I fly a decent amount for work now, and it’s one of the few times I can catch up on some of the newer horror flicks, as well as old classics that make their way to in-flight entertainment services. Welcome to another installment of Airplane Movie Reviews.
I’d heard a lot of good things about Ready or Not, and for the most part, the movie is a fun, thriller-comedy featuring a great performance by Samara Weaving. But I can’t help comparing it to 2011’s You’re Next, and in that comparison, Ready or Not falls very short.
Ready or Not has a simple premise–whenever someone joins the very wealthy Le Domas family, a game must be played on the wedding night. The family’s fortune was built on selling board and tabletop games. What game gets played is a matter of chance, but if it turns out to be “Hide and Seek,” the new bride or groom must be hunted down and killed by the family, or they will lost their fortune. Samara Weaving plays the new bride Grace, an as you’ve seen in the trailer, she does in fact pull the “Hide and Seek” card.
Samara Weaving is excellent in this movie. From her initial disbelief about what is happening to her eventual striking back against her attackers, you are rooting for her.
The problem with this movie is just that it doesn’t do enough with its premise. Once the game starts, it just plods through the story, with very predictable turns. I had to double check to see if it was PG-13, because outside of one scene with a musket ball, there is not more gore to speak of in the film. Weaving just isn’t given enough to work with, as it takes too long for her to really turn the tables, and she is never allowed to really let loose. And that is the biggest problem with this movie–you never really feel like Grace gets the payoff she deserves.
Which led to me constantly thinking: “You’re Next did this better.” It takes everything Ready or Not does, and turn it up ten notches.
Now, had Ready or Not been PG-13, I think my expectations would have been tempered. But if you’re going for an R rating, take advantage of it. Especially when a movie like You’re Next has already set such a high standard for this kind of story.
In the end, I enjoyed Ready or Not, but it doesn’t do enough with it’s rating or the great performance from Samara Weaving to fulfill the potential of its premise.
Verdict: 3 Bags of Pretzels Out of 5