TRIGGER WARNING (2024) ** OUT OF ****

Jessica Alba goes full metal jacket in Indonesian director Mouly Surya’s Hispanic-themed action thriller “Trigger Warning” and shows she is no slouch when it comes to fighting. Our resourceful heroine disarms a chainsaw wielding madman when he tries to carve up her. Later, she tangles with ruthless domestic terrorists selling high-tech, military-grade weapons from a nearby Army Depot! As a U.S. Special Forces commando with combat experience galore, Parker (Jessica Alba of “Sin City”) takes a leave of absence to go home and attend her father’s funeral. During a bullet-riddled shootout in the scorching sands of Syria’s Badiyat al-Sham Desert, she had received the phone call from her former high school sweetheart, Sheriff Jesse Swann (Mark Webber of “Green Room”), about her dad’s tragic death. When she meets with him at the Swann County Sheriff’s Department, Jesse hands her the suicide note her father Harry (Alejandro De Hoyos of “The Contractor”) left behind on his bedside nightstand. According to Jesse, Parker’s father killed himself with a live hand grenade in a mine shaft he had been excavating when he wasn’t operating his own bar. Reservations notwithstanding, Parker concedes her father’s death as accidental. 

Later, after she discovers weapons have gone missing from the local U.S. Army armory, she changes her mind about her dad’s death. Meantime, she encounters Jesse’s father, incumbent conservative Senator Ezekiel Swann (Anthony Michael Hall of “The Breakfast Club”), on the campaign trail. Eventually, she learns the senator has a gunnery range on his estate and allows his house guests to blow holes in the targets in his backyard. Not surprisingly, the weapons are government-issue! Earlier, she had seen Senator Swann’s obnoxious younger son, Elvis (Jake Weary of “Animal Kingdom”), obliterate a Mexican taco wagon with a shoulder-fired, rocket-propelled grenade (RPG). Now, Parker has second thoughts about her dad’s demise. She learns Senator Swann is up to his eyeballs in a conspiracy to sell million-dollar, high-tech weaponry because he needs the dough his illegal arms sales generate to fund his re-election campaign. Meantime, Elvis has stashed some of those weapons in Harry’s cave. When Harry discovered them, Elvis murdered him and covered up his death as a suicide. By this time, Parker has notified a shady colleague at the CIA, code-named ‘Spider’ (Tone Bell of “Dog Days”), look into this treachery. 

The villains try to kill Parker and they burn down Harry’s tavern. Parker tosses one miscreant off a second story balcony into the writhing inferno. Jesse arrests Parker for attempting to kill Elvis and cuffs her to a jail cell. A standard-issue ritual torture scene ensues with Ezekiel and his sons roughing Parker up until she reveals she has video evidence connecting them not only to her father’s murder but also to the theft of those Army weapons. Apparently, Elvis thought Harry’s surveillance cameras were not documenting his skullduggery. As it turns out, those cameras recorded evidence of their nefarious deeds and dumped them off-site for safekeeping! Now, Parker must break out of jail before they kill her. Worse, she is appalled to learn Jesse looked the other way when Ezekiel and Elvis were smuggling military ordinance. When Jesse tried earlier to convince her to agree to a cover-up, Parker had refused.

Mind you, there’s plenty of rough and tumble gymnastic action with Alba reliving her “Dark Angel” days when she takes down guys twice her size. Scenarists John Brancato of “The Game” and Josh Olson of “A History of Violence” penned the by-the-numbers screenplay which “Babysitters” scribe Halley Wegryn Gross rewrote. Altogether, they have churned out a predictable but entertaining boilerplate actioneer that gives Alba a chance to play rough. She wields a machete with considerable flourish as it if were a steel tipped fan. Of course, nothing is easy for our redoubtable heroine as she struggles to get to the bottom of her father’s death. Jesse finds himself caught in the middle between his arrogant brother Elvis and his unsavory father. Elvis has brokered a deal with people who are on the classified FBI’s terrorist list. Once our heroine realizes her father was murdered, she sets out to exact vengeance. At one point, she confronts Jesse and urges him to turn himself, the senator, and his younger brother into the authorities. Predictably, family ties outweigh the law, and Jesse goes along with his father. Earlier, he had tried to bribe Parker by buying her property. Mind you, Parker was no more going to sell than Jesse was going to make it simple for her to do. 

