Jolt: Kate Beckinsale goes atomic blonde in overcharged Amazon action film

By Jim Slotek

Rating: C-plus

In a Hollyworld of lumbering lifetime action-stars like Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Bruce Willis, a wave of female action-heroes have also staked their claim to badassery.

These include Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road, Atomic Blonde, the Fast & Furious series), Milla Jovovich (the Resident Evil franchise), and Kate Beckinsale (Underworld and every Underworld after that).

But as with their mesomorphic male counterparts, you may wonder why they continue past the point where they’ve made their point. Is it money? Typecasting? Force of habit? Maybe they find acting tough more fun than ordinary acting.

Just another night out for Lindy in Jolt.

Which brings us to Beckinsale, who certainly cut a formidable figure in black pleather as the weapon-wielding vampire Selene in five Underworld movies over 13 years. Not one to let go of her action cred, Beckinsale stars in the movie Jolt (debuting Friday on Prime). With her hair dyed platinum like Theron in Atomic Blonde, she likewise plays a walking, ticking time-bomb, capable of going off at any time. 

Jolt is the action debut of director Tanya Wexler, better known for comedies. And her go-to joke is to depict the bloody carnage that would ensue if the protagonist Lindy (Beckinsale) didn’t have a little electric shock button to zap her violent urges. She goes to it maybe a little too often. 

Lindy – as we discover in a densely expositional narrative that opens the movie - has a congenital condition. It’s a neurological disorder that can turn ordinary bummers like disappointment or annoyance into full-out rage, with neurologically induced superhuman strength. 

Hey, that sounds a lot like M. Night Shyamalan’s Split!

PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN

Happily, a therapist/scientist (Stanley Tucci) has figured out how to wire Lindy so that, at the push of a button, she can quell the urge to crush someone’s larynx.

The beta test is to see how well the previously-institutionalized Lindy can socialize with her violent impulses electronically in check. She even goes on a date with a luckless-in-love hunk named Justin (Jai Courtney), and consummates the relationship posthaste.

Sadly, the day after one of those nights, Justin turns up dead, Lindy, naturally is a suspect.

Hey, that sounds a lot like the Kaley Cuoco series The Flight Attendant!

So it is that Lindy cuts a bloody swath through, um, the underworld, trying to get to the bottom of her late, brief sweetheart’s sour business dealings. She is followed all the way by Detective Vicars (Bobby Cannavale), who is perceived as soft on her by his cynical partner Detective Nevin (Laverne Cox). And the good doctor may have his own, unspoken insights into what’s going on.

There are moments of fun in the cathartic violence, but it would be nice if there were a few curveballs other than those violent fantasy vignettes. There is a surprise ending even Flat Earthers could see over the horizon, and the plot twists and turns eventually become repetitive.

As utterly derivative action films go, Jolt has definite energy, and it’s not pretending to be original. As a time-killer, that may be enough for some.

Jolt. Directed by Tanya Wexler. Written by Scott Wascha. Starring Kate Beckinsale, Jai Courtney and Stanley Tucci. Debuts Friday, July 23 on Prime.