Do Revenge (2022-NetFlix) Naturally I watched this with BD (Beloved Daughter), the masterful authority on all things Young Adult. And yes, I'll admit to finding it mostly entertaining.......except for it being painfully overlong and exhausting in its attempts to reference and pay homage to God only knows how many other teen movies.......
The film first draws on two primary inspirations......Patricia Highsmith's classic 'you-do-my-murder-and-I'll-do-yours' thriller "Strangers On A Train" and "Cruel Intentions", the corrosive teen update of "Dangerous Liaisons"........
Therefore the film presents a teeming cast of wealthy Miami high schoolers who inhabit vast mansions completely devoid of parents. Oh wait, there is an adult authority figure, the 'Cruel Intentions' harpy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Two of the students, Drea (Camila Mendes, the longtime "Riverdale" vixen) and Eleanor (Maya Hawke of "Stranger Things") have suffered soul crushing humiliations.....and the girls thirst for payback on the fellow students who wronged them.
So in the great tradition of Guy and Bruno's murder swap from "Strangers On A Train", the girls commence a revengeful campaign of equal destruction upon each of their despised humiliators. And to render themselves blame free for the results of their enemies downfall, each targets the other's nemesis.
Like all of the previous teen movies it bows down to (and I'll make no tiresome attempts here to catalog them all) "Do Revenge" stays witty, sharp as a knife in its dialogue and unfailingly cruel and merciless in its treatment of teen angst among its spoiled beyond rotten characters.
And I also won't waste any time bemoaning the usual casting of well-worn looking 20-somethings playing 12th graders.....uh.....what else is new?
What does set this film a cut above is the unleashing of a genuine killer plot twist halfway in.....the sort of "Say what now??" surprise that mystery thriller novelists so love to spring on their readers.
A swift, concise 90 minute length would have done wonders for "Do Revenge" to keep it from wearing out its welcome........but it plows on for another half hour......and on and on and on. (To the point where I had terrible visions of this thing turning into a never ending series......
Mendes and Hawke fully engage and enjoy all the nasty deviltry - they're truly a stunning, charismatic pair to watch, even when the movie's overbearing plot turns threaten to grind on into eternity.
Just know what you're getting into here.......an endless long safari through an adolescent heart of darkness. 2 & 1/2 stars (**1/2)
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