Back in 2020, Becky was a little surprise, (if only COVID-19 hadn’t disrupted its conventional theater openings, it would have been a lot more explosive). The film was a fast-moving and bloody thriller with black comedy elements that pits a teenage girl against neo-Nazis who invaded her house to look for the key that her mom kept before she passed away.
The Wrath of Becky basically is the same movie. She becomes embroiled in an awful situation but has the upper hand, one Nazi after another is dispatched by her in forest areas surrounding an isolated house; the wicked leader is scary and unsettling but played by a celebrated comic. There is some elaboration on Becky and the enigmatic key but most of all, this sequel feels just like its predecessor — just much better at everything. It shrinks down the first movie’s skeleton structure into something tighter, refines its action sequences, and perfects its villain. The Wrath of Becky may not be original but it’s fun.
Lulu Wilson was unexpectedly effective as a killer 13-year-old in Becky who wasn’t just capable, but seemed somewhat insane about bloodshed too. This sense of an unhinged protagonist (which makes it even more disturbing being a teenager) is further developed in The Wrath of Becky. In this sequence she lives with her adorable dog and Elena –a nice old woman; life isn’t bad here though there’s some feeling inside that possibly becky has been broken down by what happened then or she craves death; indeed sometimes miss killing them all.
A bunch of young neo-Nazi punks stop over at her diner where they work waiting tables and fulfill Becky’s desire for death. They are rude boys naturally, so she imagines herself killing them off. While not necessarily killing any of them on purpose or anything of that sort, she does spill hot coffee on one guy intentionally. On their way to their headquarters during the night, a gang of assholes do not go directly but instead follow Becky to her home and break in. This leads to a climax where Becky is left with nothing to lose.
The heroine finds the men and traces them back to an old-fashioned cabin in the middle of nowhere, “The Noblemen,” whose name was just too obvious an allusion to their real-life counterparts, the so-called Proud Boys—a bunch of racist assholes. She then comes across their plot to carry out a political killing and changes tactics, luring them out for simple revenge. What happens next is more than a little grotesque, often comically so even. After all this is a sequel to the movie when a teenage girl mowed somebody’s face over with a lawnmower; thus it’s already been raised.
While Wilson excels as psychopathic Beacky whom we want for ourselves, it is however the villains who gave so much memory about this film. The first band of sadistic morons that Becky encounters has its fair share of different types of scumbags. There’s one hot-headed misogynist who only has muscles where his brain should be (i.e., Andrew Tate), another one being somewhat strange who thinks he is funny but comes off hateful (i.e., Steven Crowder), and finally there’s one silent guy because he had changed his mind about joining others yet he remains at hand – thus cursed (e.g., Dave Rubin).
Arriving at the headquarter of The Noblemen, the three meet Darryl. The character is portrayed by Seann William Scott to great effect and he has been well appreciated for his role in this film. Unlike Becky’s other colleagues who make jokes and talk carelessly, Darryl is always polite to a point that it becomes disquieting and thinks thrice before uttering a word so as not to offend anyone. He’s no joker or hot mouthed like the others; nor does he vomit hate speech irresponsibly. In some ways, he could be likened almost to a redneck Nazi samurai warrior. It’s an interesting character nonetheless, filled with hatred and prejudice but remains the most intelligent person around most times yet; he had never been in the same room as Becky.
Scott nailed it. This is honestly stunning; even when he doesn’t say much or act up, he looks menacing enough. However, there are other villains in the film that have some unexpected turns and fun performances but are overshadowed by Scott entirely. Filmmakers Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote clearly fell in love with Scott’s performance, as did their camera which was also smitten with him throughout its filming process. Their psychological sparring was amazing.
At some points however The Wrath of Becky appears almost satirical in this respect. Some of these violent scenes (and even Becky’s physical capabilities) go so far overboard that it seems like the movie exists solely for heightened comedic craziness purposes only From the credits on, it’s clear that this is more darkly funny comic book than somewhat grittier first film.
This works better than—well; basically what happens here is that audiences get to experience watching a certain movie vicariously through characters in order not to be entertained by them directly. When a film tries too hard to be realistic – such as Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer – murder becomes less entertaining and much more ethically uncomfortable. Consequently, The Wrath of Becky may be slightly disturbing but it is a great piece of wish-fulfillment. This movie creates villains who you will absolutely loathe (unless you are a white nationalist, chauvinist or xenophobic fundamentalist) and then it revels in the pain that is inflicted upon them.
With the rise of the alt-right to the traditional right and MAGA madness as our new norm, The Wrath of Becky just gets more enjoyable by this group for whom prejudice and bigotry are anathema. It can almost be considered pornographic for liberals and leftists in its gleefully gory assault on the likes of Proud Boy, Daily Wire, OAN, Fox News etc. However, what distinguishes what The Wrath of Becky does from those didactic social commentary thrillers like “The Hunt” is that The Wrath of Becky is fun. A third film could be set up from here, considering how different things become over time around us; so maybe we’ll definitely need one in a few years’ time if changes happen in this world.
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