MaXXXine (2024) - A Disappointing Third Chapter

  MaXXXine (2024)

I really didn't expect this, but not at all. After a 4-hour marathon we finally arrived (at dawn at 00.15) at the last film of the Ti West trilogy. Expectations are high given the previous films and we wonder in what way, beautiful or not so beautiful, the director will end this story. Well, starting with this premise I didn't think that this last chapter could be as bad as it was, but let's start in order (I know, this is my typical phrase, but thinking back to the film that was I have to do things step by step). 

The film starts well: new setting, new characters, a familiar flavor but not too much. During this first phase of the film you immediately understand that the genre leans more towards a thriller than a horror and this obviously for a person like me who loves bloody thrillers was perfect. As the film progresses, interesting things happen (also very original in their staging) and the characters introduced seem to have a significant amount of depth (the director, the video store owner, the manager, the policemen and many others). Little by little, however, the interesting things in the first part of the film became almost boring and at times disconnected, something that had never happened to me in any of the previous films: the plot was thickening, but it was doing so in a strange and not at all enjoyable direction. However, I wanted to give the film the benefit of the doubt. 

As you continue watching, you notice that the characters (all of them) reach an almost stagnant level and begin to perform actions that are not in line with their evolution up to that point. With the brutal and truly unnecessary death of a character, my fear increased more and more and found further support in the third and final act. The third and final act of “MaXXXine” completely destroys the story started in the first film and the single story of this third chapter. Why? Because this part of the movie is disgustingly bad: horrible plot twists, characters that jump out of the hat, choices of other characters that make you doubt the intelligence of those who wrote them, gigantic plot holes and in general a simply disinterested writing. 

Even the staging rejects a lot, in fact visually, the whole part at the "Satanists' house" is directed with the ass and it's pathetic since everything is goofy (it becomes a comic film with scenes that aren't even funny and are just cringe). Then we get to the real ending. The final ending is not bad, it's how the story was supposed to end, but it's how we got there that was undoubtedly an endless descent in quality. Overall, an absurd disappointment from one of the films I was most looking forward to this year. Thanks Ti West. 

Oh, and lastly, having a character snort cocaine from the beginning of a story to the end is not character development and it’s not even cool, it’s just lazy writing, that’s all.