Review of Assassination Nation (2018) by Gregory E — 11 Dec 2018

In just its first few minutes, the movie gives us a big hint about who the culprit is. Lily's parents cannot bear that her daughter is capable of arguing some points with personality and sexual freedom, and that anguishes them way more than the fact that their other son, the male one, casually comments on "how cool" a viral video of a family being ripped apart by wild animals is.

From the very beginning, "Assassination Nation" unmask the privilege of patriarchy and the dangers of toxic masculinity. Oh? Are you one of those people who is rolling your eyes while reading this? Well, you will explode in anger when you find that the movie makes a disclaimer in its first seconds, warning that those who have fragility masculinity will be "triggered".

The "Assassination" in the title is more for the term "character assassination". In this modernization of the story of the Salem witch trials, a small conservative town suffers a massive hacking and leaking of their personal digital data, which triggers a horrendous environment of paranoia and villainization. And of course, the "happy" and sexually active young women will be the first to be judged.

Unfortunately, "Assassination Nation" doesn't take the time to develop all its characters. Of the four "witches"/heroines, only Lily (Odessa Young) has the proper focus to empathize with her on a non-superficial level. Bex (Hari Nef) also has some narrative background for being a transgender woman, but Sarah and Em are practically filling characters, which is a shame because it could have expanded more on other issues (race, for example).

But even with that omission that will probably prevent this movie from being a classic, "Assassination Nation" is an almost perfect piece of these times. This is--and I just cannot help to say it--a hyperbole of the #MeToo era and the illogical defense of the second amendment. A more "woke" version of "Sucker Punch", if you will, even though it's still written and directed by a MAN.