Mary Magnum: Jiu-Jitsu Nun stars Paula Rae Taylor as the eponymous hero, who becomes a nun in part to atone for her past as a special forces soldier, and in part out of heartbreak after Vicky, the woman she loves (Laura Lopez), leaves her to marry rich guy and political candidate Vlad Russo (Dill). After some time doing her nun stuff, she gets a letter from Vicky, and it sounds like this Russo character isn't a straight shooter--in fact, he may be downright devious. At the same time, Mary has a disagreement with her boss, Father Miller (Ryan Patrick Shanahan), over whether or not he should be able to have inappropriate relations with the altar boys, which leads to her violently tendering her resignation. Now she has all the free time she needs to find Vicky and free her from Russo, but will Russo be so amenable to letting her go?
This was a ton of fun. Both a love letter to and a send up of low-budget action movies, and a good mix of both that will make fans of the action genre happy. Paula Rae Taylor is great as the lead, she's someone you want to root for, and someone you want to see go into a room and beat up a bunch of stunt guys; and then Robert Dill fully understands the assignment as the lead baddie, plenty amounts of scenery chewing and despicableness. I also liked Laura Lopez as Vicky, and Thomas Patrick Ryan Wilson as Johnny Stryder, friend of Mary and Vicky, and son of former action legend Jake Stryder. The action was great too, a nice mix of martial arts and gun fu, and there were a lot of talented people carrying those scenes off. My one critique is some of the dialog scenes felt a little long, but I understand too at 83 minutes, perhaps if they cut those scenes down and it's too short that may scare distributors, though as action fans, Showdown in Little Tokyo is one of the best movies ever, and it's like 76 minutes, so those distributors shouldn't be too concerned with that. Also, I read the Comeuppance review of Prepare to Die, another film from writer and director of this film, Jose Montesinos, and they had the same issue with that one. Again though, that's a small critique on what was overall a great time here. Currently you can rent this on Prime, and if you're looking to support more indie films and want a fun action film, this is worth checking out.
Paula Rae Taylor joins Tatiana Neva and Shaina West as up and coming women action stars, and someone else that I want to see in more stuff. From the beginning when she walks into the dive bar in her nun's habit, where a bunch of scary guys are looking to do her harm, it's go time, just a series of cracked limbs, bullets in domes, and cold one-liners. As I said above, she plays a hero you want to root for, which is essential, but you gotta believe it when the punches start flying, and she delivers there too. I'm behind on Cobra Kai, but fans of that would recognize her Draga from the last season of that series; and she was in Prepare to Die, so I'll have to make that one happen soon--the Comeuppance guys gave that one a good review too. Obviously this films lends itself to sequels, and I'd be up for more of these films, but whatever it is, we need some more action movies with her in the lead.
Every action movie needs a great baddie as well, and that's where Robert Dill comes in. With these more tongue-in-cheek sendups we often run into a situation where the baddie may go too goofy or chew too much scenery, but Dill plays it straight for the most part, which makes it work even more. Unlike Taylor, who we haven't seen before on the site, Dill has worked with Isaac Florentine and Jesse V. Johnson as both actor and stunt performer, including some classics like The Mercenary and Accident Man, so he's well-versed in what makes for a good action movie; but the comedic aspects of this asked for more, and he delivered there too. I think my favorite part was when he was telling his henchmen how he developed his famous punch. It was straight out of a Seagal movie where he's beating up his students, but while Seagal is totally serious when he does that, we know Dill isn't, but he's gotta play it like he's serious too to make the whole thing work. Just a fantastic job all round, and I look forward to seeing more of his work as well.
In the DTV action world, beyond the high-octane action and fight choreography, there's often what Bravo TV calls "the jiggle factor," which they use to describe when they encourage their Real Housewives cast members to wear skimpy outfits so the husbands of the women watching their shows are less likely to ask their wives to change the channel. In the action movie "the jiggle factor" is often the seedy strip club, the modern version of the Western saloon; or maybe a brothel or another form of sex work, and there's a sense that the women who engage in sex work are somehow a lower tier than the damsel in distress who may be captured and pressganged into wearing a sexy outfit, but is saved by the hero before any actual forced sex work happens. This movie does a great job of handling that whole trope, when we find out that Vlad Russo is forcing Vicky to make him money through Onlyfans. She's in her sexy lingerie with stockings, she's uncomfortable, but she opens her computer and sucks it up, and most action movies would keep the exploitation up, maybe having her undress more, do sexy poses or whatever. Instead, the first guy watching her asks her to poop in a cup and mail it to her in a box. Hard stop, we're done here, and it was the perfect way to upend that trope. Then later, they cover their bases by having a conversation between Russo and Vicky where it's discussed that there's nothing wrong with making money on Onlyfans, as long as you're the one deciding whether you want to do it or not. I thought the whole thing worked really well, it was taking a trope that we see in a lot of movies like this, and altering it to fit the overall ethos of the film.
Finally, I live in South Philadelphia, which has a lot of Catholic people, and a lot of dive bars that you may not be welcome in if you're not a local or with a local. I say this because it really informed my understanding of the opening scene where Mary Magnum takes out a bunch of guys in the dive bar. When she first enters, the guys are giving her a hard time, to the point that it looks like they're going to assault her before she whips off her robe and starts shooting. I don't think you'd see that in a South Philly bar, they'd welcome her, have her pull up a chair, and start asking her for spiritual advice on things. I imagine the nun wouldn't be able to relax. I don't think there'd be a sense of "we need to be on our best behavior," but I don't think they'd be fresh with her either. I also think they'd help her find whoever she was looking for if she needed to find someone. Now, this is all supposition, I haven't actually been in a dive bar down here when a nun walked in, but I think my understanding of what would happen is pretty accurate.
And with that, let's wrap this up. Currently you can rent this on VOD on Prime for $5. If you want to put your money behind an indie project, and want to be thoroughly entertained at the same time, this is worth checking out. Thank you to Robert for having me look at this one, I had a great time!
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt43700107
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