Kamurai

Feb 3, 2021

Really good watch, could watch again, and can recommend. This movie has a lot going on in it, and I think that's part of the unspoken message happening: there is a lot going on in our lives, but we go on, even if we have to fight for it. Or maybe I'm just extra pensive today. While I have to look at Malin Ackerman (I'm not a fan) try to act in this (and I know that she can do better than she did in this), it always fun to see an actor you don't like get beat up (and be okay, because it's acting), see "Duplex" for more. Bella Thorne has properly leaned into the skid of people hating her with an excellent, if very natural looking, villain role. Alec Baldwin seems like such a mess in this that I was actually concerned for him, but I have to believe that he's just that good an actor. For some reason there have been quite a few "normie suddenly in a fist fight for the first time" type of movies within the past couple of years, and we were do for the "girl one", and I honestly don't know what I would have done differently in that regard. They kept on message without being preachy, were very serious about the issues without losing the comedy, and included the reality of the impact of violence without glorifying it or reducing it comedy in the middle of a dramatic fight. They definitely had comedic injury, they just left that in a scene of its own. Where I feel the movie did go a bit off was trying to be extra inclusive. By including gay characters for comedic effect, and it was clearly very intentional, it honestly felt forced and that we're bordering on a trope similar to "in the fridge" (a character's chief purpose is to die to cause controversy for the protagonist), but "in the flame" (? maybe the name needs work) where we create characters only for them to be gay to cause comedic controversy. There is plenty going on in this movie without it, and I would have much rather her father be gay all along (established early) or two of women in the club happen to be a couple. Over all, I think the story is pretty great, and the movie does a fantastic job of showing women fighting without oversexualizing it or them.