Everly (film)

Everly

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Joe Lynch
Produced by
  • Rob Paris
  • Andrew Pfeffer
  • Adam Ripp
  • Luke Rivett
Screenplay by Yale Hannon
Story by
  • Yale Hannon
  • Joe Lynch
Starring Salma Hayek
Music by Bear McCreary
Cinematography Steve Gainer
Edited by Evan Schiff
Production
company
  • Crime Scene Pictures
  • Vega, Baby!
  • Anonymous Content
Distributed by
Release date
  • September 20, 2014 (2014-09-20) (Fantastic Fest)
  • January 23, 2015 (2015-01-23) (iTunes)
  • February 27, 2015 (2015-02-27) (United States)
Running time
 92 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language
  • English
  • Spanish
  • Japanese

Everly is a 2014 American action thriller film directed by Joe Lynch and written by Yale Hannon based on a story by Lynch and Hannon. The film stars Salma Hayek as the title character with Akie Kotabe, Jennifer Blanc, Masashi Fujimoto, Togo Igawa, Gabriella Wright, Caroline Chikezie, Laura Cepeda, and Hiroyuki Watanabe in supporting roles.

The film was released via iTunes on January 23, 2015, and received a limited theatrical release on February 27, 2015, by Dimension Films.

Plot

Everly (Salma Hayek), a prostitute working for the brutal criminal overlord Taiko (Hiroyuki Watanabe), is attacked in her apartment by Taiko's enforcers after he discovers that she has been working with the police to bring down his organization. However, though Taiko expected his men to kill her easily after torturing her, Everly retrieves a gun she had hidden and manages to kill all of her attackers. Taiko then begins a sadistic game of toying with Everly, dispatching numerous hired killers and offering the other prostitutes in the building (which he presumably owns) a bounty if they manage to kill her. Meanwhile, Everly attempts to contact her mother Edith (Laura Cepeda) and young daughter Maisey (Aisha Ayamah) to save them from other henchmen of Taiko and get them out of the situation alive.

Everly is caught by The Sadist (Togo Igawa) and some of Taiko's henchmen and tied up in a room. During Everly's torture, Edith bursts in with a gun and kills two of The Sadist's torturers, but is subdued by The Sadist while he performs the same torture as he did with Everly on her. Everly desperately struggles to escape and help her mother. She breaks one of the ropes that The Sadist had loosened before and uses her free hand to kill one of the assailants with a hidden gun. When The Sadist realizes she has a hidden gun, she shoots him twice in the lung. The last torturer runs toward Everly with a weapon, only to die when she shoots him in the chest and neck. She escapes her remaining restraints and goes to help Edith. The Sadist stands up, still alive, and knocks Everly down, and is about to kill Edith when Everly forces a poisonous liquid down his throat, melting his intestines out of his stomach which kills him.

As the film progresses, it is revealed that Everly was a prisoner in the plush apartment after being kidnapped by Taiko four years earlier and forced into prostitution. She has had no contact with Edith or Maisey during that time, and they are confused and angry at the deadly situation they are suddenly thrust into. As Everly fights off the numerous attacks, the foes become more outlandish; originally they are simply armed thugs, but eventually they appear in costumes and with themed groups for extravagant tortures.

Eventually, Edith is killed by a sniper hired by Taiko from the building across from the apartment. Everly is finally subdued, but manages to kill Taiko after his soldiers have left. Afterwards, Everly reconciles with Maisey, who was under the protection of one of Everly's neighbors (who was eventually killed). The film closes with Everly seemingly succumbing to her wounds, but with Maisey still alive and potentially safe with the death of Taiko. However, immediately before the credits, there is audio of a beeping heart-monitor and gasp of breath to indicate that Everly has not died after all.

Cast

Production

On February 1, 2012, Kate Hudson joined the cast.[2] On May 10, 2013, Salma Hayek joined the cast to replace Hudson in the lead role.[3]

Release

Everly premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 20, 2014.[4][5] The film was released on iTunes on January 23, 2015,[6] and was released theatrically on February 27, 2015 by Dimension Films.[7]

Critical reception

Everly received mixed to negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 29% approval rating, with a rating average of 4.3/10, based on 34 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Everly benefits from Joe Lynch's stylish direction and Salma Hayek's starring work, but it's too thinly written and sleazily violent to fully recommend."[8] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 based on reviews from critics, the film has a score of 35 based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."[9]

References

  1. ↑ "EVERLY (18)". British Board of Film Classification. November 28, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Berlin 2012: Kate Hudson to Star in Thriller 'Everly'". The Hollywood Reporter. February 1, 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Cannes: Salma Hayek To Star In Black List Project ‘Everly’". Deadline. 10 May 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  4. ↑ Drew Taylor (September 20, 2014). "Fantastic Fest Review: Salma Hayek Does Her Best John McC - The Playlist". The Playlist. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  5. ↑ Eric Vespe (September 23, 2014). "Quint talks about two Fantastic Fest shoot-em-ups: Keanu Reeves in JOHN WICK and Salma Hayek in EVERLY!".
  6. ↑ "Salma Hayek Opens Fire in New Trailer for Everly". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Everly (2015) - Box Office Mojo". Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Everly". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Everly Reviews". Metacritic. 2015-02-27. Retrieved 2015-03-07.
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