Gory action threequel The Last Temptation of Becky goes biblical with its Nazi killing
Lulu Wilson’s teenage psychopath Becky has returned for a third outing in the grisly action franchise – and what started as a brutal riff on Home Alone has become a James Bond-esque espionage yarn, with Becky Cooper now a fully-blooded CIA agent.
Her temperament hasn’t improved with age though, and rebellious Becky risks being ousted after going rogue on her latest mission.
But she’s given one last chance at redemption when a fresh threat arises from cinema’s favourite villains – the Nazis – who are threatening to kick off the Fourth Reich from an isolated Polish bunker.
It all comes full circle for Becky, who learns that the mastermind responsible (General Wilhelm Reuss, played by Neil Patrick Harris) was also culpable for the death of her father.
Strap in – Nazi killing is about to get positively biblical.
Indie horror darling Jenn Wexler (The Sacrifice Game, The Ranger) takes the reigns this time, making her the fifth filmmaker to direct a Becky movie in the space of three adventures.
It’s a series which has always been carried by its canny villain casting (Kevin James in the original Becky, and Seann William Scott in its 2023 sequel) and this one goes just as hard.
Doing away with the white trash neo-Nazis and the Proud Boy types, Wexler goes full Nazi with her Nazis – goosestepping, bizarro science experiments, underground bunkers and all.
Subtlety? Who needs it – NPH is clearly having a ball as General Reuss, slapping on the full regalia (in a nod to his Doctor Horrible and Starship Troopers days) to give the franchise its smarmiest villain yet.
With Becky now of college age, the film is able to lean into Wilson’s physicality in a way its predecessors couldn’t, turning her into a cross between John Wick and Aatami Korpi from the Sisu films.
She may be older, employed and more accomplished, but Becky hasn’t exactly matured in the years since her first adventure.
‘What happened to you happened,’ says mentor Kate Montana (an underutilised Kate Siegel, reprising her role from the previous film). ‘And it’s the least interesting thing about you.’
Based on Becky’s behaviour here, we’d tend to concur.
The film makes no concessions for likeability where its lead character is concerned, and the teenage pouting soon wears out its welcome. Wilson gets to show a little range in the undercover persona she briefly adopts, but it’s an otherwise one-note performance, with little growth since we saw her last.
The anger is understandable, based on everything she’s been through, but the film quickly sidelines the potential of seeing Becky finally grow up in favour of another gruesome killing spree.
What The Last Temptation of Becky is largely about is Nazi killin’, and this it does well enough.