![]() A missed opportunity, given that "finding your voice" is one idea that Vengeance spends a lot of time exploring.īen Kendrick is the former Content Director (and current film critic) of Screen Rant, CBR, and Collider as well as host of Podcast X, the Screen Rant Underground, and Total Geekall podcast. #Meander movie ending explained movie#Instead, the movie asks a lot of questions and juggles a lot of ideas, most of them good, but key pieces don't stick their landing - undermining the overall impact of what Novak, clearly, intends to say. That said, select scenes and characters in the Vengeance lean hard on outright explanation and pontification - making it hard to trust Novak is in complete control of his narrative from beginning to end. Vengeance is about what moviegoers likely expect: it's well-written and fun - like just about everything Novak has a hand in crafting. Moment-to-moment scenes come together for an overall satisfying film, one that is sure to play a lot of the right notes for true-crime podcast-obsessed moviegoers. Lastly, it's worth noting that the most affecting scenes in the movie occur between Ben and Abilene's young brother, nicknamed El Stupido (and played by Elli Abrams) - who carries a side-story that powers one of Vengeance's most cohesive, haunting, and rewarding throughlines. Novak asks a lot of Kutcher and the former That 70's Show star makes it work but it's dense stuff - and, frankly, not everything works. Rounding out the supporting cast is Issa Rae, playing Ben's friend and podcast producer, who is charged as in-film barometer - saying out loud what viewers might be thinking in an effort to ensure the audience understands how they should feel about Ben's actions at any given time - as well as setting the stage for the writer-turned-true-crime podcaster to begin disobeying orders and jeopardizing their project.Īshton Kutcher is on the delivering side of a couple lengthy scenes of exposition - in which his character, local music producer Quinten Sellers, and Ben discuss the nature of everything from storytelling, to small town life, to the dangers of unfulfilled creative impulse. Smith-Cameron ( Succession) shines as Abilene's mother, Sharon, and is responsible for a number of delicate scenes (of emotion, grief, and rage) that go a long way in unpacking what Novak is actually trying to say in Vengeance. Ty is the motor of the film, pulling Ben down one rabbit hole after another - but his shenanigans never wear out their welcome and Holbrook crafts a surprisingly sincere turn that, in other hands, might have been more comedy and story mechanics than a well-realized, albeit ridiculous, human being. Seeing Ty as the perfect vehicle through which to tell a story about American denial as well as the country's increasing reliance on conspiracy theory to avoid reality, Ben elects to stay in Texas and begin work on a podcast that would use this "Dead White Girl" and her family as a means to find his own voice.īoyd Holbrook absolutely thrives as Ty, injecting the character with charm and naivety that make for an electric juxtaposition to Ben. "Brunette Random House Party." Though, when Ben receives a call from Ty Shaw (Boyd Holbrook) informing him that Ben's girlfriend Abilene (aka "Abby Texas" aka one of Ben's hookups, definitely not his girlfriend) recently passed away while visiting her West Texas hometown, the aspiring storyteller decides to travel south to attend Abilene's funeral - only to be drawn into Ty's belief that Abby's death was not an accident and that, instead, she's a murder victim. ![]() In Vengeance, Novak plays New Yorker columnist Ben Manalowitz, an aimless NYC bro who spends his days dreaming up podcast ideas and his evenings bedding one-night stands that he callously anonymizes in his cell phone contacts: i.e. ![]()
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