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2020’s Becky showed what happens when a Neo-Nazi group headed by Kevin James breaks into the home of a pissed-off, angsty 14-year-old teenage girl. Don’t expect any cutesy Kevin McCallister-like traps (although the blow torch in the original Home Alone was a lot) to stall the intruders while help comes – oh no. Becky served up a buffet of B-movie of dismemberment and gore as our main protagonist used various household items to dispose of the racist cabal.
Directors Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote flip the script with the sequel, The Wrath of Becky. This time, it’s more of a comic book and comedic tone, where Becky (Lulu Wilson) is older and on the offensive. Three years after the first film, the audience is filled in with a brief overlay narration by Becky herself. She’s been bouncing around from foster home to foster home with her dog Diego when she lands in the house of an older woman named Elena (Denise Burse). Regarding Becky’s past, Elena doesn’t ask questions about it – their embrace of not accepting nonsensical bs serves as a bond between them. Through their morning talks, Becky starts to let her guard down and finds Elena’s home as a safe space to breathe.
But an easy life for Becky isn’t exactly in the cards for her. A racist incel group called the Noble Men rolls into the small town – mainly the diner where Becky works as a waitress. She has little patience for their misogynistic BS and makes a fool of them. Because their bruised egos just can’t take it, they figure out where Becky lives, kidnap her dog, and brutally kill Elena.
You see where this is going – never piss off someone who relishes the thought of getting revenge on despicable people. Angle and Coote provide a straightforward story with a brief 80-minute runtime. The film is not looking to overstate its intention, past evil people getting what’s coming to them in the most creative ACME gadget ways. A subplot is tied to current events where the Noble Men are planning a political attack akin to the attempted January 6th insurrection. They weren’t banking on angering a murderous ball of energy.
Wilson feels even more confident in the older iteration of the character. Seeing her bringing fury to the antagonist's front door is worth the price of admission. Another surprisingly effective actor tonal switch comes at the feet of Seann William Scott’s former soldier and leader of the Noble Men character Darryl. He has a subtle and quietly orchestrated menacing quality to him. The audience's brief interactions with his foot soldiers show how somebody can drink that indoctrinated Kool-aid. It’s a different approach to the Kevin James character in the past film – in that, he was an imposing figure to Becky.
The Wrath of Becky is pretty much all killer and less filter. It would have faltered if the film duplicated the same scenario for the first. The smart thing was to get Becky out of space – if there’s a criticism of the flip in style, it’s that the tension is gone. Even if Becky finds herself in a challenging situation, the almost cartoonish cadence strips any belief that things could go south. With a teased third installment, it’s apparent that Becky is more of the personification of karmic comeuppance to those who might think of engaging in hateful activities. There is no shortage of that around, so maybe there are some adventures ahead for this anti-hero to be explored.