Measure of Revenge, 2022.
Directed by Peyfa.
Starring Melissa Leo, Bella Thorne, Jake Weary, Kevin Corrigan, Benedict Samuel, Adrian Martinez, Ivan Martin, Roma Maffia, Jasmine Carmichael, and Michael Potts.
SYNOPSIS:
The story follows a theater actress, Lillian Cooper (Leo) whose son (Weary) dies mysteriously. When the investigating officer rules the cause of death an accidental overdose, Lillian conducts her own investigation which leads her to an unlikely alliance with her son’s former drug dealer (Thorne). On her quest for answers, Lillian hallucinates some of the iconic characters she’s played on stage which serve as her inner voice, urging her to avenge her son’s death.
As soon as Measure of Revenge ends, the screen graphic “directed by Peyfa” appears. At that moment, I instantaneously became fixated on figuring out who or what a Peyfa is. Not because I think it’s a cool name (I don’t), but more to confirm a suspicion that what I had just watched was so unbelievably and incomprehensibly awful (folks, I seriously mean this one makes the VOD Bruce Willis movies feel worthy of a wide theatrical release) that no industry person would actually want their name associated with this project. I turned out to be correct (the director is one of the film’s producers, Peter Wong), and then I just somewhat felt bad the stars in front of the camera, such as Melissa Leo and Bella Thorne, couldn’t do the same. But again, this movie is so terrible; I’m also not entirely sure anyone deserves to be spared public humiliation considering it is still set to release (in theaters, no less).
Measure of Revenge announces its incompetence right away, as Melissa Leo’s stage famous Lillian Cooper excitedly greets her rockstar son Curtis Cooper (Jake Weary), released from drug rehab. Curtis has a pregnant fiancé named Olivia (Jasmine Carmichael), also there celebrating his sobriety. However, a rehab sponsor also explains some ground rules, except we never actually see him. It’s not a plot-related reason, either. The cinematography inexplicably cuts an entire actor out of the picture Melissa Leo was talking to. It’s also not the only time that the framing is flabbergasting.
Anyway, Curtis and Olivia overdose later that night together, which local detective Eaton (Michael Potts) confirms and cites as accidental due to a deadly strain of a new hard drug hitting the city. Lillian refuses to accept this, unsurprisingly choosing to take investigative matters into her own hands. One of several significant problems is that Melissa Leo’s performance is full-stop embarrassingly awful. And it’s not just that her grieving feels phony or her actions string credibility (and believe me, her plans here are quite preposterous), but that there are scenes of her arguing with theater managers about the execution of Shakespeare that is unintentionally hilarious and wildly out of place in every way imaginable.
Speaking of Shakespeare, Lillian also hallucinates garbage-looking renditions of Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe characters she has long mastered on the stage, now giving her advice on murdering those responsible for poisoning Curtis with the drug. She also gets in touch with a small-time drug dealer and photographer named Taz (Bella Thorne), who seems to have been more than that to Curtis as she reluctantly assists Lillian.
Admittedly, the concept of someone being driven mad by characters they have played is intriguing, and so are the greedy antics of a record label seeing an opportunity to make money off the musician’s death that ultimately goes nowhere thoughtful. But Measure of Revenge resembles a cinematic zombie. It’s not just the pacing that is out of whack every step of the way, but the flow of individual scenes themselves. There’s not a single moment where anyone engages with the lines and material. It sometimes feels like a student film that somehow managed to reel in some notable faces.
There are parts of Measure of Revenge in crowded areas such as coffee shops where the sound mixing is so imbalanced that you can sort of make out random conversations going on in the background. That’s also nothing compared to a sequence that sees Lillian tailing a drug dealer so cartoonishly and fake that it feels like a stealth video game where a detection meter should materialize and start filling up, considering at one point she is maybe three steps behind him while he is talking on the phone. And it comes across as realistic compared to her master plan of killing people involved with the death of her son in between intermissions on stage. Even if you wanted to overlook how atrocious this all is, the general plot is predictable nonsense. There’s not a measure of anything worth recommending here.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
