Everly | Film Review

From the opening minutes, ‘Everly’ establishes that this will not be another middling gun ballet where our hero extends a superhero’s grace while dodging countless assassins with Nero-esque solace. Our hero is also not some random cop practicing foot exercises, nor some security guard in the wrong place at that wrong time. Our hero is truly no hero at all.

We meet Everly (Salma Hayek) moments after a vicious gang-rape in her apartment. She is beaten, both metaphorically and literally, and wants nothing more than to die and leave this agony behind. Upon realizing she must first ensure her mother and daughter are safely out of reach, Everly elects to kill any and every obstacle in her path until she secures this one singular goal. Only then will she allow her attackers to steal her last breath.

A film with a plot as thin as ‘Everly’ only works if you believe in both what the lead character is doing AND that the character can actually do it. Ass-kicking all naysayers aside, Salma Hayek leaves no doubt to either. Even when the film teeters so close to exploitation it feels like a railcar coming off the tracks, Hayek is exactly the gravity the film needed to slam this car back down to earth.

Contrary to how most actresses would play Everly, Hayek refuses to dazzle us with her martial arts or weapons training skills. She avoids staring stoically into the camera, spouting catchy one-liners as we begin to nod in agreement that she could single-handedly destroy an entire Yakuza sect before being taken down herself. Instead, Hayek claws, scrapes, and viciously decimates her foes with the strength and vulnerability of a mother fighting desperately to save the only bastion of decency she has left. Nothing is artistic or graceful about how Everly dispatches her assailants, every death here is gritty and ugly. Our Everly is no killing machine nor Viking warrior, she is a survivor.

It is about time, too. Hayek has toiled around far too long in the background as window dressing or as the damsel-in-distress in parts that are, quite frankly, beneath her talents. She has finally found a film that plays off her obvious beauty, yet seizes this opportunity to ditch the unnecessary hero coming to her aid. Hayek doesn’t need nor want a white knight to ride in and rescue her character, she can do it just fine her damn self.

With the majority of the film occurring solely in Everly’s apartment, you really have to give director Joe Lynch credit. I knew this setup walking in, and I was extremely skeptical that this kind of film could entertain throughout with such an isolated location. I mean we honestly never leave the floor of Everly’s apartment building so how could he possibly keep this idea vibrant and alive? Lynch apparently carried no such reservations as Everly is balls-out fun from the opening shot until the final frame.

Not only is this an entertaining romp of visceral thrills, but the action remains fresh throughout. All of us action fans have seen numerous films with dozens of shootouts and in the end, they all begin to blend together. Lynch continues to throw in set-piece after insane set-piece with just about every weapon ever seen on film and ramped up to the brink of absurdity, until we finally reach the intensely brutal finale.

Much like Taken’s resurgence of Liam Neeson, this is an exciting film that confidently casts aside needless character arcs and stars an actor who harshly redefines themselves. From the first time we meet our tragic hero, ‘Everly’ is a roller-coaster of escapism every action fan should take in.

Starring Salma Hayek, Jennifer Blanc, Hiroyuki Watanabe
Written by Yale Hannon
Directed by Joe Lynch

Aaron Peterson
The Hollywood Outsider