KILL JACKIE has been getting very middling reviews but I’ve greatly enjoyed watching it. It’s about a former drug queenpin now making millions selling art in the grey freeport market who has a hit put on her by spoiled billionaire brat for refusing to sell to him. It’s very trashy – none of the characters are believable as people – but glamorous, glossy and fun. At the heart of it is Catherine Zeta Jones giving the most authoritative star performance I’ve seen from her since her Zorro/Entrapment/Chicago days. She goes full Welsh too, an added touch. She gives the equivalent of a Bette Davis or Joan Crawford mid-forties performance, every look, gesture, move is measured, patterned, performed with the camera in mind, and made significant. And then she opens her mouth, Swansea comes out, and with it a great deal of warmth and playfulness. She’s just terrific. In photos, her face can seem a bit blobbed out by surgery, flesh crossing contours. But in motion, and on camera, she’s beautiful, alive, full of feeling. The supporting cast includes Ron Perlman, Oscar Jaenada, Raff Law (Jude’s son), Daniel Ings and Christine Adams, all a joy to see playing cartoon characters.

José Arroyo