I didn’t rent Duchess for the promise of a great action/crime/revenge film… I rented it because Neil Marshall directed it. He’s hardly my favorite director of genre films, but his ambition has been pretty good over the years. Good enough to check out his take on a decidedly non-horror/sci-fi actioner anyway.

The film is about a British scammer/lady boxer who falls for a diamond smuggler. Soon they are in up to their necks with crime and vengeance Yeah, not much of a plot… just enough for an average one of these.

The film has a weird structure for a film promising kick-ass female-led action in that it doesn’t even get around to being that until forty-five minutes remaining. Up to then, it’s a meet-cute/dangerous flick involving tough guys, guns, and underhanded deals. It takes a long time for the leading lady to become the leading lady in her own film.

And when she does, the action is good enough. Not nearly as kinetic or exciting as they probably want it to be. On the plus side though, it’s pretty rough and tumble without trying to be John Wick Chapter 5. Maybe it should have tried harder… or maybe it does just enough to be a pretty good action flick.

Can’t say the acting is universally good or lead Charlotte Kirk is an overly-convincing action hero. But she’s well built and plays up the sexy as the script requires. Not sure anyone else makes an impression… everyone does a good enough job in a good enough movie.

Yeah, this isn’t going to move any needles other than maybe Neil Marshall’s on the way down, sadly. This flick doesn’t really show off the genius of something like The Descent or the wacky go-for-broke whatever-genre-you-want of Doomsday. It’s just a decent little action crime flick.

Score: 76