Neil Marshall is a director who is no stranger to violence and blood & guts. He usually makes horror films such as Dog Soldiers, and   The Descent, but he has dabbled in the action genre with Doomsday and Centurion. His latest is a revenge-filled action crime thriller called Duchess. It is more in line with a Guy Richie film than anything Marshall has done in the past, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good either.

Duchess or Scarlett (Charlotte Kirk) as she’s commonly known is a petty thief in London, when she is noticed in a nightclub by Rob (Phillip Winchester) He instantly is attracted to her and her ways. He introduces her to his friends Danny (Sean Pertwee) and Baraka (Hoji Fortuna)  Together they are known as “The Three Musketeers” and they help her rid herself of her handler and bring her into their world of illegal diamond smuggling. It is a whole new world for her of glitz and glamor before a tragedy happens and she has to get revenge.

Marshall infuses this action crime revenge thriller with a lot of the things famous for. There are a lot of hand-to-hand fights, gun fights, and quite a lot of blood and guts spilled. This film doesn’t shy away from any of the violence. It embraces violence. Just when you thought there couldn’t or wouldn’t be any more there is. Marshall piles on gunshots, and knife wounds. Blood & guts are everywhere. I didn’t know what to expect from this movie, but I got more than I bargained for in this regard.

The film is filled with colorful characters that are too numerous to mention. Here are some of them that play a key role in the story.  Starting with Mad Frank Scarlett’s father (Colm Meaney,)  Adam Scarlett (Harvey Dean) he’s a real douche bag, Michelle (Melissa Laycy) Scarlett’s friend, Dave her brother (Alex Morgan) Charlie (Stephanie Beacham) an illegal Diamond smuggler, she’s a piece of work, and Victor (Yan Tual) Santiago, Marco, Johannes, Tom a bunch of guys who were friends and partners of Rob, until they weren’t. This cast is full of actors I’m not that familiar with, but they were all very entertaining to watch in this movie. 

I’m a fan of revenge thrillers. When they are done right, such as Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2, Revenge, and many others they are very effective in eliciting a good reaction out of me and I’m sure quite a few others. Duchess is one of those kinds of films. It’s simple in its approach but doesn’t waste time on needless hyperbole.  It introduces the characters in a good way and gets straight into the plot. It doesn’t waste time. I like that in any movie I’m watching. A film is as long as it needs to be to get the story across to the viewers in a good way. Thus one does that very adeptly.

As I said, the names of the characters are introduced in a good way. That is they are said and then appear on screen as titles. This is an effective way to get information to the audience watching a film. Most commonly subtitles are used to translate languages, but sometimes these kinds of colorful tiles can be good. Especially if there is a big cast of characters. Locations are presented this way as well. I’m glad Marshall decided to do this because it makes it easier to know who’s who in a film with such a vast cast as this one.

Charlotte Kirk is an actress I wasn’t aware of before watching her in this movie. I was instantly drawn in by her presence on screen. She had a swagger that she needed to hold her own amongst all of this male machismo.  She not only held her own, but she thrived in this atmosphere.  Right from the beginning of the film, she kicked ass and took names. I will definitely be looking out for her in future films. She’s an actress who can be an action star if given more tales like this one. Tomb Raider comes to mind when I think of future roles for her.

Duchess was a fun action crime revenge thriller. It didn’t get in its own way. It just lets the story and characters unfold before the viewer’s eyes. The extensive cast is introduced in a great way with titles on screen. The blog & guts were flowing like a waterfall and that’s a good thing. The title character played by Kirk was a pleasant surprise to me. I can’t wait to see her in more movies in the future. The film didn’t waste time on minutia; it got to its point rather quickly. I rather enjoyed what it was and how it was presented. Marshall is a good director. I’d like to see what he can do with a popular IP in the future. This was a solid step in that direction.

3 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen