Bounty Killer

In the not too distant future, greedy corporate types have caused the collapse of civilisation; as retribution for their crimes against humanity, they are hunted by bounty killers, the most famous of which are Drifter (Matthew Marsden) and his sexy sidekick Mary Death (Christian Pitre). But when Mary discovers that Drifter is a wanted criminal, he and his eager gun caddie Jack (Barak Hardley) find themselves pursued into the badlands, where a cannibalistic tribe of gypsies is just one of the dangers awaiting them.

Bounty Killer is a calculated attempt at achieving cult status—every element designed to appeal to fans of exploitation and B-movie madness—which is one of the reasons why I found it so irritating: I believe that cult-dom should come naturally to a film. What makes matters even worse than its thoroughly contrived nature is that, despite all of the film-makers' best efforts, it frequently misses the mark: the comic-book style story is weak, the characters are inane, the humour uneven, the action poorly executed (the lame Road Warrior-inspired chase scene drives home just how brilliant George Miller's film is even after 30+ years), and the satire uninspired (corporate types are the villains—how droll).

About the only thing that the film gets right is the graphic violence, which is frequent and very gory (and achieved mostly using practical effects), with splattery bullet hits, heads cleaved in half, guts spilt, and limbs hacked off.