Assassination Nation

Well...this is certainly a man/boy-hating extravaganza...written and directed by a man! How peculiar! Nothing quite like jumping on the man-hating bandwagon to further destroy an already tarnished reputation. It's been a thoroughly bad year for men!

There is such a good, plausible and powerful idea behind this film - hacking cell-phones to expose all those X-rated selfies and videos to the general public! Kinks, infidelities and statutory rape are just some of the revelations...your placcid next-door-neighbour may not be as placcid as you have been led to believe!!!This town explodes...in a torrent of venegeful violence.

Unfortunately, the good idea gets lost in the tomfoolery. With a classic three act structure, Assassination Nation goes from the gimmicky, to the acceptable...to the downright ridiculous.

Issues concerning consent and privacy are present but not explored...instead, Sam Levinson takes his film down a less-satisfying route...it becomes more like a teen Charlie's Angels firing never-ending bullets...with - what seems to be - super-human strength.

The trans*character [played by a trans*actor, that should keep those armchair activists happy] has the most powerful scene in the film - woefully under-exploited by the director - a modern-day lynching...the true horror of this scene is lost amid the nonsensical mayhem. What's worse is her dialogue, does anyone actually say L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+? She does and not just once!

Look, this film has an obvious demographic - teen girls - and has been pitched perfectly for them. This is the epitome of Girl Power! Teen boys with a penchant for teen girls - firing guns and beating up boys - in red plastic trench coats will probably get a little sweaty around the collar. So, for that demographic is succeeds...bizarrely, with its [well-deserved] 18 classification, they will not be able to see it...legally! Ooops!

For the rest of us, we will have to wait until someone takes the same idea and does something wholly terrifying with it...all it needs is imagination, foresight and intelligence!

Trailer...