome addition. It's hokum, of course, but it's the sort of stylish hokum that B-movie maestro Roger Corman would have loved to make.