Neo-nazis never learn, and now they’re paying the price for our enjoyment.
One of the upsides to making a sequel to a comedic home invasion thriller about a thirteen-year-old girl slaughtering nazis — think Home Alone, but with copious bloodshed and eye trauma — is that a foothold into dark absurdity has already been established. 2020’s Becky is a fun enough little slice of violent entertainment, and three years later a follow-up has arrived promising and delivering more of the same. That’s not a knock, either, as watching Lulu Wilson maim and murder Proud Boy stand-ins is more than enough to fuel a franchise. The Wrath of Becky is a bloody good time and a quick, fun new chapter in one girl’s unconventional coming-of-age journey.
Becky’s (Wilson) life took a real turn after Nazis invaded the summer rental where she was staying with her dad and his new girlfriend. She dispatched the thugs, but not before one of them killed her father — her mother died a year prior from cancer — and she wound up in the foster system. Voiceover in the new film shares how she’s escaped from numerous foster families before revealing that she’s found a home with a compassionate woman named Elena (Denise Burse). Becky waits tables at a small town diner and minds her own business, but when a fascist group of Noble Men pass through en route to a nearby meeting with their leader Darryl (Seann William Scott), all hell breaks loose. Worse, they steal her dog, and that’s just the stupidest damn thing they could have done.
The Wrath of Becky moves like it’s on fire, and that’s never a bad thing for a fun-loving slice of harmless exploitation. Both the script and performances lean more into a comedic tone than its already silly predecessor, but it avoids crossing the line and instead retains a dash of meanness about it. At just eighty-four minutes, the film wisely delivers only extremely brief flashbacks for emotional context without ever losing focus on Becky’s present predicament. It’s all about the here and now as Becky brings pain to the fascists’ front door and blackly comic catharsis to viewers at home.
Wilson, as is evident by the title, is the main event here, and Becky is a character she’s come to fully embrace as her own little monster. If the first film left her feeling a little too snarky and “cute” in her homicidal glee, here we’re privy to a girl who’s grown up some since then. Sure, she still has a wicked mind for murderous mayhem, but small moments reveal that her humanity is still intact. Time spent looking through Elena’s photos of her own youth, a visible concern for innocent lives lost, and a more focused approach to the slaughter show a more mature teen in full control of her dark side. Of course, that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy some imagined carnage now and again. Even better, her kills come in a wonderfully violent variety thanks in part to the fact that guns “bore” her.
Just as Kevin James did as the heavy in the first film, Scott plays against type to deliver a menacing and deadly serious threat. While others in his troupe go slightly broad or stereotypical — the Proud Boy wannabes are more akin to caricature with racist ideals and an armory — Scott finds a calm danger sitting just beneath his surface, and it works to make his ultimate outbursts more frightening and sincere. There’s no hint of the cheeky sarcasm the actor is prone to elsewhere, and instead we’re given a glimpse of a real monster.
None of this is to suggest that The Wrath of Becky offers much in the way of rich characters or dense narrative. It’s a onenote ride, and that’s fully embraced by writers/directors Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote. Becky’s journey should arguably be a hell of a lot more difficult, from finding the baddies to executing her plan, but the script just sidesteps or blazes through plot points that would gum up a more serious thriller. She infiltrates the Noble Men’s compound wearing a bright red, highly visible jumpsuit — it is what it is.
Thankfully, what The Wrath of Becky is, is one more addition to 2023’s growing number of films playing to fans of seeing Nazis get their dumb asses handed to them. Sisu, Freaks vs the Reich, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — we know who the bad guys are, and we love seeing them beaten, burned, and blown up with impunity. This film’s ending is a piece of beautiful nonsense teasing our hero’s further adventures as a ball-busting anti-fascist, and it’s something I absolutely hope we get as the key from the first film is brought back into play opening things up wider than expected.
The Wrath of Becky is a good time, a fun time, and a great calling card for both Wilson’s attitude and Scott’s range as an actor. Angel & Coote find entertaining kills and visual style despite the budget, the score by Nima Fakhrara is energetic and full of life, and I for one am here for this gateway exploitation, YA John Wick franchise. Bring on the next one!
Related Topics: Becky, Lulu Wilson
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