Assassination Nation (2018)

Take some transinclusion feminism and mix it with violent revenge fantasy and paint it with a lot of glitter and neon and you get Assassination Nation, a film which certainly wont be to everyone’s taste but hit me right where I needed. Basically take the idea of how sexually active women, including trans women, are shit on in our culture and have them decide to fight back and you get this little romp.

It will be too stylized for some. It will be too violent for others. It will  be too funny for others still. For me writer/director Levinson strikes a clever balance of just the right amount of irreverence and sass without ignoring the gravity of the issues he is attempting to critique. The whole thing is fantasy and the film knows it but that doesnt stop it from wrestling with tough issues. And it stands up against slut shaming, against transphobia, against toxic masculinity, against suburban hypocrisy.

So for me Assassination Nation was a welcome punch in the gut. It was more than i expected. It made me think, flinch, laugh, cover my eyes, and made me angry at the world. But it also gave me hope that perhaps there are those out there who will change it.

Assassination Nation
Starring: Odessa Young, Suki Waterhouse, Hari Nef, Abra, Joel McHale
Writer/Director: Sam Levinson