Everly

In this over-the-top vengeance thriller, the bullets and blood fly as a sex slave fights to live long enough to protect her mother and daughter from the brutal gangster who imprisoned her. Salma Hayek is certainly the right actress to play the tough and sardonic central character, a woman thrown into kinetic chaos that has echoes of the 2007 Clive Owen movie Shoot 'Em Up. Her performance, along with the slick, stylish direction, would be a winning combination, were it not for the startling amount of graphic violence on display. Not merely content with a high body count, director Joe Lynch revels in showing woundings and torture, to the point where even the most hardened action fans may find themselves wincing. In its favour, there is some smart dialogue, the single-apartment location is well used, and it is also refreshing to see a female-led action film, but Everly's fascination with bloodshed overwhelms these positives.