By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
Bill Skarsgard (?It: Chapter Two?) is the one who gets clowned this time in the new movie
?Villains? from directors
Dan Berk and Robert Olsen (?The Stakelander?).
Skarsgard plays a two-bit robber named Mickey. His girlfriend and partner in crime Jules
(Maika Monroe, ?Independence Day: Resurgence? and ?It Follows?) is primarily the ?brains? behind their crime sprees.
They?re a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde but lack that robbing duo?s sophisticated style.
Mickey and Jules are young, wild, reckless and in love. Their plan is to steal enough money so they can live it up on the sandy beaches of Florida.
At the rate they're going that may take a while. They only hit up mom and pop convenience stores.
They decide to rob one near a deserted highway. They make off with a hefty chunk of change this time, but about a mile or so away from the store, their car runs out of gas.
Uh-oh.
No one ever said that criminals were the smartest people in the world, but if you?re robbing places, it?s probably a good idea to make sure that your get-away car is gassed up so you can get away.
Mickey and Jules stumble upon a big suburban house that looks deserted. Looks are deceiving. They break in hoping to steal the car in the garage but are shocked when they discover a dirty and scared girl (Blake Baumgartner, TV?s ?City on a Hill?) chained up in the basement.
Who would do such a thing?
They find out when the homeowners, George (an excellent Jeffrey Donovan, ?Sicario: Day of the Soldado?) and Gloria, (a superb Kyra Sedgwick, TV?s ?Brooklyn Nine-Nine?) barge in on them and soon things get all kind of crazy.
George (Donovan) is a handsome, clean-cut chap who looks like he just stepped off the set of ?Mad Men.? Gloria (Sedgwick) is all prim and proper and carries a bundled-up baby with her all the time, but remember looks are deceiving.
Everyone in the room knows things could go south fast. George suggests to the hapless intruders they sit down with him and have some scotch and discuss their options. Mickey and Jules insist on taking George and Gloria?s kid, Sweetiepie who they?re told is kept in the basement when she misbehaves.
George suggests they leave her where she is. In turn, they won?t call the police and report the two crazy love birds and they can go their merry way.
Of course, everyone is lying, but it?s Mickey and Jules who really get the short end of the stick when George and Gloria drug them.
Then when a cop (Danny Johnson, TV?s ?Pose? and ?Luke Cage?) drops by the house and starts poking around, ?Villains? turns even more bizarre and sinister.
If you like twisted, dark comedies with a pinch of horror tossed in for good measure, the edgy and suspenseful ?Villains? satisfies.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays now at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 1530 AM and 93.1 FM.
Check Out This Trailer For
"VILLAINS"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics? Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
