I can’t think of any other film I’ve seen in 2018 that’s as pissed off as Assassination Nation. The one exception being The First Purge, which feels like it’s happening just a short drive away from the events of this film. Assassination Nation is the brainchild of writer/director, Sam Levinson, son of Barry Levinson, who made his debut with 2010’s Another Happy Day. The film is about a group of female friends, Lily (Odessa Young), Sarah (Suki Waterhouse), Bex (Hari Nef), and Em (Abra), who are going through the struggles any girl would go through during high school. However, things change in the town of Salem when the mayor gets hacked, and his secrets are leaked, later followed by the principal of their school. Emotions run high, people get paranoid about the mysterious hacker, and things eventually turn bloody. But once half the town gets hacked, in which Lily is among them, things escalate very quickly into violent hysterics.
The film is a satire in the same vein of the Purge films. They shed light on societal ills through a genre lens. The filmmaking is noticeably more ambitious here. Levinson makes heavy use of stylized editing, with lots of narration, cross-cutting, and split-screens. There is even an impressive oner that happens during a home invasion where the camera follows several characters, both inside and out of the house. If anything, the film has a great sense of showmanship. I haven’t seen Levinson’s debut film, but I’m definitely curious to see if he can bring the same frenetic energy to other projects.
In terms of its narrative, that’s when it gets a bit messy. The first two acts focus largely on the world around our central characters. They comment about the various aspects of social media that the film scrutinizes, specifically with stuff like mob mentality, and privacy. We meet some other characters like Principal Turrell (Colman Domingo) for example. He plays a significant role in how the town escalates in response to the hacks, and there’s some compelling commentary on how people will take things out of context (in his case, non-sexual pictures of his very young children in the nude), and turn on him just to satisfy their own sense of morality. But he’s quickly forgotten; his story is given no closure, only serving as a plot point to keep things moving.
It isn’t until the third act that things do take focus, and the film hones in on its angle, which is a very feminist outcry that speaks to the hypocrisy of how the world treats women and the lack of agency and being that they are allowed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t so much display that message so much as literally spelling it out for the camera. The problem isn’t that it’s unsubtle (this is coming from someone who likes the Purge movies after all), it’s that the film has this very self-congratulatory attitude, especially towards the ends, as if it’s saying something revolutionary, when it’s really just preaching the obvious to the choir. I don’t think it’s at all impossible for men to tell women’s stories with authenticity, but I wonder if the film’s messaging would feel more impactful, and nuanced, and more interesting in general, if a woman was writing and directing this.
Despite those problems, the film is very engaging. There’s some snappy dialogue, fun visuals, some propulsive music, and the performances are really good. The big highlight is Odessa Young, who brings an electrifying screen presence. She gets the most to do out of all the main girls, with a not-so-close second being Hari Nef, a trans actress who is able to bring a different perspective and informing some nuance that might not have been present if it were performed by her. It also helps that the supporting cast is made up of major players like Joel McHale, Anika Noni Rose, Bella Thorne, and Bill Skarsgård. They’re great not just because they’re able to elevate the material, but them being in the film further sets the feeling that the central group of friends, all relative unknowns, are outsiders.
I’m not convinced that Assassination Nation totally works as satire. While the Purge films play equally as obvious in their theming, they at least have a focus on what they want to say. Assassination Nation spends a good chunk of the film throwing everything it can at the wall and seeing what sticks, and only then does it hone in on its feminist message, which it then delivers rather sloppily. Even though it’s theming is messy, it’s anger rings true, especially through the performances. It’s still a very entertaining film with some deeply harrowing and deeply satisfying moments, and it features a star making turn from Odessa Young. There’s definitely enough good things about it to warrant a recommendation, and I guess I would prefer to see a film that tries too hard versus one that doesn’t try at all.