You wouldn’t normally think a Netflix movie about teens getting their own backs would be this good. Yes, I’ve already played my hand, but for the most part Do Revenge isn’t a bad movie, although it does have its own flaws.
The problem with these types of movies is that they aren’t well written and they don’t have much depth. Oh, and people with little depth. Stories like these don’t have much depth or weight, and they’re only made to get the average young moviegoer to spend money. The genre has become very commercialized and, in most cases, Netflix has helped make that possible.
Do Revenge jettisons those low, outdated industry standards and adds a new, if slightly dark, twist. It even manages to explore various ideas about gender differences and patriarchy that are still relevant today.
Honor Society, which stars Angourie Rice and has a similar tone, is another good movie to watch. Even though the two projects go in different directions, many parts of Do Revenge reminded me of that. Do Revenge is about a strange friendship between two girls who are both desperate for revenge. Drea (Camilla Mendes) is in the perfect shot. She couldn’t think of a better story about a person who gets her way. But it all comes crashing down when her ex-boyfriend (who used to be her boyfriend) releases a “private video” she sent him.
Max, played by Austin Abrams, is a big deal with a rich dad. In front of the whole school, she hits him, which puts her on a temporary suspension. Drea will go to tennis camp in the summer and do community service in the winter. At camp, she meets Eleanor, played by Maya Hawke, who is a quiet, easy-going girl who will start at Drea’s school in Rosehill in a few months.
As they talk, they realize that each of them has a new pain in their hearts. Both want revenge, so they decide to take their anger out on the other person’s target. A true friendship develops, but a dark secret from Drea’s past hangs over them like a heavy cloud. This makes Drea realize how things really are. What comes first? Do Revenge is definitely well written above average. This is its main selling point that most of its competitors don’t have. The story isn’t one dimensional or predictable and the characters are very interesting too. They have a lot of depth and are well thought out. Their arches, carefully built into the property, attract much attention.
It’s interesting to listen to them talk because their words aren’t boring and cheesy. Most of this is adjusted to fit the bill. Their problems won’t surface unless they’re asked about them over and over again. They also get along well with each other. Some of the things Drea and Eleanor say are so funny to hear that you might want to go back in time and hear them again.
Despite being rivals, they do well and bring a menacing energy that is strong without being intrusive. Maya Hawke’s conversations with Austin Abram are also very good, even if they’re too real at times. Once you figure out the characters, the rest of the work is easier because they’ll show you what to do next.
While Do Revenge doesn’t follow the usual formula for a teen movie, it still has that upbeat feel that makes films in this genre so entertaining. It’s still a film about two teenage girls trying to find their way in life and struggling to deal with their emotions. One great thing they don’t do is turn it into a coming-of-age story midway through. Many projects in the past have used this ally archetype as a fallback to make it seem like they were honest. Do Revenge goes in its own direction from the start and stays that way to the end. Most of the time, the group’s performance is rounded. The script does a great job of figuring out what’s most important, and director Jennifer Robinson uses her resources in the right way.
Some of the feminist undertones in the story are annoying. Her presence seems to be a requirement that the film failed to meet. The idea was probably to make the story more open and interesting for everyone and to make some parts of the audience happy. The love story between Drea and Russ (Rish Shah, who recently starred in Disney’s Ms. Marvel) was unnecessary and took up time that could have been better spent elsewhere. The never-explored relationship between Eleanor and Gabbi (Never Rarely Sometimes Always’s Talia Ryder) could have been very interesting. Ryder was very talented so it was a shame he didn’t get more screen time.
All departments work together almost perfectly, so the end result is something to remember and maybe even look at again. Even if Shyamalan Do Revenge hadn’t added that twist, the story wouldn’t have gotten into trouble. It would still have been a bittersweet story about two strong friends and enemies. Camilla Mendez and Maya Hawke are the best because they play their characters real and understand them well.
Do Revenge, a vengeful comedy about friends, is to high school movies of the 1980s and ’90s what the Scream series was to post-Halloween slasher movies. It’s a bunch of tricks, references, and (sometimes boring) jokes about yourself that seem like a way for the filmmakers to show they know you know what they’re up to. At the same time, the film manages to meld all of its influences into a unique film that is fully committed to its vision of high school as a well-dressed, artfully staged snake pit full of people who like to see other people hurt and hurt ashamed.
Jennifer Kaytlin Robinson borrowed most cheekily from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train,” in which a cold-blooded killer convinces a stranger to “trade” murders with him so police will think both murders were accidental, making it harder makes it out to find out who made it. The goal here is not to kill, but to shame. Two high school students whose lives have been ruined by scammers devise a plan to trade revenge missions so there are no leads leading back to the bad guys.
Camila Mendes plays Drea Torres on Riverdale. She is a Rosehill Private School student who wants to go to Yale more than anything. Tracy Flick-like grantee, she is the leader of Tara (Alisha Boe), Meghan (Paris Berelc) and Montana (Montana (Maia Reficco). Drea is said to be well known, but she seems feared the most, and she keeps her worries to herself. She is a Mexican who has become more American and lives in a small house that she feels bad about living in. Despite having concerns about her race and class, she worked her way to the forefront of the social order at her predominantly white , wealthy high school. At the beginning of the story, she’s fine. To celebrate her being named Teen Vogue’s Teen of the Year, the magazine throws her a Gatsby-style party.
Then someone FaceTimes video of Drea getting naked for Max who is also very popular (Austin Abrams). Everything Drea worked for disappears, leaving her heartbroken and ashamed. Drea thinks Max edited the video. Max denies it, but as senior year begins, he reminds everyone of the heroine’s shame to ensure he is the school’s most prominent and powerful student. Max also starts an organization called the Cis Hetero Men Championing Female Identifying Students League. This group brags about the “alliance” of its members, but it’s really just a way for Max and his friends to hang out with women without being labeled misogynists. (That kind of satire is well done in the film, which generates laughs by pointing out how awkward and silly some “sensitivity language” sounds without mocking the pain of people who need more defenders.)
Eleanor, played by Maya Hawke, is a white lesbian who looks like a typical Hollywood frump and is still traumatized by something that happened at summer camp many years ago. Eleanor and Drea become friends when they shouldn’t, and Drea suggests they negotiate revenge plans. Drea’s plan is to give Eleanor a makeover that will make her look like a sexy maverick. This will get Max’s attention and bring her into Max’s inner circle where she can earn the trust of everyone involved in Drea’s downfall and find out what they did. Even for a high school movie, that’s an insane amount of work. It’s like adding Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Election, Rushmore, and Cruel Intentions to a Shakespearean comedy about people dressing up as other people. (Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Cruel Intentions,” has a small role as Rosehill’s headmistress. She tells Drea to channel her anger instead of exploding with anger when she blames Max to have given things away video.)
Robinson’s MTV show Sweet/Vicious, about two college students plotting vigilantism against people who sexually assault them, shares some of the same themes as the script. However, the candy store visuals created by costume designer Alana Morshead and production designer Hillary Gurtler make the story more of a social satire with a touch of compassion. In this film, people do terrible things to themselves, but at least some of them feel bad about it.