JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL
Ready or Not Review: A star is born in Samara Weaving's rebellious & heroic acts against patriarchy
Ready or Not Review: Samara Weaving is a revelation as Grace Le Domas, who gets sucked into the idiosyncrasies of patriarchy, especially those of the rich and famous. This horror-comedy is a wild filled ride with plenty of laughs and even more scares.
Ready or Not
Ready or Not Cast: Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, Mark O'Brien, Andie MacDowell
Ready or Not Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett
Ready or Not Stars: 3/5
It's the hypnotic tune of The Hide and Seek song, performed by Headquarters Music, that really tells us the lucid yet viciously gory tale of a young bride wanting to find a home for herself. Grace finds that in her 18-month partner Alex Le Domas and he, in her. However, the Le Domas family is the exaggerated interpretation of the literal monster-in-laws.
The introductory scene of Ready or Not gives us an insight into the Le Domas family, whose elitist reputation derives from making board games. Though immaculately dressed, this family bears a striking resemblance to The Addams Family and is just as scary. We have the typical 'family honour over everything' father in Tony (Henry Czerny) and the 'overprotective' mother in Becky (Andie MacDowell) along with their three children - rebellious and always drunk Daniel (Adam Brody), naive and always drugged Emilie (Melanie Scrofano) and Alex (Mark O'Brien) who is the outcast of the family. Enters Grace (Samara Weaving), who is set to marry Tony and become a part of the Le Domas family. However, after the wedding, and the clock strikes midnight, Grace is forced to play a game of hide and seek, which soon become a death match for survival.
Samara is a vivacious knockout and steals the damn show with her performance, that is sure to put her on the map. Unlike typical horror movies, where the girl is an innocent lamb and always gets killed, Grace becomes her own hero toward the end of this 97 minutes roller-coaster ride. Her wedding dress, which is the only piece of clothing she dons for the entirety of the movie is the manifestation of her fight against idiosyncrasies of patriarchy. As little by little, the fabric rips apart and the crisp white turns to crimson red, we see the madness numbing down and practicality take over. When in actuality, it's always the reverse. Here, however, it's a welcome change.
The supporting cast, in paticular Adam, Mark and Henry have been dealt the cards right with their respective characters and add just the right ingredients to deliver an appetizing meal. There's also aunt Helene (Nicky Guadagni) who is the prominent fixture between creeping you out and also making you laugh out loud.
You could tell that a lot of effort was put by the production design team to create a palace-like structure so alluring, yet so appalling. The cinematography held the perfect blend of realistic chase sequences and close-ups to entice you with bone-chilling anticipation along with a tight background score. Even director-duo Mary Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett set the pace of the storyline so quick, that you can almost neglect the loopholes in the plot. Almost! Writers Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy had a lot to play with when it came to the storyline but chose the easy way out on various occasions. But, in no way can you take away from the brilliant performances, especially that of one Ms. Weaving. If you can distract yourself from the fact that Samara is almost a combination of Margot Robbie and Emma Stone, you see a star being born.
Ready or Not is in no ways a perfect film. But what it is ferociously entertaining. There's plenty of gore, plenty of jump scares, plenty of dark humour and plenty of Samara Weaving kicking some behind. Ready or not, buckle your strap belts for a wild, wild ride!
Latest Articles
