‘Jolt’, an electrifying (literally) action and psychological thriller, directed by Tanya Wexler, and written by Scott Wascha, takes you on the journey of Lindy (Kate Beckinsale) a powerful and fierce woman who suffers from “intermittent explosive disorder.” The cast and crew do a fantastic job in this July 23rd Amazon Prime release. It takes you on multiple twists and turns with a misleading group of characters who unsuspectingly bring the storyline all together. Lindy is helped by Dr. Munchin (Stanley Tucci), a psychiatrist, who supplies her with the necessary voltage to stop herself from losing control of her anger. She meets Justin (Jai Courtney) who is killed just days after she started falling for him. This ends up leading Lindy on her path to get revenge. On this expedition we learn that there is so much more to the story than what appears.
This movie incorporates the perfect mix of “superpower” abilities and actual science. As we learn from the beginning of the film Lindy suffers from a disorder which essentially leads her to have higher cortisol levels than normal and the ability to completely snap in a violent and aggressive way at any small inconvenience. Her past has led her to military training, an even higher build up of anger, and still no permanent cure to her disorder. Lindy is the perfect protagonist and this makes the movie super enjoyable. She has a background that is truly troubling, she’s extremely fierce and tough, and is trying to learn to control a disorder which can be deadly to people. Kate Beckinsale does a fantastic job at developing her character. She learns to truly embrace her madness and by doing this she is inspiring and a great lead to want to watch.
At first glance, the plot of the movie seems a little conventional. A woman who has just fallen in love for the first time (which helped with the disorder) is now out for revenge to find out who killed her lover. As the story develops we find out that there is a lot more to her “boyfriend” (they poke fun at the foolishness of her desire to fight for him), and a lot more to the people she’s after. There are multiple twists which catch you completely off guard, and only leads to more action. All the fight scenes are unique due to Lindys’ abilities, and are super intense. The movie is only one hour and thirty minutes, and it doesn’t bounce around the storyline but rather only shows the important parts leading up to the climax.
The movie starts with a very interesting, almost fairytale-like, introduction to how Lindy got to the point she is now. This doesn’t fit in with the rest of the movie but hints at a future set of movies. The ending (without any spoilers) clearly shows that there is more to her story, and definitely makes you want to see where Lindys’ disorder will lead her next.
Verdict: 4/5
The overall concept of this movie is intriguing and progresses well. There are lots of reveals throughout the film that will keep you on your toes and that lend themselves to the development of the story.
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