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Thursday, September 5, 2019

Review: Ready Or Not

Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
Screenplay: Guy Busick and Ryan Murphy
Year: 2019

"Ready or Not" is one of the movies that is better to watch without seeing the trailer. It can give the notion of having shown all the important parts of the movie and make the viewer think twice before going to see it (or at least this was my case). Although a lot of important parts are revealed in the trailer, it is not even close to making justice to the movie and does more harm than good.

The opening scene of "Ready or Not" does a great job of exposing the main plot of the movie. In this scene we see a newlywed man running in a mansion looking for refuge. He is not lucky and ends up being taken down by a group in what seems like part of a ritual. In the next scene, we see the protagonist Grace in her bride's dress rehearsing for her wedding. 

Grace, interpreted by Samara Weaving ("The Babysitter"), is about to marry Daniel, interpreted by Adam Brody ("Jennifer’s Body"), who is a member of the wealthy Le Domas family. This family has gotten their abundant wealth in the games industry and this is an important part of their traditions. One of these is that during the wedding night the newcomer to the family must play a game with them. For Grace's bad luck, the game she got to play is Hide and Seek. 

From here Grace starts her wild adventure towards survival. With the innocence of a child, she starts to play but soon realizes that this is not something just to please her in-laws and that there is plenty at risk. Her wedding dress starts getting damaged, starting with being torn for comfort, to slowly start losing its white color because of the dirt and blood to which it's exposed, symbolic of Grace's psychological changes after being exposed to this bizarre and violent night.

What makes Grace be an accessible character for the viewer is that she is presented as a normal person. During the events that take place as part of the game, we see her physical deterioration and we feel her pain. A lot of merits is for Weaving for this interpretation, where we are always conscious of what goes on in her head and how the psychological wear accompanies the physical and when she had comedy parts she also excels. Brody in his role as her husband also does a great job, where he keeps the viewer always insecure about what his true intentions are.

If we talk about the acting, the whole cast does a great job, which translates to a great job by directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (“V/H/S”). They give life to the script of Guy Busick (“Urge”) and Ryan Murphy, making a great balance between comedy, dark humor, and the sinister. This last thing they achieve with warm lightning that bounces on the imposing mansion walls, creating an elegant but uncomfortable background, aligned with how the characters are presented.

“Ready or Not” creates a precise balance between comedy and explicit violence in a wildly fun movie. The script is the perfect example of exposition by showing and not telling, answering every doubt that may arise and keeping a nice pace. Its intensity is always increasing until reaching a crazy third act and an ending that is the icing on the cake. Getting to know the in-laws has never been so dangerous and fun.





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