“Trigger Warning” had such a troubled production history, and Netflix kept it on the shelf for three years. Meantime, Alba had been absent from the screen for five years. Her 2019 thriller “Killers Anonymous” (2019) was her last theatrical film. Now, she looks far more mature. The action choreography of the close-quarter combat scenes looks plausible. Parker’s willingness to hurl herself into breech and fight the Swann family says a lot about her tenacity. She is like a mongoose when she goes after them. As a murder mystery revenge thriller, “Trigger Warning” makes the grade. Comparably, it is not as violent as “Peppermint” (2018) with Jennifer Garner. Happily, Surya doesn’t waste time with comic relief, and she maintains enough momentum so the action doesn’t dawdle. The basic plot is no great shakes. The death of a loved one that prompts the hero or heroine from afar to say goodbye is standard-issue narrative convention. Of course, we know no matter how stiff the odds are, Parker will survive and her adversaries will grovel. The villains—the entire Swann family—both father and sons—lack the savagery of genuinely despicable villains. Indeed, they beat the living daylights out of Parker, but they don’t kill innocent men or women who stumble into the line of fire. Our heroine is fearless even when she has her back to the wall while taking a beating. Altogether, “Trigger Warning” qualifies best as ‘a guilty pleasure.’

"BRIMSTONE" (1949) ***OUT OF ****

 "Undersea Kingdom" director Joseph Kane's "Brimstone" ranks as an above-average, but formulaic western with plenty of a knock down, drag out fistfights, shootouts, and intrigue. Rod Cameron is cast as an undercover marshal after a gang of thieves. The movie draws its title from the cunning patriarchal 'Pop' Courteen that Walter Brennan plays who presides over a family of ruthless, no-account outlaws who have a legitimate cattle spread. Just to give you an idea how villainous Brennan is, his two eldest sons are played by a pair of seasoned Hollywood heavies, i.e., Jack Lambert and Jim Davis. Mind you, this is a plum role for Lambert because he survives about three-fourths of the film before he bites the dust. After a number of unexplained robberies occur, Johnny Tremaine shows up, and Sheriff Henry McIntyre (Forrest Tucker of "Ride the Man Down") deputizes him despite his better instincts that Tremaine may be the outlaw roaming the territory. The town elders have their eye on McIntyre because he cannot seem to round up the bandit and threaten to depose him if he doesn't solve the crimes and apprehend the criminals before Marshal Walter Greenslide (Jack Holt of "The Littlest Rebel") arrives. When the marshal shows up, he is promptly wounded during a stagecoach robbery in the middle of a stream by a hooded bandit. Fortunately, the lawman is merely winged and comes out of it wearing a sling. Meantime, Pop is up to no-good not only struggling to keep his sons in line, especially one (James Brown of "Red River") who wants to marry a settler, and stealing money holding up a bank.

"Brimstone" features an all-star cast. Cameron makes a stalwart hero, while Brennan steals the show as the treacherous father. Indeed, Brennan's performance here reminded me of his superb characterization as Ike Clanton in John Ford's classic oater "My Darling Clementine." One big twist occurs near the end that Kane and "Escape Me Never" scenarist Thames Williamson concoct and let simmer beneath the surface for the length of his vigorous western. Look for Will Wright as the fiery editor and publisher of a newspaper. Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams has a strong part as Sheriff McIntyre's deputy. My only complaint is some of the special effects, particularly the painted backdrops look might obvious. Prolific helmer Joseph Kane, who directed two John Wayne escapades entitled "Flame of the Barbary Coast" and "Dakota," keeps the action moving and never allows the pace to slacken in this nimble 90-minute frontier tale. This is one of those rare action-packed westerns where the hero doesn't have a love interest. Nevertheless, western fans will appreciate this rugged horse opera and the sturdy cast that highlights it. My favorite line from this oater is "Save your breath to cool your coffee."

THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1940) *** out of ****

 “High Sierra” helmer Raoul Walsh’s “They Drive By Night” chronicles the trials and tribulations of the hard-luck Fabrini brothers, Joe (George Raft of “Scarface”) and Paul (Humphrey Bogart of “Casablanca”), who drive around the clock to deliver merchandise around California. Eventually, since they have fallen behind on their vehicular loan payments, they must now dodge their creditors. Fortunately, Joe and Paul buy a load on their own dime rather than contracting themselves out for peanuts to a trucking firm. The profits enable them to pay off their truck. No sooner do things appear rosy than disaster strikes. Joe makes the mistake of asking Paul to take over the wheel from him because he is feeling drowsy. Mind you, Paul himself cannot seem to get enough shuteye. Earlier, Walsh showed the fate of a trucker who nodded off at the wheel. Predictably, Drifting off asleep Paul plunges their paid-for truck with its valuable into a ravine. Joe bails out at the last moment, while Paul rides the load into the ground. Miraculously, Joe survives the crash none the worse for wear. Sadly, Paul isn’t as fortunate. Doctors take off his right arm. Paul’s wife Pearl (Gale Page of “Crime School”) had been worrying herself constantly about her husband’s uncertain fate. She hates that he cannot spend more time at home with her. She dreams of them having a baby to comfort her in her loneliness. Paul argues they cannot afford a child.

Scenarists Jerry Wald of “The Roaring Twenties” and Richard Macaulay of “Across the Pacific” adapted A.I. Bezzerides’ novel "Thieves' Market." The wit and spontaneity of their snappy dialogue energizes the action. Joe and Paul swap loaded words with Cassie Hartley (Ann Sheridan of “King’s Row”), a waitress slinging bacon and eggs at a roadside dinner. Later, she quits because the owner cannot keep his hands to himself when he is around her. She hopes she will get lucky in Los Angeles. Happily, Joe obliges her, giving her a lift to L.A. with him where he looks for loads to buy. Eventually, Joe lands a job working for an old friend, Ed Carlsen (Alan Hale of “Desperate Journey”), who owns a trucking outfit. Initially, Ed saw Joe and another irate trucker tangle over who would land a load from Ed. Remembering his old friend, Ed invites Joe up to his second story office. Carlsen’s big heart is matched only by his eternally happy outlook. Ed’s trophy wife, Lana (Ida Lupino of “High Sierra”), squandering his cash like confetti, throttles the drama into high gear in “They Drive By Night.” She yearns to sprawl in Joe’s arms. She convinces Ed to hire Joe, but not as a trucker. Instead, she convinces Ed that Joe can do more for them in the office than out on the asphalt.

Afterward, Lana drives Joe crazy with her passes at him. He shuns her like poison. First, he refuses Lana’s advances because Ed is his good friend. Second, Joe has eyes only for Cassie. He furnishes her with room and board. After he drove her to L.A., Joe passed out in Cassie’s bed. Instead, Cassie had to bed down for the night in a chair. Now, the Production Code Administration forbade showing a couple sleeping in the same bed. Eventually, Joe hires Paul, and business begin to boom. During a party at Ed’s new estate, Ed boasts about one of his novel gadgets. He has installed a photo-electric eye in his garage. When he approaches the garage, the vehicle breaks the light beam of the mechanism. This prompts the garage door to retract, allowing the motorist to enter and park their vehicle. Walsh and his writers go out of their way to emphasize this novelty. Later, after he is so sloshed he cannot drive, Ed has Lana drive them home. When she parks in the garage, she realizes Ed has passed out. Lana lacks the strength to remove him from the vehicle. Instead, she leaves him in the car with the engine running. Ultimately, Ed dies from carbon monoxide, and Lana knew exactly what she was doing when she let him die.

The Production Code stipulated nobody was above the law. Lana confesses her guilt to the District Attorney. Initially, the D.A. rules it as a case of accidental death. Later, after Joe continues to ignore her advances, Lana convinces the D.A. that Joe threatened to kill her if she didn’t kill her husband. The D.A. swallows this lie without blinking and has Joe arrested allegedly for his part in the murder. Clearly, Walsh and company appropriated the complicated murder subplot from another WB film, Archie Mayo’s Latino thriller “Border Town” (1935) with Paul Muni and Bette Davis. Nevertheless, Walsh makes more comprehensive use of it. Although Lana insists to the D.A. that Joe drove her to kill Ed, she cannot cope with her own sense of guilt. The electric eye technology haunts her. She discovers the facility where she is being held boasts such technology. Every time she encounters an electric eye, she feels overwhelmed by her guilt, like Shakespeare’s Lady MacBeth. During Joe’s trial for his complicity in Ed’s murder, Lana melts down in court. The judge dismisses the murder charges against Joe.

