I LOVED the first half hour of this movie! I really loved it. Joan is muscle for a mob. Apparently she has been successful; because she leads a team of three men. The three become two, when she kills one for annoying her. She is terrible in her job! It's not because she's nonaggressive; but rather, because she's too aggressive. And she's too proud. When the head boss visits her, to tell her she went too far; she doesn't ask for his guidance. She's given another task; a very easy one. She's supposed to warn her boyfriend to stop helping street kids off their drug addictions. Apparently another branch of her gang sells them drugs. She STILL can't quite do the task right. She doesn't know if she should hurt him, or just warn him. So she just opts to start a lovers' quarrel. At this point, the film is fully moving in a very engaging direction. What will happen next? Does she gain a conscience, from the boyfriend? Does she continue on her violent path, until a larger crisis occurs? No. For no real reason, her crew kills her; without their boss's knowledge. Now she becomes a vengeful ghost, who kills them. Duh. Wadda story, eh? A ghost. Wow. What could have been a compelling crime drama, turns into low-brow grindhouse slasher/splatter. I wish the movie-makers would have turned this into a traditional good vs. evil story, with her redemptive sacrifice, in the end. Instead, we get a ghost.
Review of Killing Joan
