Bitch Slap

Any movie that is called 'Bitch Slap' and quotes Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness) at the beginning demands my attention. I know I am not sinking into 'Little Women' territory here - but sometimes a man must embrace his inner badgirl (now THAT is from 'Little Women') and just unleash his inner bitch.


A hot dessert sun, smoke and fire, the aftermath of an epic battle in lingerie and hoop earrings. Tell me more baby - take me back to the beginning and don't be gentle with me because I am a nancy boy.


This feels like a first feature where every element is ramped up to the nth degree - the blood, the violence, the sex, the women - all there for shock and awe. Fortunately however there is also a vision of a type and that kept me interested beyond the norm.


This film clearly wants to be seen in the same vein of "Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill" or any of the other 70s Grindhouse 'woman empowerment' pictures. I always approve of the effort - but is there sufficiently excellent execution for my praise?


If I have learned anything, women with names like 'Tixie', 'Camero' and 'Boom Boom' who show up in the country and slowly emerge from vehicles then release a man they call 'dicksplash' from the trucks of car are not always the most easy to deal with.


The film has fun playing around with time lines but it all works out in the end. We get a complete picture of the evening all the characters have been through. Using green screen CGI to amplify the contents of memory is a neat trick. It was used to perfection in 'Sin City' and in many scenes of this movie.


The 'item' they are all after merely exists to give the characters reasons to swear at each other and dish out insults and pain as any good 'McGuffin' should. They have reasons to be together while not necessarily liking each other.


The script is full of sharp insults and tough talk and truly represents a time the much loved 'Black Dynamite' recently portrayed. It's like a female Tarentino just made her first movie.

There are lots of surprises and twists in a movie that had no legitimate reason to be made but I was glad that it was. Part heist caper, girl's prison movie, lesbian revenge film and all around good time. You could be forgiven for wishing that all girls acted like this when they weren't around us guys. I know I discovered it wasn't all pjs and pillow fights.