The Wrath of Becky
Life has not been kind or fair to Becky Hopper, her mother dead and her father murdered in front of her by Neo-Nazis upon whom she single-handedly released her considerable rage, now three years later having been condemned to a series of well-meaning but ultimately inappropriate foster homes from which she has immediately extricated herself alongside Diego, her faithful canine companion.
Lodging with Elena, an elderly woman who is also a survivor who offers quiet support but does not ask awkward questions, Becky makes ends meet working a diner where she takes no talk-back from rude customers, but newly arrived in her quiet town are the Noble Boys, DJ, Sean and ringleader Anthony, attending a rally to protest the liberal policies of Senator Hernandez and not averse to making life hell for a sixteen-year-old waitress on the way.
Curiously for a sequel, The Wrath of Becky is not crafted by any of those responsible for the original Becky unleashed in 2020, the character created by Nick Morris, Lane Skye and Ruckus Skye now carried forward by the writing and directing team of Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote with Lulu Wilson reprising her titular role, older but no more mellow when faced with a new white supremacist threat to her beloved Diego.
Taking the template from the first outing without making significant alterations to the winning formulae, though the final scenes indicate a radical expansion of the mission should a third film hopefully continue and conclude the sequence, it even goes so far as to cast a performer once best known for broad comedy as the primary threat with Southland Tales’ Seann William Scott playing Darryl, the instigator, mastermind and chief manipulator of a well-armed but far from well regulated militia.
Wilson the undoubted star of the film, Becky does not want sympathy or pity, just to be left alone, but once her home has been violated by the Noble Men “doing God’s work against the forces of Satan” who have infiltrated their country, she is a force of nature which cannot be bargained with, the only time her resolve momentarily flickers when Twig (The ‘Burbs’ Courtney Gains) begs for mercy only to spectacularly fumble his closing argument.
An occasionally brutal condemnation of the extremist gun culture of America populated with a basket of deplorable monsters played by Michael Sirow, Aaron Dalla Villa, Matt Angel and All My Children’s Jill Larson which is at times difficult viewing before an enormously satisfying payoff, while the uneven script leads to some slow patches The Wrath of Becky is both righteous and justified, affirming that there is nothing “just” about being a girl.
The Wrath of Becky is available on digital download now
