The movie starts off pretty good, although it telegraphs too much early on. It is a good enough thriller, right up to the big reveal. It is a huge disappointment (which apparently is supposed to be a big twist), as the alleged victims turn out to be even worse criminals than our designated bad guy / sex offender.

By the end you are wondering if he did any real crime at all, or was he just a man of weak character, who was a perfect patsy for a perfect crime, and his confessions, forced under torture, were not even real?

SPOILERS BELOW:

So, there is this joke: "A man approaches a woman and asks her if she will sleep with him for 10 million bucks. She says yes. Then she asks if she will sleep with him for 200 bucks. The woman, upset, exclaims: Who do you think I am? A proper garden tool? The man answers: We have already established that. Now we are just haggling about the price."

So, the big reveal is that our sexual predator stepdad was actually set up by a black widow type duo of mother and daughter, who were selling themselves out for a big check, to be received after murdering him in cold blood and with full premeditation. So the movie about a righteous vengeance turns out to be, at best, a movie about a gang war between two criminal factions.

At the end the woman reveals she never loved her husband, she married him only, so she could divorce him later after a mandated by law period of time, after which you can steal, with the help of the government, half of your mark's stuff. However the husband throws the wrench into the plan, as it turns out mom primping herself out for a deferred payment is not enough, as her husband also wants her young adult college student daughter as a squeeze toy.

We were supposed to feel bad for the "kid", who is old enough to go to war and kill people (and apparently has no problem with it), and yes, old enough to have sex with man of ANY age. And old enough to say "no" in the post-Harvey-Weinstein "Mee Too" era. She is not some clueless Amish kid, but a young woman who apparently cannot survive a weekend without her smartphone and social media. In other words: She knows what to do. Internet trained her well.

And the stepdad is not even a guy who raised her, but literally a rando dude who met her "30 minutes ago", as a grown up woman.

Still, any normal mother and daughter in 2023 would have the guy hauled to jail, guilty or not, in under 30 seconds. Cops don't want any trouble, so they preemptively "believe all women", to keep their jobs, as per standards of the current year of our lord (or if you are an atheist, common era).

Alas, that means no cash, as the divorce would take place before the number of years necessary to take the guy to the cleaners. So the black widow mommy and daughter duo continue to primp themselves out for money until such time, they can plan their little Guantanamo LARPing session, followed by an extrajudicial execution.

So by the end of the movie I am left wondering, who am I supposed to be disgusted with more: the arseling abuser and sexual predator, or the treasonous grifter-murdered-proper-garden-tool mom&daughter duo?

No pun intended - this is not Dirty Harry - actually I forgot the name of the character I reckon would be the one to say this. He also asks questions and he very well knows that the ... person who has to answer will not feel lucky ... though he knows he will feel something, if he does not answer honest (and right).

That said, we get to a family and they are quite dysfunctional - or whatever you would call it. The acting is not the best, there is some very obvious implications (no brownie points for guessing certain things right - dynamic and ... let's call it "relationships") ... you can not be too sensitive about things. And you may find it hard to root for a certain ... guy (again no pun intended) ... but even if certain things are questionable ... they may feel justified! Of course only in movies - as in do not try this at home. This is ... escapism (well not literally, although maybe that too at one point or another) ...

I usually put reviews about movies that were exceptional good or bad. This time I was very positively surprised by Malicious. I thought this will be just average film that I could watch on the weekend. You know, simple plot, nice to watch, maybe some good looking actors, chill movie. But I found it really cool.

I don't want to say too much about the plot but I find this movie very pleasant to watch, it's not what it seems and I'm very glad I did give a go. Way above average, and I'm glad I still can find new movies to watch. Recently I go back to 'old' movies from 80s and 90s, because most of the movies nowdays I would call 'poop'. Not every movie, but usually they're just crappy.