Film Review: With its bouts of ultraviolence, hard-hitting dark humour and an unruly Lulu Wilson, beware The Wrath of Becky!

The Wrath of Becky continues the story of its titular character, played by Lulu Wilson, who reprises her role from the 2020 film, Becky. Two years on, she has moved on from foster parent to foster parent after the loss of her real parents in the events from the first film while keeping up with her survival skills – including formulating traps, combat training and rage relief. Now, she is under the nurturing care of Elana (Denise Burse), and she is holding a part-time job as a waitress at a nostalgia diner.

One day, a bunch of rowdy, disorderly men (Aaron Dalla Villa, Matt Angel and Courtney Gains) trudge into the diner and Becky takes notice, which stirs up a brief confrontation. However, the men are not to take things lightly and they decide to follow Becky to her home, leading to ultraviolence and tragedy. Little do the men know that Becky will bite just as hard as they do, which alerts the disarmingly level-headed leader of the men, Darryl (Seann William Scott).

Considering how the first film ended in terms of narrative, not many people were expecting a sequel to be made to Becky. And yet, here we are with The Wrath of Becky. With a major change in creative direction and having Wilson on as a producer, one should not expect the sequel to do the same thing the first film did.

The filmmakers that have taken over the task are Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote, who have made their mettle in horror films showing on Netflix like The Open House and Hypnotic (not to be confused with the Robert Rodriguez film of the same name). The direction they have chosen to take for the sequel is to instil a sense of anarchy in terms of dark comedy and over-the-top mayhem to balance the heavy stakes.

While the first film buckled under its own ambitions in terms of meshing tones, The Wrath of Becky is more consistent in terms of focus and it is more disciplined in terms of what it delivers. The simplicity is that it shows a teenage girl killing off neo-Nazis after a traumatic attack; with no-frills, fat or exposition in the narrative. While the final product may not be as innovative as it thinks it is – as it is just a repeat of the first film, in many ways – there is enough ingenuity for the film to stand on its own two feet.

As for the prerequisites, the ultraviolence and blood are all back in full glory. And thanks to the change in tone, it gives Angel and Coote more opportunity to make the violence grander in its goofiness. Traps are laid out in mere minutes like the speed in a Looney Tunes cartoon. While the lashings of gore are so zany and overstated that it becomes hilariously macabre in its implementation.

The film also introduces more character development for our titular character as she attains violent tendencies, undergoing post-traumatic stress syndrome and utilizing the fire within to become the best and resourceful self she can be; with her own training regime and trap devising and survival skill training. With the use of narration (delivered drolly by Wilson), the film quickly sets up her character with ease and welcome dark comedy.

Wilson picks up where she left off with the character of Becky and is clearly having a lot of fun in diving into the gallows humour and cartoonish sadism. Thankfully, she never forgets the pathos and goodwill from the first film and makes her character development worthy and felt; even within the heightened storytelling.

Scott picks up the villain role of Darryl and surpasses Kevin James’ work in the first film. While both are reserved in their menace, Scott manages to utilize his physicality in more satisfying ways. The way he controls himself in a utilitarian Golem-like manner is quite unnerving and Scott pulls it off convincingly.

The film does stumble in the ending, since it treats its climax as an afterthought. While the action is satisfying on a purely simplistic level, the filmmakers end up placing their bets on a sequel-baiting note that is so astoundingly silly that one would want to see where it can go from there.

Overall, The Wrath of Becky is a worthy sequel that branches out the story in satisfying ways while retaining the core that made the original film stand out.

THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)

The Wrath of Becky is out in US cinemas now and it will be showing in Sydney Film Festival on 7th June – 18th June.

Harris Dang

Rotten Tomatoes-approved Film Critic. Also known as that handsome Asian guy you see in the cinema with a mask on.