[yasr_overall_rating]
A bounty hunter named Atticus Gage tracks down criminals in a post-apocalyptic Earth.
Gina Carano has come a long way since her days as an MMA fighter and while she has appeared in quite a few movies, “Haywire,” “Fast & Furious 6,” and “Deadpool,” she still has a long way to go in the acting department. But that is the norm and has been for a long time. Arnold Schwarzenegger transitioned from the world of weightlifting to becoming one of Hollywood’s leading action men, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson crossed over from professional wrestling and while these are big men with big muscles and larger-than-life personalities, in the acting department, they still leave a lot to be desired but they more than make up for it with buckets of onscreen charisma, and when it comes to action movies, they are exactly who we need, Macbeth and Terry Malloy can take a hike. Here, Ms. Carano takes charge and gets to reaffirm her stature as one of Hollywood’s most lethal actresses and while her character portrayals are constantly being worked on, that is not why we watch movies like this, no, we tune in to watch her do what she does best: kick ass.
Set in the near future, the earth has all but been destroyed. After Mother Nature unleashed her fury on the planet, only remote groups of people have managed to stay alive and these folks are high up in the mountains, far away from the flooding that wiped out most of the world’s population. It is now a post-apocalyptic future where breathing air can kill you and everyone walks around wearing gas masks. While many try to settle down and make the most of their lives, there are those who continue to take advantage of anyone who is weak or not able to fight back. Enter Atticus Gage (Gina Carano), a tough-as-nails bounty hunter who will track down and bring back, dead or alive, those who are wanted. When word gets out that Thomas Jackson (Ryan Robbins), an ex-mercenary, has taken over a small town, a bounty is put out on his head but his town is so closely guarded that anybody who enters and even resembles a bounty hunter, is immediately killed.
Gage has a personal vendetta against Jackson as he brutally killed her younger sister many years ago but he has long forgotten about her. After Gage kills Chavo (Luvia Petersen), a violent outlaw and her band of killers, she takes on her persona and travels to the town that Jackson runs. Pretending to be Chavo, Jackson has undoubtedly heard about her and her reputation and she gradually works her way into his close-knit group. When the time arrives, she tries to take him out but she is outnumbered and left for dead. After her old friend Doc (John Hannah) discovers her body, he nurses her back to health and when she is strong enough, the duo team up together and head back to Jackson’s town, intent on killing Jackson and his men, and freeing the rest of the town.
I have to give kudos to director Peter Howitt, where most other post-apocalyptic features take place in hot, desert locations, here, Howitt goes in the complete opposite direction, drenching us with rain and a neverending abundance of overcast skies. It was quite refreshing after films like “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “The Book of Eli,” and the original Mad Max trilogy. Gina Carano is a force of nature, she carries herself extremely confidently and while she is capable of kicking pretty much everyone’s ass, she is not an unstoppable killing machine. Here she is punched, kicked, stabbed, and shot and suffers the consequences, unlike most other action heroes. When she hurts, she hurts, and we can see it and as a result, this makes her more endearing and relatable, unlike, say, Steven Seagal, who never seems to allow anybody else to get a punch or kick on him. While “Scorched Earth” is wholly unoriginal, and suffers from moments of stilted acting, it is genuinely likable, with a great heroine, and decidedly nasty villain. The perfect combination.
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