The Wrath of Becky (2023)

The Wrath of Becky (2023)

R

A grisly and satisfying revenge fantasy that puts right-wing meninists in their place

7.6

Movie

United States of America
English
Action, Horror, Thriller
2023
FEMALE DIRECTOR, MATT ANGEL
Aaron Dalla Villa, Alison Cimmet, Courtney Gains
83 min

TLDR

Think grown-up Home Alone meets Promising Young Woman, but actually good.

What it's about

An altercation pits 16-year-old orphan Becky (Lulu Wilson) against a violent right-wing group known as the Noble Men. The result? A bloodbath for the ages.

The take

There’s not much to analyze in The Wrath of Becky, which might sound like a jab, but for grindhouse thrillers such as this, it comes as a compliment. The story is lean, the action is on point, and the dialogue is whipsmart. There is little to distract from the main attraction, which is the creatively gruesome ways in which everyone tries to kill each other. 

It’s so simple, in fact, that you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a standalone film, instead of a sequel to an earlier movie, simply titled Becky. Efficiently, parts of the first installment appear as flashbacks here, but they’re hardly needed to convince us of Becky’s ferocious might. Wilson already does an excellent job with minimal but evocative gestures. Seann William Scott, too, is surprisingly terrifying as the head of the Neo-Nazi group out to get Becky. It’s easy enough to paint the incel as a villain, but to portray him with such palpable terror is a challenge that Scott steps up to.

What stands out

That ending. What a perfect way to expand what seemed like a self-contained world into a bigger, more exciting future. Marvel take note! This is how you set up sequels.

Comments

Add a comment

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

UP NEXT 

More like this in

City Hunter (2024)

Cool graphics and choreography can’t save this live-action adaptation’s hackneyed story and misogynistic humor

6.7

How to Have Sex (2023)

A drunken summer vacation turns melancholy in this sober observation of teenage rites of passage

7.7

Spermworld (2024)

People take family planning into their own hands in this fascinating look into sperm donation online

7.3

The Guilty (2018)

A minimalist, razor-sharp thriller that will have you gasping for air.

9.0

White God (2014)

An unpleasant, bizarre, yet brilliant drama about the dark side of man and his best friend

7.3

Pathfinder (1987)

The sole survivor of a family massacre saves his entire tribe in the first ever film depicting the Sámi people

7.0

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Shyamalan meets Black Mirror in this hugely entertaining, visually inventive apocalyptic thriller with a killer ending

8.2

Wind River (2017)

Sicario's screenwriter directs this story of murder in an Indigenous reserve

9.4

The Glass Castle (2017)

A disjointed, but still touching, adaptation of the audacious family memoir

6.7

Wild Tales (2014)

Co-produced by Pedro Almodóvar, this tumultuous Argentine anthology film tests the limits of human sanity when pushed to the extremes – and will also test yours.

9.9

Curated by humans, not algorithms.

agmtw logo

© 2024 agoodmovietowatch, all rights reserved.