Hit Girls, a much talked about but not often seen action short film, is finally available for wide viewing after successful appearances at BAFTA, Working Title and Electric Cinema in London. The film is available online (Youtube) or, hey, why not just look up from this review and check it out for yourself.

Sounds like a great plan.

Hit Girls is a great film. Filled with lots of exciting action, dark humor and brilliant sass, Hit Girls is a film that practically screams out to become a feature film, web series or otherwise extended cinematic experience.

In fact, it may very well be on its way to an extended life.

The film centers around two seemingly ordinary young women, Emma (Rosie Fellner, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers) and Megan (Gillian MacGregor, A Lonely Place to Die & Father's Day). Emma and Megan are flat mates. They do all the things that normal young women do. Oh, and they're also trained assassins.

Megan pulls Emma off of an assignment for falling in love with their target. Emma, to retaliate, kills Megan's date (Joey Ansah, The Bourne Ultimatum). While burying him deep in the forest, all hell breaks loose when the two can't make their peace and old grudges rise to the surface. Will our deadly duo fight to the finish or salvage their friendship?

Hit Girls features exciting yet entertaining fight action, terrific verbal jousts courtesy of Gillian MacGregor's spot-on dialogue and just the right balance of humor woven through it all. The film has a bit of a retro vibe to it with equal touches of 70's style and wit, ever so slight hints of exploitation and, well, a flavor all its own.

MacGregor and Fellner are absolutely terrific as the two best friends whose normally cool and calculated ways become challenged by this latest unexpected hit.

It's clear that part of the reason for the cast's terrific chemistry lies in the fact that they carry roles both on and off-screen. MacGregor penned the film, Fellner serves as one of the film's producers and Joey Ansah both plays Megan's ill-fated date and coordinates the film's fight choreography.

Despite the challenge of filming a good portion of the action in the dark, Mark Hamilton lenses the film quite well while James Edward Barker's original music accentuates the film's action and more darkly humorous moments. One must even give a kudo, and it's rare for this to be noteworthy in a short, to the costuming work of Emily-Rose Da Silveira.

Check out the film for yourself above and be sure to leave a comment for the filmmaker on the film's Youtube page!

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic