Assassination Nation (2018)- BFI London Film Festival 2018

Review

108min

Genre:     Crime, Drama, Thriller

Director:  Sam Levinson

Cast:       Odessa Young, Hari Nef, Suki Waterhouse…and more

Writer:    Sam Levinson

-Synopsis-

When modern technology and a voyeuristic culture conspire to destroy the last semblance of privacy in American suburbia, the residents of Salem lose their minds and unleash pure unadulterated mayhem, as a quartet of teenage girls at the centre of the storm come together to survive the night—in an outrageous and irreverent tale of violent anarchy to reflect the ills of modern America.

The last couple of decades in film have seen a developing mini-trend for darkly comical and subversive suburban American tales about acid-tongued teens (particularly of the female variety), too clever for their own good (or anyone else’s), epitomised by 1988’s ‘Heathers’ and more recently seen in films like ‘Mean Girls’ and this year’s ‘Thoroughbreds’. At the same time, the timeless themes of violent societal breakdown and anarchy have been reinvigorated by films like Blumhouse’s ‘The Purge’ series.

Now burgeoning writer/director Sam Levinson attempts to combine the two into a warning story and timely tale of millennial revolt from an angry and entitled generation, tired of living in a world they had no part in making, and a female-led story of youthful reckoning from the perspective of society’s marginalised—the result, truly a tale of two (very different) parts.

Odessa Young stars as sharp and perceptive Salem teen ‘Lily’, plagued by typical American teenager worries like her love life, and more niche concerns like the state of society and her digital affair with a mystery older man, spending her time chinwagging with her high school senior clique ‘Bex’ (Hari Nef), ‘Sarah’ (Suki Waterhouse) and ‘Em’ (Abra). When an elusive hacker begins to release sensitive information about Salem’s residents online, unearthing the towns deepest darkest secrets, Lily becomes implicated and drags her friends into a struggle for survival when law and order breaks down, becoming a scapegoat punching bag for violent vigilantism in a world gone mad.

If like us your first glimpse of the first trailer set expectations of a violent and predictable, tongue-in-cheek, too cool for school revenge/survival thriller with horror and exploitation film tendencies, then prepare for those expectations to be subverted . . . for a while anyway. ‘Assassination Nation’ actually begins as brazen but energetic and confronting look at American teendom, inspired by 90s indie dramas like Larry Clark’s ‘Kids’ but a much more stylised and polished version, and seen through a 21st century prism of social media and constantly connected resentful youngsters.

Levinson spends the first two acts of the film painting a portrait of a morally bankrupt America and the brash and angry generation who will inherit the debt . . . while considerably adding to it. Reflecting all that seems to be feeding the turmoil of American society today, ‘Assassination Nation’ touches on everything from racism and LGBT rights to gun control and the media, throwing into the cauldron the always daunting task of coming-of-age while having to deal with all manner of 21st century phenomena—from hacking to sexting, cyber bullying to revenge porn.

When you add the film’s central themes of erosion of privacy in a judgemental society, a scandal junkie culture with no appreciation for context, plus female emancipation and empowerment, you have a timely tale designed to serve as a societal parable for Trump’s America, but reflecting issues which have been bubbling up for generations. But there’s almost too much for the story to handle here, and it feels like Levinson has thrown as many social issues into the mix as he can to see what sticks, and woven a narrative not quite intricate enough to hold it all.

Yet the first two thirds still manages to prove an engrossing and socially perceptive black satire, building tension and atmosphere nicely as the s**t begins to hit the fan. Into this growing madness are thrown our flawed heroines, with the film’s lead and heart of the piece Odessa Young proving the only real standout performer as Salem’s sole voice of sanity, and the ‘witch’ to be hunted and burned at the stake by this aptly named town—with the up-and-coming Aussie actress continuing to impress after her nuanced turn in 2015 sombre family drama ‘The Daughter’.

But everything changes when we hit the all important act three, turning so abruptly that it might give you whiplash as it effectively flushes much of the solid work done down the toilet by actually delivering on the promise of the trailer, and the mayhem it takes its time building up to—by the end making us really wish it hadn’t.

By the time the violent mayhem we’ve all been waiting for finally comes to pass, it somehow feels completely out of place as ‘Assassination Nation’ takes a sudden turn into blood-soaked, exploitation survival thriller territory, only it just doesn’t have the chops to pull it off—proving over-stylised and underwritten, largely predictable and unimaginative but most importantly dull and lacking in real suspense. It then abruptly wraps things up in a hugely underwhelming and unsatisfying conclusion, attempting to subvert the sub-genre it just failed at contributing to, while ham-handedly delivering the core social message it spent the first two acts of the film weaving.

The result is a hugely unbalanced and pulpy ‘teensploitation’ thriller which flirts with subversion and vents angrily with social re-engineering intentions, but just doesn’t have what it takes to prove both and entertaining and culturally provocative for as long as it lasts, ultimately sitting on the fence between every genre it tries to straddle, while leaving us deflated by the time the credits roll.

The Bottom Line…

Sam Levinson energetically throws a potpourri of contemporary American social issues onto the screen and crafts a darkly satirical, culturally perceptive modern parable and anarchic tale of youthful reckoning, before squandering any promise by fulfilling the film’s billing as a violent survival thriller, without the narrative or cinematic chops to back it up—leaving us underwhelmed and with a sour taste in the mouth . . . and bemoaning what could have been.

‘Assassination Nation’ is out on the 23rd of November in UK cinemas, and out now in the US.

Comments

comments

Comments are closed.