Assassination Nation

By: Amos Lassen

"ASSASSINATION NATION"
Lily and Friends
Amos Lassen
"Assassination Nation" features violence, strong sexual material and and alcohol use and abuse. What is disturbing is that this is a film about teenagers. After a nasty data hack exposes the secrets of the town of Salem, chaos rules and four girls must fight to survive while dealing with the hack themselves. "Assassination Nation" contains disturbing bloody violence, strong sexual material including pervasive language, and and alcohol use - all involving teens. It was written and directed by Sam Levinson.
Highschool senior Lily and her group of friends live in a world of texts, posts, selfies and chats. When an anonymous hacker starts posting details from the private lives of everyone in their small town, the result is madness that makes Lily and her friends wonder whether they'll live through the night. There is a natural progression to the story before it goes full-on chaotic. The film takes its time setting up the story, the tone, and the social message before it delves into madness. There are incredibly intense scenes that will make you grip the edge of your seat. We just might say is that what this movie does is say, Fuck You, America".
I'm not really into violence being exploitative unless the main characters are fully justified for their actions. These girls have every right to kill off every single person that does them wrong.
Lily, (Odessa Young), gives quite a performance here and this is her first leading role in a feature and she totally owns it. Her performance is passionate, chilling, and captivating. As a character, Lily is problematic and there are times when we really do not like her. However, we sympathize with her and understand her actions. You root for her because the people around her are far worse than she is.
Another strong character is Bex (played by trans actress Hari Nef). She is one of the many subplots of the story, and the emotional centerpiece that is needed in the midst of the aggressive spirit of the film. Her subplot is extremely well-written and Nef's is amazing and keep you tearing up.

The movie is incredibly visual with its presentation and every scene has its own beautiful aesthetic. Then, when the film gets violent....

I believe that this is to be a film that empowers females but is directed and written by a male and this causes the script to become uncomfortable at times yet, not because of the content, but because of the dialogue.
The film is set in a town called Salem because of the Salem witch trials and the characters in this movie pitting themselves against women. The citizens of Salem are hypocritical and not too smart and I believe that this is meant to be a representation of America itself.
While Odessa Young and Hari Nef own the show, Suki Waterhouse as Sarah and Abra as Em pick up the slack... or do they?. We really do not get g the sense of who Sarah and Em are and when frightening things happen to them, you want to feel for them.
This is not a perfect film but it does have great cinematography and wonderful performances. Nearly every resident has their hypocritical social media hacked. Anger is the prime motivation and defining emotion of "Assassination Nation" Our characters are blindsided
when the mother of all e-mail/social media/phone hacks hits Salem. In the world we see in the movie,
lynch mobs dispense justice.

Even though Lily and her pals are hit harder than anyone by the hack, the town soon gets the notion that she must be the hacker, so just about everyone forms into a lynch mob and heads towards her house. Aside from its huge logical issues, the film likewise suffers from the hypocrisies it so easily ascribes to others and is symptomatic of the divisiveness plaguing America under Trump.