Promising Young Woman

Many of the modern vengeance films are brutal and gory; many boasts incredible fight sequences and stunts. 'Promising Young Woman' has neither of these traits. In fact, this is such a different vengeance movie, it is refreshingly original. I suppose in a way once could refer to it as psychological vengeance.

Carey Mulligan delivers a fantastic performance as Cassandra, the titular Promising Young Woman. Every week she goes to a club and pretend to be too drunk to stand. Every time a 'nice guy' picks her up, and is ready to take advantage of a drunk woman. Then, at the most awkward moment, these 'nice guys' then find out the girl is not drunk - and she rightfully puts them in their place. The film also serves as a warning to guys who take advantage of drunk women. (Hell, are straight guys really such douce bags???)

Seven years ago, Cassandra and her best friend Nina dropped out of med school after a tragic incident. She now works in a coffee shop whilst planning her revenge on the perpetrators. The film takes its time telling us exactly what happened to Nina, and I found this very effective. I enjoyed this mystery element. The entire time I was aware something terrible happened but didn't know what until it was revealed. I rather liked this approach.

The love interest comes in the form of pediatrician Ryan (Bo Burnham), who went to med school with Cassandra. Its not your average romance story, and I enjoyed this approach, too. 'Promising Young Woman' is not really a fast-paced movie, but its not slow either - and I was captivated all the way.

There are many twists and turns and events I never saw coming. The film does not have the ending I was hoping for, but I'm not going to do spoilers. Let's just say this is a very good and very realistic vengeance movie with a great script, and it most certainly is unpredictable! I do believe women will relate more to the film than men, but either way, this was an entertaining watch. The film also highlighted issues that might make you ponder on afterwards.

Cass plays the part of the drunken, incapacitated party girl very, she seems to have one mission, stopping men that would take advantage of the situation, however she has one singular mission, revenge.

This is a terrific story of revenge and consent. It's one of the best films I have seen for some time, no wonder it received to much praise, and so many nominations.

I wonder if they'd thought about making this a slasher movie at any point, vibes of Killing Eve and I spit on your grave, without the gore. Twist after twist, it will keep you on the edge of your seat.

This is one of those films that should be shown to teenagers, and young adults. It shows one thing, not all predators are alike, and they'll always have people who facilitate their behaviour. It also aims to show exactly what is meant by consent.

You'll reach a point in the movie where you'll think it's over, but it isn't, there's another huge twist coming your way, I didn't see it coming.

The one question this raises, is Cass a bad guy or not, it led to a really interesting conversation among my friends, all sorts of opinions.

Oscar nominated for her role, Carey Milligan is fantastic, I've seen her in some great parts, but this must rank as one of her best, her character's development, and sudden shifts in behaviour are extraordinary.

Bo Burnham is excellent in support, he is so good as Cass's distraction, the supporting cast are on point.

Great movie.

9/10.

At first I wasn't quite sure where this movie was going, even after reading the plot line on IMDB. There were so many directions this could have gone from the exaggerated cartoon like portrayal to the mundane, but if you got the feeling the lack of predictability was going to be what kept you around, you'd have been right.

First off, Carrie Mulligan has become one of those actors that doesn't seem to do bad movies, so when you see she's in a film, you count on it being good. She is a tour de force in this film. From start to finish, she displays such human qualities on an almost unconsciously precise level. You can see her as a caring person, loving person and hurt person, but also as a sociopath and someone so dangerously close to the edge you're not entirely confident she won't or hasn't already gone over it or how far she'll end up going if she does.

That's the beauty of this film, is it keeps you guessing. It's not impossible to see some of the twists it takes, you will likely say once or twice that you saw whatever happens coming, but that's much like life itself, no one existence is totally unpredictable or predictable. This is also what makes this so good as well, the relatability of something most viewers have never been through. This movie tells the story without giving away the entire story until it's time for the viewer to know, a very powerful tool. Warning, there are some fairly graphic parts, some drawn out parts of the gruesome details of the story, but they appear at the climax of the story and serve to punctuate a point rather than try and glorify something grotesque.

There were a couple of small things that did suffer from some exaggeration. The boss at the coffee shop interrogating the boyfriend was a bit overdone, as was the conversation between Casie and Madison (the second one), but with the coffee shop boss you would assume it's because they care and the Madison conversation because they just want to move on from it. Either way, small details in an otherwise great movie.

A good cast of characters playing a wide display of not so great people in an amazing movie. For some reason I also enjoyed it being set in Ohio. Made it seem more human. The way it was filmed focused very heavily on the story, rather than the background, but having Ohio as the backdrop deglamorized it and made it human.

Great flick. Check it out.

Promising Young Woman is a stunningly original revenge drama that shocks you, offers loads of dark humour and the same time makes you reassess every mildly sexist or politically incorrect statement/thought you have made/had in your life.

Director Emerald Fennel turns the mirror on all of us, ripping her narrative right from the headlines of famous sexual harassment stories happening around us.

Carey Mulligan is electric as the troubled 'Cassie', still reeling from the shock of losing her best friend. It is no surprise she got the nod for an Oscar Best Actress nomination.

Bo Burnham and Jennifer Coolidge shine in the supporting roles.

The best revenge thriller since Django Unchained for me. Two hours went by so fast, I didn't even realise it.

A must watch!

#MovieReview #SpoilerFree #OscarsBinge #PromisingYoungWoman #OscarNomineeForBestPicture.

The subject matter is still sadly something that still needs to be taken seriously in today's society. Needs to be shown especially to college & high school students. Carrie did such a great job, I've never seen her play anything similar to this.