The cast is first-rate, and Walsh’s fast-paced, no-frills direction maintains momentum. Lupino is riveting in her portrayal as Lana. The tacked-on murder and trial seems rather contrived but inevitable. Humphrey Bogart was still confined to thankless second-string roles at this point in his career. Meanwhile Raft played the level headed big brother who used his brains to get ahead. This ranks as one of the Raft’s more sympathetic roles. Alan Hale steals the show with his antics. Altogether, “They Drive By Night” qualifies as an above average Walsh effort.

PIRANHA (1972) *1/2 OUT OF ****

 William Gibson’s one and only film “Piranha,” reuniting “Laredo” co-stars William Smith and Peter Brown, qualifies as a half-baked spin on the venerable survivalist saga “The Most Dangerous Game.” Brother and sister, Art Greene (Tom Simcox of “Shenandoah”) and Terry Greene (Ahna Capri of “Enter the Dragon”), hire a local, Jim Pendrake (Peter Brown of “Lawman”), to serve as their tour guide in the jungles of Venezuela. Terry is a wildlife photographer with an antipathy toward firearms. Later in the story, her brother Art fills Jim about her sour attitude. Apparently, their mother shot their father in cold blood. Mind you, he had cheated on his wife, so in a fit of rage, she blew his head off. Tragically, Terry witnessed the murder. Since then the sight of guns evokes those painful memories. They encounter Caribe (William Smith of “Any Which Way You Can”), a seasoned hunter who sums up his love of hunting, "I can taste the very soul of every animal I hunt... what I hunt becomes a part of me... and lives on in me. Someday I'll be outhunted. And everything that I will become part of that hunter..."

By the time, this slow-burn, but tedious 95-minute melodrama has worn out its welcome. Caribe loves to kill animals much to Terry’s chagrin. Near the end, Caribe kills Terry’s brother and beats poor Pendrake half to death. Predictably, Terry adapts to this horrific predicament. Earlier, she complained to Jim about packing a pistol. Nevertheless, he saved not only Terry’s life but also her brother when she shot a venomous snake poised to strike them. Now, she has gotten hold of Caribe’s rifle, and she blasts him into eternity. Although the location photography and the stock footage of wildlife provide considerable atmosphere, Richard Finder’s screenplay is light on drama until the final quarter hour. The use of stock footage pads out the action and provides a sense of atmosphere. Incredibly, we never see any piranha. What a letdown! Apparently, neither Gibson nor his writer lacked the resources to stage a piranha feeding scene. As it turns out, Piranha is Caribe’s nickname. Smith is appropriately maniacal as the hunter gone mad. Gibson could easily have whittled twenty minutes out of this lethargic saga. Whether he knew it or not, Gibson paved the way for those grisly Italian-produced horror movies, like Sergio Martino’s “Slave of the Cannibal God,” which featured live footage of animals eating animals. Although it doesn’t redeem the film, the wildlife unit shot film of an incredibly monstrous anaconda. No, this anaconda is much larger than those Jennifer Lopez tangled with in “Anaconda.” This reptile resembles a felled tree slithering through the underbrush. Presumably, the cast got a vacation out of this on-location shoot when they weren’t sweating it out in the jungle. Save your curiosity for something else if you feel the urge to watch this abysmal adventure.

"TWO FACES OF THE DOLLAR" (1967-ITALIAN) *** OUT OF ****

Most Spaghetti westerns are derivative, imitating the genre’s box office champs, specifically Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and Sergio Corbucci's "Django," and then later the “Trinity” horse operas. “Man from Oklahoma” director Roberto Bianchi Montero’s "Two Faces of the Dollar" borrows marginally from Leone's classic, but contains more plot and morality than those superficial, straightforward, gunnery range Spaghetti westerns. Mind you, "Two Faces of the Dollar" has no shortage of violent shootouts in the grand Spaghetti western tradition. Moreover, the filmmakers observe some of the now defunct Production Code rules. The film depicts cold blooded murder, premediated larceny, and reflects the venerable Production Code edict: crime doesn’t pay. Meantime, this 95-minute sagebrusher also crowds out gunplay with the logistics of an elaborately planned gold heist. Think “Mission Impossible.” Kudos to lenser Stelvio Massi. His first-rate, widescreen cinematography along with his novel use of zooms and pans enhances the film’s spectacle. Later, Massi would ascend to the director’s chair and distinguish himself with various poliziotteschi crime thrillers, notably “Convoy Busters” and “Emergency Squad.” At the same time, Giosy and Mario Capuano’s flavorful orchestral score evokes memories of Leone’s “For A Few Dollars More.” What our anti-heroes set out to accomplish mirrors John Huston’s revered crime classic “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950). Surprisingly, the Italians embrace a ‘crime doesn’t pay’ note, in the context of “The Asphalt Jungle!”

