Assassination Nation

Assassination Nation was a wild ride. Many moons ago, I saw the trailer for it and knew it was a film I’d want to see. But then I didn’t see it. While randomly going through HBO Max, I saw it and added it to my list. Killing two birds with one stone, I also had it be my script of the week. The script and film are more or less the same. Some bits are moved around, and there’s some dialogue added to the film, but no major changes. For those who haven’t watched the film… stop reading and go watch it! The basic premise is someone starts hacking the town of Salem and leaks EVERYONE’S texts, emails, etc. They start with the mayor, then the high school principal… and then the residents of the town. Eventually, the town decides it is the fault of four teenage girls and the town descends into madness. Assassination Nation says what I believe Zack Snyder thought Sucker Punch would say. This is the story of four teenage girls, led by Lily, who are trapped in a patriarchal society and rebelling against it. If you read my Saw post, you’ll remember I said Saw V felt preachy, with the whole game being played by people who work for an insurance company. Assassination Nation was preachy, but didn’t feel preachy, if that makes sense. A lot of the time, it wasn’t like characters were speaking as characters, but more to express ideas or say something about society. For instance, this cheerleader is talking about how technology has ruined the sense of privacy. Younger generations know and accept it, and older generations try to resist it. She then talks about how she has a bunch of followers and how this 40-year-old man buys her things from her Amazon Wishlist. The dialogue is more to tell you about society than it is to tell you about the character, move the plot forward and/or create conflict… but it works with this film. There were parts of the film that made me super uncomfortable. Now, I’ve watched a lot of shit. Sometimes I’ll watch something BECAUSE someone else said it was intense and/or made them uncomfortable. Hell, I watched Irreversible because I read Quentin Tarantino walked out in the middle of it. (Sidenote, that film is brutally violent. There are fight scenes where you see someone’s head get smashed in… but the scene most people talk about is a, I believe, 10-minute rape and beating scene… it was A LOT.) This film gets nowhere near Irreversible, but the discomfort was there, nonetheless. To describe it, I’ll have to get into some details, so if you haven’t watched and are still reading, consider this the final warning regarding spoilers… The first scene that made me uncomfortable was when Lily’s boyfriend lures her to a secluded place, only to have his friends hold her down while he finds out if she has a birthmark on her back. From reading the script, I knew, or assumed, nothing would happen beyond that, but it was so uncomfortable seeing her scream and cry for them to stop… and they keep going. I know it’s a film, but men are trash. The next scene, and not that it was graphic or anything, I was just… shocked. Her parents literally dragging her out of the house once they find out she was sexting Nick. I know it’s a film, but it just seems like such an extreme reaction (especially when it comes to the end of the film.) Pretty much everything after the town decided to catch the four girls made me uncomfortable, especially when Em and Sarah are caught. There are grown men handcuffing them, pulling their hair, dragging them to cop cars. They are crying (their mom is shot and killed in the process). All I could think was, how did everyone feel while this was being shot. Did it feel traumatic for the actresses? Did it feel traumatic for the actors? I would have some trauma having to behave that way towards someone, even if it is fictional. I’d want to comfort them between takes. There’s also the Lily and Nick scene. So, Lily has been texting this guy, ❤ Daddy, throughout the film. We learn that he is Nick, a man in his 40s who lives across the street from her. (Sidenote, he is played by sexy ass Joel McHale, so I’d sext him too.) He can see into her window from his office. She used to babysit for him and his wife, but then they started sexting and she stopped. Well, his shit gets leaked, and once Lily’s boyfriend confirms she is the one Nick was sexting, the town really started to descend into chaos. His wife takes his child and leaves. When the girls are being chased, Lily gets away and he brings her to his house for “safe” keeping. That eventually leads to him trying to rape her. As he feels she ruined his life, and he didn’t even get to fuck her… And that attempt leads to her slitting his throat. But very uncomfortable scene. The film gets comfortable for me after Nick’s death, because Lily discovers his arsenal of weapons. She finds and rescues her friends and they shot and stab the shit out of a bunch of dudes who had it coming. It was great and I felt so happy for them. The film ends with them, and a growing group of teenage girls, ready to take on the men and teenage boys of the town… until the FBI stops it. We learn that the hacker is Lily’s little brother. When his parents asked why he did it, he says “for the lulz.” Fin. Now, something that bothers me about this is, AS SOON as they find out Lily was sexting Nick, no more discussing, no asking why, no wondering if he pressured her into it because he is TWICE her age. Nope, it is kick her out of the house and pretend she doesn’t exist. But at the end, and maybe I’m reading into it, they show the little brother grace for his behavior, despite being told he is guaranteed a life sentence for everything that happened because of him. Again, I could be reading too much into it. It could have just been arranged that way to get that final line… but shitty parents trigger me… ESPECIALLY when their treatment of one kid is different than their treatment of others. All in all, it was a great ride. I thought for sure it was a film written by a woman, and I was surprised to learn it wasn’t. I was even more surprised to learn the writer/director, Sam Levinson, went on to create Euphoria. It makes sense though, the more that I think of it. I haven’t started Euphoria yet, but it makes me want to now.