Bullet Points: Molly (2017)

At some point in the last year I reviewed a film called Kill Mode. To be honest, I don’t remember much about it beyond the rickety-looking mech suits but I came across this film while scrolling through the Midnight Pulp app and was surprised to see the connection between the films. The character of Molly was apparently in Kill Mode (which I don’t remember) and is the star of this film. Hmph…. I hope this one is more memorable.

Synopsis: A girl living alone in a post apocalyptic wasteland finds herself hunted down by marauders who want her to fight in their fighting pit for their entertainment.

• The scavenger life: Molly opens up by showing us the desolate landscape of what I am assuming is the near future. We don’t know why the world is shit or how many people are still around but we follow young Molly as she wanders around the beautifully colored environment scavenging random canned goods and stealing stuff from dead people. Pretty quickly we see just how dangerous her life is when she is attacked by marauders. She fights them off using her “skills” with a blade, a bow and arrow, and some sort of telekinetic powers she got from a cordless drill being shoved in her head.
• The pit: Every post-apocalyptic future needs a villain and while I have no idea what the bad guy’s name is here in Molly, he is most certainly not the type of person you want to hang out with. In a series of shacks over the ocean water, a bald idiot who looks like he was kicked out of the band Panic at the Disco rambles on about his precious fighting pit. Bullets are the new currency here and this moron uses some serum to turn people into rabid, crazed animals who fight for the amusement of others.

• Ginger hero: I don’t know exactly what happened to Molly to make her the way she is but she seems pretty damned cool to me. She has a falcon, a sweet anime sword blade thingy, and she’s not afraid to sew up her own wounds or make her own arrows. I think the attempt is to make her the female Mad Max and to a certain extent, I think it’s a success.
• Keeping your head on a swivel: You can’t wander around for too long in this type of place without having someone attack you. When the bald dude finds out that Molly is the one killing his people in the wild and that she has some sort of powers, he sends out his gang of losers to pick her up and bring her back to his fighting pit. On multiple occasions Molly gets attacked by these hideously dressed and remarkably bad at killing lackeys. Most of the fight scenes are very clumsy and none of them are the kind that you write home about but I guess it feels more real that none of these people are actual fighters and are just trying to survive. Either way, I would much rather see some badasses with great fighting skills because it’s far more entertaining to watch.

• Little girls: While Molly is off rummaging through people’s things and stealing cans of dog food, she run into a little girl waiting for her family to return. I hate to tell her but they aren’t coming back. Molly assumes the same and decides to start looking after her but it isn’t long before they’re attacked by more the bald guys crew and Molly has to kill even more of them. Eventually a blonde chick with a robot arm thing attacks and they’re able to capture the little girl and goad Molly into attacking them.
• Going Ripley on their asses: It’s finally time for something to happen in this movie beyond the constant scavenging and killing of lame-o bad guys. Molly attacks the treehouses where the fighting pit is located and essentially just beats the shit out of about 30 guys. If you’ve ever wanted to see a 100 lb. girl awkwardly beat up a bunch of guys wearing scraggly clothes then this is the movie for you. The best parts of this finale are when Molly and the robot-armed chick throw down for what seemed like an eternity. It’s not pretty, like the other fights in this film, but the finale at least is a precursor to the death of the annoying bad guy. In a film full of not much happening, this is by far the best bit.

The Verdict: Molly is one of the unique films that I both enjoyed and hated at times. I had inadvertently watched the follow up to this film, (Kill Mode) last year and my thoughts aren’t too far off from that film. Molly has some interesting world building without ever paying off any of the interesting parts. The character of Molly is essentially Rey from Star Wars but cooler and with less drama. The film is full of colors and there are many scenes that seem to go over for several minutes at a time but I couldn’t point to one that I thought was expertly shot or a single fight scene that appeared to be choreographed well. Still, I did enjoy my watch of Molly and I think that this Thijs Meuwese/Colinda Bongers duo could probably make some really cool shit with a larger budget. I guess we’ll have to see.