Movie Review: Killing Joan is a Taut Revenge Thriller with a Twist!

March 4, 2018

Written by DanXIII

Daniel XIII; the result of an arcane ritual involving a King Diamond album, a box of Count Chocula, and a copy of Swank magazine, is a screenwriter, director, producer, actor, artist, and reviewer of fright flicks…Who hates ya baby?

Joan is a loose cannon (it’s all murder and menage a trois with this lady…and the occasional unfinished taco salad) mob enforcer that leads a small black-clad kill crew on all sorts of underworld escapades. This is all fine and dandy except that her unorthodox approach to the work at hand leads to her boss, Frank (David Carey Foster), to grow wary of her…which eventually leads to her being betrayed and left for dead by those she once killed for. Well, Joan doesn’t stay down for long as something soon brings her back from the brink of death and bestows upon her strange supernatural powers. Now our heroine can travel between and even control the shadows as she enacts her dark revenge…a revenge that may make her vulnerable to an evil greater than the mob.
Killing Joan has a great premise; a mob enforcer resurrected with dark powers is the stuff of comic book awesome, and lead actress (and genre familiar face) Jamie Bernadette is fantastic in the lead role…she’s cool, tough, and competent, but has a human side buried deep under that hard exterior; it’s a multi-faceted role, and Bernadette pulls it off really well. The supporting cast is solid as well, as is the cinematography which elevates this above most low-budget revenge thrillers. Also of note are the cool visuals that bring Joan’s new found powers to life.
On the negative side of the coin; this film get’s bogged down in it’s dialog at times. When you have a flick containing a beautiful assassin that can control shadows to fuck folks up six ways to Sunday the last thing you want to do is sit through long talks about morality and the human condition, but there they are. If this film was clipped of about ten minutes (which could include shortening those speeches) it would hit ya like an iron fist wrapped in velvet…but as it stands it’s a damn fine film all the same.
Killing Joan is a great entry in the revenge thriller genre, and with it’s supernatural twist it’s unique enough to stand above the rest…and pacing problems aside, it remains an engaging and fun watch.
 

 

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