Is God Is

Is God Is
Starring Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Sterling K. Brown, Vivica A. Fox
Directed by Aleshea Harris

There's no more classic tale than a revenge tale. It's something that comes to mind when we've been wronged by someone, no matter how passive we might be - all peace and love go out the window when we're hurt in a tremendous way by someone else. What matters is how you get that revenge, and whether or not it changes you on the inside. That's the dilemma facing twin sisters as they embark on a "mission from God" to get the revenge they've been denied, but also something that could tear them apart.

After their father (Sterling K. Brown) burns their mother (Vivica A. Fox) and themselves at a young age, now-adult twins Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson) receive a letter from their long-forgotten mother. Having been disfigured by the fire themselves (especially Anaia, who wears the scars on her face), the sisters visit their dying mother - who they refer to as "God" because she birthed them - who gives them one command: "kill your father dead. Dead. Dead." Anaia, the shy and quiet one, doesn't want to go through with it, but Racine, the more combative one, is more than willing to dish out revenge against her father. The twins embark on a journey to find their father and finish "God's will" and along the way run into other victims of their father's cruelty, while both growing closer together and moving further apart as Anaia continually has misgivings about their quest.

"Is God Is" is a movie based on a stage play written by Aleshea Harris, who wrote the screenplay and also directed the film - her first time in the director's chair. Usually, when a first-time director makes their first movie, there's some flaws to it that's pretty self-explanatory, most notably Markiplier, who directed this year's standout "Iron Lung." While it was a great endeavor, you can tell the editing just wasn't there, and showed his room to grow. For Harris, there's not as much blazing errors as much as pacing, which falters here and there but nothing too negative, most likely due to her stage work she's able to coherently tell a story in any medium.

This story is revenge, plain and simple. Taking obvious cues from old Grindhouse films and Tarantino movies, "Is God Is" is a quest for vengeance against a monster of a man who left his family for dead. Echoes of "Kill Bill" are more like screams (especially including Vivica A. Fox in the film) as the two sisters traverse the South in search of their "Bill," running into small mini-missions along the way. However, unlike the Bride's adventures, there's not a lot of violence to be had against the mini-bosses, but rather they serve as fellow scars their monster father left in his wake. From a twisted evangelist who still thinks he's going to return to her decades later to his lawyer whom he literally ripped the tongue of, Racine and Anina run into more sympathetic characters rather than foes (but it still doesn't stop Racine from getting into a tiff here and there). 

Yet the story is also about the cost of revenge. Racine and Anaia have always been in-sync, so much so they don't have to communicate using words to express what they want to say (in several humorous moments where they just stare at each other and words appear on screen). Here, however, there's a divide - Racine is more than ready to kill their monstrous father, while Anaia thinks there's still some good in him, or at least wants to spare his life. Kara Young and Mallori Johnson act like they've been twins their entire life, and makes the movie very grounded in its wild, stylish cinematography. You feel for these characters and love their interactions, and they truly care for one another more than just the characters.

That doesn't mean there's not violence, as the film's denouement is a blood-soaked thrill ride that centers on the thirst for revenge and the unintended consequences of it, rounding out a great ending to a fun, intriguing ride that you take with these unforgettable twins.

The Score: A-