MaXXXine

"MaXXXine" is the third part of the "X" trilogy, and in my opinion, easily the best.

The first film "X" was fine. I wasn't blown away like a lot of people were. It was a fairly standard slasher with some cool style and some big name actors. The sequel "Pearl" was also fine, but had the cool angle of being a prequel and also a period piece that really leaned into the time ("X" was a period piece too, but there wasn't a whole lot that needed to be. It could have been set anywhere and it would have been the exact same film). "MaXXXine" takes all the best ideas from from the first two and (mostly) sticks the landing.

It's plopped right into the meaty parts of the 80s, and they absolutely nail that feeling through and through. I loved the costumes, set design and music. They absolutely killed it in that regard.

The cast is the most star studded of the 3 films, making great use of Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito and of course the lead actress and best part of all the movies - Mia Goth. If the trilogy was conceived as a platform for to showcase her talent, then mission accomplished. She's great.

The story is intriguing and I was invested entirely through the whole thing, but the finale unfortunately left me disappointed. There's a big reveal that left me pretty deflated on the whole journey. But that's ok, the movie is strong enough up until that point that it doesn't ruin the experience.

The whole concept behind the "X" trilogy is pretty cool, and it's even more cool that they actually pulled it off. Each film improving on the last, which is extremely rare for trilogies. I probably will never watch "X" or "Pearl" again, but "MaXXXine" is worth a rewatch. And if they choose to continue with this concept into more films, I'll watch those too.

8/10