'Ready or Not' for a bloody good time
“The rich are different.”
So says a character in “Ready or Not,” a crazy, bloody thriller with crossbows, satanic rituals and a family of super rich weirdos willing to do anything to maintain their luxe status quo.
Uma Thurman in “Kill Bill” may be the top butt-kicking bride in cinema, but Samara Weaving deserves honorable mention as Grace, a former foster kid who gets a little bit too much family drama from her new in-laws. Grace is set to marry Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien) at his family’s gigantic mansion. He hasn’t seen his parents (Henry Czerny and Andie MacDowell) in a few years because they are “terrible people.” A bit of an understatement.
The family made its millions in the board game industry, and Grace learns after the wedding that each new member of the family must play a game of some sort at midnight after the party. A magic/cursed box and a deck of cards determine the game (no joke), and they’re all totally normal games (checkers, Old Maid, etc.) except one — Hide and Seek. Guess which one Grace draws.
Hide and Seek turns out to be a ritualistic hunt. Grace must be killed by the family before dawn or bad things apparently happen. And so Alex’s parents, siblings and crazy aunt arm themselves with crossbows, rusty rifles and battle axes… though the big joke of “Ready or Not” is the family has no real clue how to use any of them. The Hide and Seek card doesn’t rotate in too often.
Clocking in at a lean 90 minutes, “Ready or Not” packs in one tension-fueled escape sequence after another, and Grace, stuck in her wedding dress throughout the evening, becomes a much better player the longer she survives. She’s also understandably flabbergasted by the whole situation, allowing Weaving to riff with some hilarious character-rooted fits of rage and frustration. It’s a star-making performance, not just for the comedic beats, but also in how Weaving’s progression through the film feels realistic and relatable even as the movie gets gory and ridiculous.
The movie isn’t terribly subtle about how it feels about the super-rich. The Le Domas Family (or Dominion) consists of immature, out-of-touch and aggressively selfish individuals who barely care when they accidentally shoot an arrow into the face of one of their poor, poor servants. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett lean into their horribleness to comedic effect while also making Grace’s success against them believable and bloody satisfying.
Excellent casting throughout the movie also works in the movie’s favor, with Adam Brody being a standout as Alex’s conflicted older brother. “Ready or Not” also boasts strong technical work - action beats are edited sharply and the overall visual aesthetic plays up the mansion’s creepy, archaic layout.
While not particularly scary at any point, “Ready or Not” manages to be both suspenseful and funny enough to push through a somewhat formulaic resolution. It’s brisk, bloody fun, and Weaving’s performance alone is worth the ticket.
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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.