Final Girl

Final Girl

Starring Abigail Breslin, Wes Bentley, Alexander Ludwig, Cameron Bright

Directed by Tyler Shields

The Story:
When she was a young girl, Veronica (Gracyn Shinyei) lost her parents.  She is recruited by William (Wes Bentley) to be her trainer, and spent the next twelve years training her to be an assassin.

Now older, Veronica (Abigail Breslin) is an emotionless, trained assassin.  William gives her an assignment: there is a town where four men lure women to the woods and hunt and kill them.  She is to play the part of a naive girl and be lured to the woods, where she would kill the hunters.

Jameson (Alexander Ludwig) is the leader of the group, and immediately falls for Veronica's charade, and he selects her to be their next "victim," but as soon as they enter the woods, they become the hunted - and Veronica the hunter.

The Story:
Tyler Shields is more well-known for his unique photographic style than directing, having taken pictures of Lindsay Lohan, Emma Roberts and Demi Lovato, to name a few.  He's even known as being the next Andy Warhol.  With "Final Girl," he attempts to break out of that stereotype and try his hand at directing.

He should've stuck with the still camera.

That's not to say "Final Girl" is bad, but it's just not good.  There's several movies that the film seems to draw itself from:
A Clockwork Orange - a gang of youths doing diabolical things just for the sake of being diabolical
American Psycho - one of the men, Danny (Logan Huffman), carries around an axe and seems mentally psychotic, much like Christian Bale's character
Hanna - an orphaned girl raised to be an assassin, like Veronica was here
While She Was Out - a seemingly hapless woman (Kim Basinger in WSWO) cornered by a group of men in the woods, forced to fight or die

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but if you can't imitate it well, you shouldn't bother.

Back to the film.  It seemed really incomplete.  You don't have any backstory to Veronica and William's intentions, what company they work for, what they do, or even if there's anyone else in the organization.  Her parents die, and he raises her as an assassin for some reason.  That's just sloppy storytelling.

For someone who was trained for all that time, you'd expect Veronica to be at the top of her game, but during her fights she almost loses every time, and relies on a drug that makes her pursuers imagine their greatest fears to gain the upper hand.  This, however, is where the film has a glimmer of a moment.  Tyler Shields is anything but unique, and using the villains' greatest fears against them gives a dazzling theatrical moment, from guys in panda suits to hooded figures. 

In fact, the best part of the film is the cinematography.  Most of the film looks like it took place in the 50s - from the dresses, tuxedos, diner and cars - but then there's scenes where guns are seen, which definitely don't look like they existed in that time period.  Still, it gave the film an ethereal quality to it, and almost seemed like a dreamlike atmosphere.  As I said, Shields is good at setting a scene, just not live action.

For a small budget, "Final Girl" brought in some big name talent.  Far from her Oscar-nominated role in "Little Miss Sunshine," Breslin is all grown up and really showcasing amazing talent, far too superior for a film this droll.  Wes Bentley and Alexander Ludwig also give tasteful performances here, along with a fellow child star most people don't know, and that's Cameron Bright.  He starred in the abysmal "X-Men: The Last Stand" and also Paul Walker's underrated "Running Scared," and he's shown that he's matured as an actor as well.  Overall, the casting seemed off for such a small production.

The story itself, as alluded to before, is much to be desired.  You know how it all ends.  It felt like a child wrote it, or a feminist out for manblood.  That's the whole concept of the Final Girl mantra - in most horror movies, the only survivor is a female, known as the Final Girl.  So is this film a horror?  Not particularly.  It's moreso a revenge tale where the female gains the upper hand against her male oppressors.  Again, not saying that's a bad thing.  It was just obvious.

The Summary:
A decent action flick, "Final Girl" fails to draw the audience to any sort of caring for the actors on screen, and just serves as the woman getting the upper hand on evil men.

The Score: B