The nostalgic, winking, post-apocalyptic thriller Bounty Killer is a silly guilty pleasure, book-ending a contrived tangent with some violent entertainment and fast-paced action.

Opening and closing with some hectic gun fights and explosions, this satisfying and savvy throwback features a scantily clad gun-toting babe, a calm and cool grizzled hit-man, and malicious enemies in the form of powerful corporations.

In the distant future, after the world has been mostly destroyed and turned into a desert wasteland, the only ruling entities are vast companies. It’s the haves and the have-nots, a point laid on thick early but never given importance over gushing blood and flying bullets, and rightly so. If you’re not working for a corporation in this world, you’re trying to kill those who are.

Bounty killers (as opposed to bounty hunters, I suppose) exists in pockets across the United States, given opportunities to knock off CEOs and magnates in more metaphor-heavy exercises. The two most prominent killers, a pair who have a history but have since parted ways, each becoming rich and famous, are the esoterically named Drifter (Matthew Mardsen), and the very sexy pinup girl Mary Death (Christian Pitre).

She enjoys the spotlight more, but just because she embrace the branding and the successes that come with killing doesn’t mean she has lost a step. After an impressive introduction, this stylized violent adventure focuses in on these two characters: as it happens, the latest bounty is placed on one of their heads, turning upside down their world of killing and profiteering.

Drifter heads to the desert road, reluctantly taking a keening gun caddy Jack (Barak), who after a few annoying early moments, offers some especially funny commentary and witty banter. Some other random people show up, including Gary Busey, Beverly D’Angelo, Alexa Vega, and sci-fi eye candy Kristanna Loken, all fitting in nicely to an absurdist futuristic tale that is giddy, goofy fun.

[star v=35]