It was just two years ago that the world truly got to experience the star power behind Mia Goth, thanks to Ti West. Sure Mia Goth had some high profile roles to her name prior to X, but it was the breakout star defining performance in X and later on pearl that made her “a fucking star”. With X came a new addiction for film fans that had the world stunned and shocked for a new genre film that took audiences by storm, now with a prequel out of the way in Pearl, Ti West was designated to give fans the next chapter of the X franchise in Maxxxine in what is truly a sequel to X. The question remains, is Maxxxine a fitting sequel to one of the most inventive, star making and enjoyable horror films of the past decade or does the audience accept a sequel that they do not deserve.
The film opens with Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) auditioning for the new Puritan film (a schlocky horror franchise) in front of cast directors, producers, and director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) and delivers a monologue that continues to remind audiences why she’s a star. They question her former work as an adult film star and wants to know why she thinks she can break into Hollywood and she simply states something to the extent of I can do it all, I am built for this life, and I am a star. While waiting to hear about the results of her audition she meets up with her friend Tabby Martin (Halsey) as they proceed to walk the LA strip together discussing the fears of the lingering Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez. Though he is not the only sadistic killer lurking around LA, there is a sadist killer as well one that Detective Williams and Detective Torres (Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale) want Maxine’s help in tracking down as the killings seem to be linked and connected to her.
She is constantly followed and harassed by John Labat (Kevin Bacon) whose a sleazy private investigator who was tasked with tracking Maxine for his client, that we don’t get meet initially. She tries to take things into her own hands, by laying merciless waste to him which she realizes can jeopardize her career. So she does what any Hollywood actor would do, contact her agent Teddy Night Esq (Giancarlo Esposito) and he tells her not to worry about it. Without going into more things, the film really goes off the rails and loses all of its momentum and footing in what will go down as one of the sloppiest third acts in history. It just swings for the fences and of one hundred balls pitched at once 5 make it out of foul zone and the audience is left with that chaotic mess to finish the movie. A disappointing conclusion to arguably one of the best (up to the third) sequels of all time, something has not been fumbled this hard in my opinion since Back to the Future.
When it comes to performances, everyone in the cast brings their absolute A game, there is no denying that this cast is stacked. They’re never the problem, even Bobby Cannavale whose character is an inspiring actor but a cop and over the top and ridiculous, fits perfectly in this script. The performances are not the issue with the ultimate disappointment that Maxxxine ends up becoming from Ti West’s script. The movie lacks the umph that Pearl and X both had, but the final act is one of the most bizarre twists and uninteresting and convoluted endings that could’ve been delivered. It makes total sense in the world, and especially with the events of X and the world of the 80s but it’s sloppily thrown together just fails to deliver.
X and Pearl were goretastic revenge stories that focused on Mia Goth (as Pearl and Maxine) seeking revenge which they were mostly justified for in both movies. While Maxxxine allows for some of that to be present, it lacks a lot of that over the top grotesque violence and satisfaction that both X and Pearl delivered upon. It’s not to say that Maxxxine doesn’t have moments worthy of cheer, just the journey getting there is so bloated and overdrawn and a third act straight out of a meme generator almost ruins that satisfaction. If anything Mia Goth achieved what she set out to in X and that was to make her a star, just missed starring in what could’ve been one of the greatest horror trilogies of all time by making a third movie that fails to live to the hype and makes the final destination a 3 star hotel versus a five star hotel.
