(Courtesy of Netflix)
Sometimes teenage girls are evil, and Netflix’s “Do Revenge” demonstrates how that’s possible.
Directed by Jennifer Kaytin, the movie is a subverted Hitchcock-ian dark comedy that follows two high school teenagers who form an unlikely friendship to do revenge on each other’s enemy.
“Riverdale” star Camila Mendes plays Drea, the Alpha it-girl at her fancy prep school who has it all going her way until her boyfriend Max (Austin Abrams) leaks her sex tape. She forms a secret friendship after a run-in with transfer student Eleanor, played by “Stranger Things” Maya Hawke, who wants to get back at Carissa (Ava Capri), her old bully who started a rumor about her.
Aside from the remarkable pastel-colored aesthetic, glam eye looks, and movie soundtrack, the film has an interesting take on building suspense and seeking vengeance. Every character desires to annihilate each other. To do revenge, you must get a makeover, develop a new persona, and entirely become someone else.
The characters show to be different but mimic each other. Drea does what she wants to get what she wants. Her attempts to get back at Max directly impact at least one girl from every clique, and she acts with no thought to the damage she causes others. Eleanor wants everything she thought she hated and, in a surprising turn of events, does outlandish things in response to the hurt she experienced at camp when she was 13. Max is one of the main focuses in the movie, who proves to be unbearable and is worse than the scary protagonists. He is representative of the toxic roots of the patriarchy.
By the end of the movie, all three characters are face-to-face and realize they do not like each other because they’re selfish and, at this point, use everyone around them to get what they want.
With all the suspense, surprises, twists, and turns, “Do Revenge” is a movie you must watch to fully grasp the message of doing revenge and its spoiling into your life. This is not one of those movies with a conventional ending where all those wronged receive the full justice the way they should. The effects of the revenge aren’t as lasting and leave blanks for you to fill, considering the movie has a happy ending.
It is worth watching and taking an assessment if you desire to see stars like Alisha Boe (Tara) from “13 Reasons Why,” Maia Reficco (Montana) from “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” actor Sarah Michelle Gellar as the prep school’s headmaster.