By Jack Ransom August 9, 2024
The latest directorial effort from Neil Marshall.
Marshall arrived on the horror scene in the early 2000’s with two acclaimed flicks Dog Soldiers (2002) and The Descent (2005), a couple of bigger budget yet often forgotten features, Doomsday and Centurion, before switching to the realm of television and working on one of the biggest shows of all time, Game of Thrones. He returned to the big screen with the critically maligned Hellboy reboot in 2019, which he himself stated put him off blockbuster/large scale filmmaking due to its myriad of production woes and studio interference.
Synopsis
Duchess follows a tough, working-class, petty criminal (Charlotte Kirk) who morphs into an anti-heroine to be reckoned with, in a murky underworld, in the treacherous world of diamond smuggling.
Review
Unfortunately, Marshall has now found himself wallowing in the direct to DVD/low budget streamer market with a conveyor belt of either panned or barely watched features, of which Duchess joins the ranks. This really is a combination of far better films that you will have seen before and frequently attempts to capture early Guy Ritchie and Tarantino vibes, both in its presentation and screenplay. Except, it falters due to its barrage of mind-numbing f-bombs, irritating ‘geezer pleaser’ characters and quite frankly an offensively unnecessary near-2 hour runtime.
I’d say that it actually rips off those two aforementioned directors more so than is inspired by them. The done-to-death tropes of pausing, rewinding and narrating footage and an almost parody level of stopping introduce every single instantaneously forgettable and generic character (with what looks like the Pulp Fiction font!). Stylistically the film frequently looks like a gambling/casino advert and lacks any distinct stylistic flair. The editing of the action varies from competent to shoddy and the shootouts themselves do little to spark any excitement. There are a couple of bursts of genuinely gnarly practical gore effects (most notably one particular moment involving a tongue…) which are well executed.
Charlotte Kirk is clearly giving her all and she certainly brings a formidable and committed presence to the physical work, it’s just a shame the dialogue and her attempts at emotional sincerity aren’t quite as well delivered. Frequent Marshall collaborator and familiar face Sean Pertwee occasionally genuinely looks lost, Colm Meaney croaks about for one scene and Stephanie Beacham is clearly having fun hamming it up as lunatic criminal head honcho Charlie. Everyone else involved either ranges from generic to outright bad throughout the duration.
Duchess is a low budget dud that tries and fails to be so many other far better and more successful films. Aside from a few notable splattery moments and Kirk’s committed performance, this is an oftentimes annoying, cheesy, boring and mean spirited affair that does little to thrill or surprise. I’m pretty sure most would take more of Marshall's Hellboy over this.
Star Rating
Duchess releases in select cinemas August 9 and on digital August 12
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