In 2020, low-budget home invasion thriller, Becky, came as something of a surprise. The film placed a young girl, Becky (Lulu Wilson), against a team of vicious criminals after they invaded her home in search of a prized artefact. The men were met with more fight than they were expecting, and by the film’s conclusion, Becky had killed them all. Now Becky returns to dispatch more bad guys in The Wrath of Becky.
Lulu Wilson returns as Becky, the plot picking up in the wake of previous events. Becky and her beloved dog Diego arrive at their new foster home. Outwardly, Becky presents herself as the perfect daughter, but flees the house under the cloak of darkness. As the opening credits begin, Becky and Diego’s journey continues in animation form. As the credits end, the audience are re-introduced to the teenager. Now sixteen, Becky and Diego live somewhat with a kind older woman. By day she waits tables, but otherwise she is in training, preparing for any future threat. That threat comes earlier than expected when a group of men, disproving of her attitude, follow her home from work. They attack her and steal Diego, leaving Becky with no choice but to hunt them down and give them a taste of her wrath.
Whilst Becky was a smart spin on the Home Alone format, its sequel attempts to channel John Wick. Diego is spared Daisy’s fate, but his dognapping is the last straw for Becky. He is the last residue of her family and she will do anything to get him back. The violence and ferocity displayed in Becky is kicked up a notch; with years to fixate and plan, Becky’s imagination has become even more warped, leading to some excellent kill scenes. Lulu Wilson, who serves as an executive producer on the film as well, clearly adores playing this character, and who could blame her. Becky has no filter, she wears her heart on her sleeve and her aggression on her face. Her character delights in the horrendous things she does. Her malice is so gleeful that the viewer has to question whether Becky wouldn’t have ended up on this path even if her father hadn’t been executed. Much like Mr. Wick, Becky has an affinity for killing, and as the end scene teases, we might not have seen the last of her story.
One of the brightest elements of Becky was its casting of comedian Kevin James as a cutthroat neo-nazi. His transformation was terrifying and made the viewer reassess the roles he was capable of playing. It is clear here that the casting of Sean William Scott is meant to elicit a similar reaction, however the actor’s career, especially in recent years, has led him to some darker roles and so the trick doesn’t work this time around. The pace is also off on this second time out. It drags a lot of the time, especially around the middle, the punchy zippines of the original a distant memory. Some of this can be attributed to new voices behind the camera, Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote stepping into the shoes of Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion, but it’s more than that. Whereas the story in Becky felt organic and in-keeping with the home-invasion formula, The Wrath of Becky’s plot struggles to hold together.
A classic case of a sequel that was not needed, The Wrath of Becky tries hard to re-capture the magic of Becky once more. Whilst the action is suitably vicious, and Wilson gives an impressively unhinged and kick-ass performance, lightning fails to strike twice. Time will tell if the teased third film comes into being, and if so, if it can reignite the spark.
The Wrath of Becky
Summary
Lulu Wilson’s Becky is always a fun character to spend time with, but despite the best efforts of all involved, The Wrath of Becky pales in comparison to what came before.
The Wrath of Becky was reviewed at SXSW 2023.