Story and screenplay scribes Alberto Silvestri of “Nick the Sting” and Franco Verucci of “No Way Out” conjure up a vivid gallery of characters. Furthermore, they pose stiff obstacles our thieves must contend with before they get away with the gold. First, they introduce us to a bespectacled professor, Matthew (Jacques Herlin of “Secret Agent Super Dragon”), who idolizes clocks. He has devised an audacious plan to steal a fortune in gold stored at Fort Henderson. Although it remains under lock and guard in a separate room, Matthew orchestrates the theft in broad daylight inside the fort during a camp inspection. He has recruited three accomplices, two men and a woman. First, he convinces a sharp-shooting gunslinger, Django (Maurice Poli of “Battle of the Damned,” aka Monty Greenwood), who prizes the qualities of a Navy Colt revolver, to join him. Second, he enlists the aid of a disgraced army officer, the treacherous Blackgrave (Gérard Herter of “Adios, Sabata”), who shares Django’s relish for Navy Colts. Blackgrave must impersonate the colonel scheduled to inspect the fort. Once they enter the fort, Blackgrave and Django perform all the heavy lifting and later the ensuing gunplay when they cross the border. Third, he solicits the help of a buxom babe, Jane (Gabriella Giorgelli of “Moving Target”), who relies of her charms to seduce lusty males. This turns out to be the first flaw in Matthew’s plan. He chose Jane because she knew the former quartermaster. After her arrival at the stockade, the current quartermaster informs her about Felix’s death. Initially, the new quartermaster insists she leave. Naturally, she appeals to him and hangs around long enough to carry out her part in the robbery. Moreover, Matthew has painstakingly created a persona for himself that will enable them escape with the gold, even under the noses of a fort bristling with soldiers! Earlier, at the local bank, Matthew tried without success to cash in bags of dirt he had mistaken for gold. He has done it so often everybody considers him a fool. Indeed, Matthew grooms this persona until the thieves possess the gold. Earlier, Blackgrave had turned his horse loose in the desert, so he flag down the stagecoach transporting Colonel Talbert (Andrea Bosic of “Sandokan the Great”) to Fort Henderson for his camp inspection. During their conversation, Blackgrave assembles his Navy Colt. He guns down the officer traveling with Talbert without a qualm. Afterward, he faces off with Talbert in an old-fashioned duel and kills the colonel. Fortunately, during their conversation, Blackgrave had learned from Talbert that the latter had never visited Fort Henderson, so nobody would be able to challenge his identity. Indeed, after he kills the colonel in a duel, Blackgrave dons Talbert’s uniform and masquerades as him. At the fort, he informs the commandant that he plans to rest before he launches his inspection. Meantime, posing as a drunken Mexican, Django charges recklessly into the fort and picks a fight with a brawny sergeant. Promptly, the soldiers lock him up in the guardhouse. Later, Django tempts a guard to enter his cell when he catches the soldier admiring his watch. Django overpowers the guard and prepares to play his part in helping Blackgrave steal the gold.

Basically, Blackgrave and Django work inside the fort to remove the gold. Blackgrave dodges an inquisitive officer, Lt. Benjamin Sinclair (Andrea Scotti of “Operation Poker”), who may have recognized him from his shady past. Meantime, Django struggles with another sergeant who tries to thwart his efforts to steal the gold. Later, when a soldier discovers Jane and tries to alert the post about her, Blackgrave gunned him down in front of everybody. Blackgrave justifies shooting the soldier because he recognized the man as an arsonist. Meantime, to facilitate loading the sacks of gold onto Matthew’s wagon, Blackgrave orders the fort commander to dispatch troopers to help Matthew load up. Montero and his writers rarely let Matthew and his accomplices off the hook. Once they have left the fort, greed prompts them to double-cross each other. Later, after they reach the border, they discover Lt. Sinclair has hired a gang of desperadoes to help him seize the gold. A nighttime gunfight in an abandoned border town ensues, with our protagonists mowing down the villains. Nevertheless, unexpected trouble lies ahead for Django, Blackgrave, and Matthew. “Two Faces of the Dollar” ends on an ironic note for a Spaghetti western: crime doesn’t pay.  

