If you ever felt that Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 had enough action, but too much variety in the location of their fight scenes, then Joe Lynch’s Everly could be the tonic you need. Packing the same amount of punch as Tarantino’s action opus, yet containing its protagonist in a single location, Everly sees Salma Hayek take on wave after wave of bad guys. And I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say she kicks ass.

The film opens on Everly (Hayek), beaten and bloody, stumbling around a bathroom and retrieving a handgun from the toilet cistern. It’s not clear what’s happened to her or who is the culprit, but there are noises coming from the main room of the apartment and they’re not good. When Everly’s abusers finally break down the door, she despatches them one by one. You don’t mess with Everly, it seems.

As it transpires, Everly has been held prisoner in the apartment for many years, beaten and raped on camera for the twisted needs of Japanese crime boss Taiko. But because Everly took out his henchmen, he’s now on the rampage and sending every bit of muscle he can lay his hands on to kill her.

Everly plays out like a hyper-violent, frenetic video game, with each wave of enemies stronger than the last. We get Yakuza, female assassins, a SWAT team and even some Japanese lunatic who calls himself The Sadist, complete with gimp in a cage (that would be his sidekick, The Masochist). And although pretty much everyone takes a chunk out of Everly, it never seems to put her down for very long. No explanation for how she’s so badass, but none is really needed as you’ll be too busy revelling in the glorious ultraviolence on offer.

Joe Lynch has created an enjoyable action romp that requires an absolute suspension of disbelief, but is no less enjoyable for its far-fetched, high-octane blood-fuelled liveliness that never grows old in its 92-minute runtime. The Wrong Turn 2 director doesn’t forget his horror sensibilities either, with many of the deaths being fitting for that genre despite this sitting firmly under the action thriller banner.

Check your brain at the door, kick back and relax. Everly is here to entertain, and boy does she deliver.