Rating (2.5 out of 5)
Plot: Cassie (Carey Mulligan) seeks revenge on men who take advantage of drunk women and those who didn’t help her college friend Nina.
Summary: First, the plot is a great idea. Two, the movie starts well with Cassie seducing her first target. They then introduce a bit of her current life, and she goes on her second hunt. From there, she starts to seek revenge on college friends.
The revenge schemes are interesting because they explore how people conceptualize date rape and how that perception changes when it happens to them or a loved one. I think this is an undervalued feature of the movie.
After meeting the lawyer who humiliated her friend in defending her rapist and admits to her his error, Cassie decides to stop her revenge path. Here is where the disappointment starts.
Before this scene, she fell in love with a college friend from their medical school days. Yes, the same social group of people who raped her friend. So, it was odd that she starts dating him at all.
But, there is a scene where they sing together in a drugstore. It was obvious at that moment (and probably before) that he would be a participant in the rape. All of this was a setup to continue her revenge path.
She was never physically violent with people before. Always mind games. But in the final revenge, Cassie’s character loses this consistency with her previous revenge patterns. The writer had an end in mind that was tragic but a successful revenge scheme. It felt forced the end a bit.
It was a fine enough film, but nothing special.