DAUGHTER OF THE WOLF | FILM REVIEW
Dir: David Hackl (15, 88 mins)
A by-the-numbers survivalist actioner and vehicle for Gina Carano, whose troublesome social media outbursts cut short a Star Wars career. Now the MMA champion adds her brawn to direct-to-DVD thrillers that Steven Seagal or Jean Claude Van Damme would have done in the 90s. Carano plays Clair Hamilton, the predictably tough-as-nails ex-military type, returning home after her father’s death and trying to reconnect with her estranged son. Inheriting a large sum of money, she becomes the target of straggly bearded patriarch Richard Dreyfuss and his ‘family’, who kidnap her son Charlie and lug him around some impressively snowy scenery.
With nods to superior Liam Neeson drama The Grey, Carano finds herself shadowed by a pack of wolves as she uses one of the would-be kidnappers, Brendan Fehr with yellow teeth, to show her the way back to her own son. Cue a lot of slo-mo action, slo-mo flashbacks and talking around campfires as backstories are clumsily fleshed out and the vengeance at the heart of Dreyfuss’ ornery cuss becomes clear. There are some impressive moments of action, a sparse opening car chase, wolf attacks, ludicrous clifftop falls and drone shots of snowy landscapes as Carano gets closer to her son. There’s also a lot of clumsy struggling through snow, most people ending up with a limp at some point.
Dreyfuss is a long way from Jaws, chewing the scenery as an embittered old man with a score to settle and prone to making speeches, rolling his vowels and roaring crazily often whilst torturing the family he has created for himself. He even has a borderline hysterical fight with Carano, who gets a chance to emote more than usual, forming a rather unbelievable bond with Fehr. Clumsy plotting and confusing character motivations prevail in this disposable, chilly nonsense.
Out now via digital download
words KEIRON SELF photos JESSICA & ANDY SCHLAMP