"ALIEN" (1979) **** OUT OF ****

“Duelists” director Ridley Scott's "Alien" ranks as one of the greatest sci-fi horror sagas of all time. If you haven't seen this landmark epic that spawned a franchise, then you haven't experienced genuine icy cold dread. Happily, the years haven't robbed this terrific gem of its skin crawling repulsion. Several sequels followed in its wake, but only James Cameron's "Aliens" came close to replicating the original's intensity. Like any suspenseful film, "Alien" boasts several surprises that will catch you off guard and send shivers down your spine. Most of the action is confined to the murky confines of a shadowy mining company spacecraft with passages galore. Reportedly, Scott and scenarist Dan O'Bannon knew nothing about director Edward L. Cahn's "It! The Terror from Beyond Space" (1958) and Mario Bava's "Planet of the Vampires" (1964) with Barry Sullivan. Nevertheless, though neither had seen either film, it is easy to see the resemblance in the plots between "Alien" and edgy Cahn's epic where a monster boards a spacecraft before it blasts off into space and the crew spent the entire flight waging a life and death war with the monster as it corners the heroes. On the other hand, the set design in the Bava film seems virtually replicated in Scott's film. Mind you, neither of those two inspirations is anywhere near as chilling as "Alien." The eponymous monster is a memorable predator that you’ll never forget. Indeed, coursing through the veins of this lethal life-form is acid that eats its way through the metal hull of the ship.

Scott's atmospheric film takes place in the year 2122. The commercial cargo vessel the Nostromo is heading home when Mother, the ship's computer, receives an SOS distress signal and awakens the seven-member crew from hyper-sleep in their individual sleeping pods. Reluctantly, they hasten to a planet to investigate the signal. They land on this inhospitable planet and check things out. One of the crew, Kane (John Hurt of "Heaven's Gate") finds himself in an eerie setting, a garden within the hull of a derelict space ship that contains curious organisms in small silos. Kane makes the fatal mistake of scrutinizing one of them and the dome shape of it peels itself back ominously and then something icky surges out of it, smashing through the face plate of his helmet. This unsavory organism attaches itself to Kane's face, while another part of it plunges down his gullet, while its snake-like tail coils around his neck. Kane's shipmates rush their fallen colleague back aboard the Nostromo despite the protests of Science Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver of "Ghostbusters") who doesn't think Kane should be brought aboard. Ripley fears Kane has been infected with something hazardous. Nostromo ship captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt of "M. A. S. H.") intervenes on Kane's behalf and allows him to be brought aboard. They confine Kane to quarantine, so they can analyze the mysterious creature clinging tenaciously to his face. Miraculously, the creature strangling Kane releases him, collapses to the floor, and scuttles away like eerie vermin. Kane revives none the worse for wear, and everybody celebrates his recovery.

At best, the sense of relief proves at best ephemeral. While the crew is indulging in a gluttonous repast, Kane coughs and then sprawls onto their table and goes into a palsy. As his shipmates struggle to restrain him, Kane heaves and a pickle-shaped demon erupts from his chest and tears off into the shop. At this point, the dwarf-like critter grows into a huge, ugly creature with a double-set of ravenous jaws. One by one, it eliminates the shipmates until only Ripley is left. In this respect, Scott's grisly film resembles a slasher film because Ripley qualifies as 'the final girl.' Ripley manages to activate the self-destruction phase, after she rescues her cat, and slips into an escape shuttle. Unfortunately, Dallas dies during the final moments after the self-destruct sequence is set into motion. Ripley and Jones make it into the shuttle and prepare for the long voyage back to Earth. Little does poor Ripley realize that the alien beast escaped from the Nostromo before it was obliterated. Eventually, she is able to blow the monster out of the shuttle. "Alien" garnered an Oscar for Best Special Effects. Jerry Goldsmith’s orchestral score heightens the suspense and terror. “Alien” used the following line in its advertising campaign: In space nobody can hear you scream!

