Molly (2017)

The heroes of post-apocalyptic films typically tend to be of a certain standard, whether it be Mad Max, Tank Girl or Will Smith - they're most often never a small teen girl with big nerdy glasses. Well, the mold has been broken with "Molly", a low-budget, yet highly ambitious "Road Warrior"-esque film that, despite a few 'lows', definitely ended up being surprisingly impressive, overall.

Lone scavenger, Molly - along with her pet falcon - roams a barren, dystopian landscape while seeming to have to fight off the occasional goon. Said goons are dispatched by a guy who runs a gambling ring on an oil rig, hosting pit-fights with "supplicants" - people that are injected with a drug that turns them into super strong, zombie-like lunatics that move like gorillas. He wants Molly as his new supplicant when he gets word that she's actually a bad ass AND has a super power which allows her to launch explosions from her body when she's pissed off. When a little girl whose parents were turned into supplicants is kidnapped by the villainous tycoon, Molly takes action in the way of a harrowing rescue.

On a technical basis, "Molly" is very well shot. The camera work is fantastic in many scenes and the cinematography is on point in making for a fairly believable end-of-the-world setting, considering the budgetary constraints. My main problem with the film is I didn't find the character of Molly to be all that interesting or fleshed out; as her back story isn't explored at all nor is the origin of her powers explained. The villain is as unlikely a character mode as the hero - being a generally unimposing bad guy with a somewhat androgynous cadence. These two - particularly Molly - are a bit wooden as it's evident that their character makeup was under written in lieu of the appealing technical flair and ardent story concepts they were working with and seemed to be primarily focused on. It's strengths, I found, managed to hold the movie together more than enough to make me dig it.

 Where it really kicks into high gear is in final 30-minutes, which consists of one seemingly unbroken shot as Molly hacks and fist fights her way through the immoral ringleader's lair to save her new pal and avenge her murdered bird. This non-stop violent sequence is obviously where this flick pulls out all the stops and makes for a fun as shit apex that hardly seems to match the first hour of the movie. To conclude, I'd definitely recommend "Molly" if you're into checking out an enthusiastic indie effort.

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