When did we as a people collectively decide vengeance was better than justice? Because there’s no question we do. Ask for vengeance and people line up with opinions. Ask for justice and you’ll get laughed at. Right now, half of this country has no discernable idea of what true justice looks like; their side loaded the court system in the last four years and yet they still manage to bitch about the scales tilted in favor of others. It’s arguable that since this country was founded, at least half of us had no discernable idea what true justice was or is … however, it is something we definitely believed in two hundred years ago. Now? Less.
It sucks to lose a parent. There are grades, of course. It sucks more the younger you are. Rachel (Isabela Merced) is just a teen when she loses mom (Adria Arjona) to cancer. The thing is when your dad is Aquaman, the film tends to be about dad. Hence, when mom dies on a hospital bed, the camera ignores Rachel and follows Ray (Jason Momoa) into the hallway for some big man acting.
Ray vows to kill the guy he thinks is responsible for mom’s death. Directly. In public. On television. That man is Pharma CEO Simon Keeley (Justin Bartha). I know Justin Bartha from exactly two roles – the thankless straight man to Nicolas Cage in National Treasure and the impaired kid befriended by Gigli. Both of these roles made me feel intensely sorry for Justin; asking him to personify the evil of Big Pharma is just a little too much, no? Anyhoo, I suppose there is no such thing as justice in the world of cancer, and yet I cannot condone a death threat of any kind no matter the circumstance.
You want to know why your film isn’t a winner? “Death threat by a sympathetic character” leaps to mind. That’s
gonna do it almost every time. Good guys don’t threaten death. Good guys sometimes hint at it; good guy vigilantes sometimes deliver it, but threatening life is a tool of a evil. Ok, yes, there are exceptions — there are ALWAYS exceptions, but general rule of thumb: Good guys don’t deliver death threats. Ever. In fiction or fact.
Now, that said, Sweet Girl had an awesome twist, and one I laud on the scale of: “OH! So that’s why (moment that did not make sense) suddenly makes sense. Huh? Go figure. I thought I was just watching a bad film.” There is actually a very good reason the title of the film reflects the daughter and not the Jason Momoa character. Does that excuse all the film’s faults? No. But it redeems enough of them to allow me to recommend the film to, I dunno, insomniacs, maybe.
Jason Momoa has come a long way since Conan … there’s still a bit of way to go, clearly. Life is a journey, Jason, live it. As long as you’re still large, people will love you. They will love you more when they find you a tad more convincing.
Searching the evil of Big Pharma’s greedy roots
This Girl sheds “Sweet” from her attributes
Parental death is a horror
For any young “Explorer”
Why it’s almost as bad as the time you lost Boots
Rated R, 110 Minutes
Director: Brian Andrew Mendoza
Writer: Gregg Hurwitz, Philip Eisner
Genre: When revenge is all ya got
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Jason Momoa believers
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Reality believers
