Duchess

The art of boxing, it is often said, hinges not on how hard you can hit but on how well you can take a punch. Dodging is better, most of the time, but you have to be able to get back up and carry on no matter how rough you feel. The heroine of Neil Marshall’s latest actioner, played once again by Charlotte Kirk, only discovers how hard she can fight when she’s already lost what mattered to her most.

Her name is Scarlett; Duchess is a nickname suggested by a henchman, which she adopts because it seems to fit. She has a mixture of glamour and – when she’s trying – gracefulness which seems to be unusual in their circles, despite the fact that crime boss Rob (Philip Winchester) is a wealthy man unlikely to have much difficulty in attracting women. He spots her in a nightclub where she’s working as a pickpocket, and is instantly drawn to her. The fact that she already has a boyfriend barely registers. She likes the idea of being with a real gangster, and she likes the comfortable lifestyle he offers her, but the two seem to find something more genuine along the way, and, with little moral compunction about his activities, she’s happy to give up everything else to join him.

The first half of the film explores their relationship in flashback; the second deals with what happens after it all goes horribly wrong. We get a glimpse of that in the opening scene, shot like classic film noir, with Scarlett in black lingerie and red lipstick, standing beside a window and lit by neon light. The only thing that’s missing is the gun in her stocking; she’s simply not wearing enough to conceal it. She’s about to take out the first of several enemies, but along the way she will do something more interesting, developing business ambitions of her own.

This is an unashamedly old fashioned film, with a fantastic Seventies-style score by Paul Lawler. Kirk gets to draw on her native Bexley accent, and there’s a plethora of classic East End supporting characters, including her pickpocket pal Michelle (Mellissa Laycy) and fixer Aunt Nellie (Judy Donovan), who packs a famous left hook. On the gangster front we have Billy (Hoji Fortuna), a former Angolan mercenary, and Danny (Sean Pertwee, another Marshall regular). Colm Meaney puts in an appearance as Scarlett’s jailbird dad, delivering plenty even in an underwritten role.

A memorable early scene sees Scarlett attempting to hold a conversation with Rob whilst she’s in the boxing ring, getting leathered by her opponent. It’s difficult to spit out a line straight after being punched in the stomach, and this gives us an indication of the grit she’ll display later on, as well as giving Kirk her best dramatic opportunity. The later work is less ingenious and sometimes one can feel the pressure of the shoot in the way scenes have been spliced together, the dramatic tension just a little too thin. At its worst it descends into something more like soap opera, but even then it has its moments – a snarling tiger in a pit whom one imagines is going to suffer from obesity given the number of corpses it’s asked to dispose of, and some particularly vicious moments of violence.

Marshall is, first and foremost, an action director, and the various fight scenes in the film are well distributed so that we never have to wait too long before it gets back on track. The fact that we’ve seen Scarlett be physically vulnerable keeps things interesting, even when she’s fighting with impressive skill. The settings for these scenes are well chosen, giving the actors interesting spaces and objects to interact with, and the final encounter is a lovely tribute to Seventies European action thrillers.

Though it falls short of its ambitions and of Marshall’s best work, there’s a fair bit to enjoy here. You’ll get more out of it if you’re familiar with the genre tropes it’s playing with. Kirk seems more at home here than in some of the roles Marshall has given her, and her energy helps to carry the slower scenes. Pertwee’s gift for dry wit helps to keep things balanced, and although it may be trashy at times, it’s a film with an appealing sense of fun.