The Mosley Review: They Will Kill You
Perhaps the time has come again where Hollywood starts releasing similar movies in the same year or back to back. In the 90's, we had Volcano and Dante's Peak, Armageddon and Deep Impact, then, in the year 2000, we had the criminally underrated Mission to Mars and Red Planet. The themes of all those films are similar, but they all have different rules and unique stories. Now we have another situation where 2 films are similar, but one definitely takes a wild swing into a different direction and I loved every bit of it. Ready or Not was a game of cat and mouse, but this film has the mouse fighting back against the cat in the most surprising, brutal and satisfying way possible. This film knew exactly what it wanted to be after the first 15 minutes and it doesn't let up one bit. I haven't laughed out of pure disbelief and joy like this in a while. The brilliance of this film is not only in the action sequences, but in the stylistic creativity and the grindhouse feeling it gives off. Honestly, I believe the Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino would gleefully applaud this film.
Zazie Beets kicks serious ass as the main protagonist Asia Reaves. Her story is simple and her motivation is justified as we are introduced to her in a vulnerable state. It is not long before we get to see the real powerful and protective nature of the character come to life in an amazing first fight sequence. Zazie has always delivered a great performance, but this film truly shows off insane physicality and dedication to the art of film combat. Underneath the aggression, the emotional core of the character is explored very well once we focus on her main objective. Myha'la was great as her younger sister, Maria Reaves. The both of them came from an abusive home and although their survival tactics differ, their shared trauma was sad to experience. Their chemistry was really good as I felt the bond between them, even if the story doesn't dwell on them for too long. Patricia Arquette was good and commanding as the Irish superintendent at the Virgil and the leader of the Satanic Cult, Lilith Woodhouse. Even though her accent kept slipping in and out, I still enjoyed her tight rope performance that teetered between undercooked and overplayed. I liked Paterson Joseph as her weary husband, Ray. Through him you get the necessary lore dump and it was perfectly straight forward. I did feel the history between him and Lilith as they bickered about how long they've been doing this. Heather Graham was great as one of the cult members, Sharon. She really gets destroyed for the majority of the film and the comedic affect of it was fantastic. Tom Felton was having a blast as the most aggressive member of the cult, Kevin. Like Sharon, he was frothing at the mouth to kill Asia and it was fun to see his frustration as she kept slipping away. Angus Sampson was awesome as Asia's unnamed private investigator and lawyer. He doesn't have much to do, but he gets enough time to shine in the end.
The score by composer Carlos Rafael Rivera was absolutely pulse pounding and fueled the momentum of the films breakneck speed. Even though the story is isolated, Carlos gives it such a scale that is grand. The action in this film was truly the selling point and it didn't disappoint. Not only did this feel like a homage to The Raid, but also to the classic action films of the late 90's that did whatever they wanted with minimal to no CGI and I enjoyed the hell out of it. This was an absolute blast of an experience that I found myself smiling from ear to ear as it featured the best practical action with in the perfect runtime. This might be my dark horse film favorite of the year so far. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