MARIA (2019) **** OUT OF ****

Filipino film director Pedring A. Lopez’s fearsome but formulaic female revenge thriller “Maria,” headlining Christina Reyes, makes the gun-toting, blade-wielding, karate chopping dames in “La Femme Nitika,” “Peppermint,” “Atomic Blonde,” and “Anya” look like Girl Scouts soliciting for their annual cookie drive. Clocking in at a nimble 90 minutes, “Maria” never wears out its welcome, though it relies primarily on an inventory of cliches to propel its ballistic yarn. Several factors distinguish this low budget actioneer and enhance its spectacle, principally a persuasive cast, acrobatic combat choreography, atmospheric settings, a sympathetic heroine, thoroughly despicable villains, and some extreme violence in its depiction of its unsavory subject matter. Sensitive souls who abhor graphic violence should skip this bloodthirsty carnage in this martial-arts action thriller.

“Maria” follows the unfortunate fate of a Filipino assassin formerly known as the Black Rose assassin Lily. Our courageous heroine staged her own death, so she could quit the cartel, disappear into obscurity, and start a family. Guess her hormones were crying out to her. Now, after seven years, things are looking pretty rosy for our protagonist. Maria has  married Bert (Guji Lorenzana of “Silong”) who is a decent guy. They have a rambunctious daughter, Min-Min (Johanna Rish Tongcua of “Once Before”) and they indulge her every whim. Predictably, Lopez presents a portrait of domestic family bliss fuzzy with sentiment. Meantime, the Black Rose cartel that Maria deserted is monitoring a controversial gubernatorial race. They don’t like the way things is shaping up and they send their henchmen out to cover it. Maria’s old lover Kaleb (Germaine De Leon of “Here Comes the Boom”) from her Black Rose days reacts with understandable shock when he spots her in a picture at a rally taken by one of his henchmen. Immediately, Kaleb informs his father, the chieftain of the Black Rose cartel, Ricardo  (Freddy Webb of “Etiquette for Mistresses”), about his alarming discovery. Although Kaleb vows to liquidate the dame himself for her treachery, Victor (KC Montero of “Kubot: The Aswang Chronicles 2”) has nothing but contempt for Ricardo’s son. Nevertheless, Kaleb and his gunmen crash Maria’s house without warning and gun down not only Bert but also kill Min-Min! Now, there is no going backwards. Maria vows to rub out her enemies with extreme prejudice, no matter how long it takes her. She convinces her mentor, Greg (Ronnie Lazaro of “Gospel of the Beast”), to provide her with not only sanctuary but also furnish her with an arsenal of weapons to wage her own private war. The only thing keeping Greg from suffering reprisals for aiding and abetting Maria is a gentleman’s agreement with the Black Rose cartel. Imagine that: honor among these thieves.

You’ve seen this kind of high body count thriller dozens of time. What “Maria” lacks in originality, Lopez more than compensates with blood, gore, and more. Moreover, this predictable but exciting yarn never runs out of steam. Of course, Maria whips everybody’s butts! No surprises there! Nevertheless, the violence in the cartel scenes is pretty toxic. Ricardo loves to torture those whom he suspects are traitors within his ranks. Moreover, he  is prepared to do some rather vile things. We see two hefty fellows strung up like beef in a slaughter house who have been beaten half to death. The cartel chieftain is chewing them out before he has two cute little babes with automatic pistols clean the wax out of their ears with lead! The CGI splashes of blood are brief but punctual! Later, the cartel torture a naked man strewn on a table. After beating the poor soul to a pulp but not enough to loosen his tongue, they resort to a mechanical enema, thrusting a rod up his anus. Yes, the guy screams like a stuck hog.  Indeed, if you’ve ever endured a prostrate biopsy, you can sympathize with this fellow’s plight. Granted, these scenes are excessive, but they prove that the Black Rose cartel is not a Sunday School outfit. Their indifference to murder in all forms is clearly sociopathic. Sensitive souls may shrink from these scenes. If ever a mob needed massacring, the Black Rose does and it gets its just comeuppance. As the alpha female, Christina Reyes lives up to her reputation and thwarts her old employers. Word is a sequel is in the works, too.