Jolt

Directed by Tanya Wexler, Jolt follows Kate Beckinsale’s Lindy Lewis as she embarks on a campaign of revenge after her potential boyfriend (Jai Courtney’s Justin) is murdered by a shadowy organization. It’s a familiar yet workable premise that is, for the most part, employed to underwhelming and forgettable effect by Wexler, as the filmmaker, armed with Scott Wascha, delivers a relentlessly hit-and-miss actioner that contains a whole host of misguided, misbegotten elements – with, for example, Wexler’s ongoing efforts at infusing the proceedings with a bright, comic-book-like sensibility generally falling hopelessly (and demonstrably) flat. (The movie’s wildly over-the-top production design generally seems completely at odds with Jules O’Loughlin’s distractingly low-rent cinematography.) And although Beckinsale and (especially) Courtney turn in strong work here, Jolt‘s relentlessly erratic atmosphere diminishes the impact of their better-than-the-material deserves efforts and ensures that the climactic revelations are hardly able to pack the compelling punch Wexler has obviously intended – which, when combined with a general emphasis on competent but less-than-enthralling action sequences, cements the picture’s place as a predominantly lackluster endeavor that often feels like it should be much, much better.

** out of ****