Maxxxine (2024)
The Concluding Chapter of Ti West’s Trilogy
Maxxxine wraps up director Ti West’s X trilogy. It concludes the story of Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), a cocaine-loving pornographic actress who narrowly survived the rampage depicted in X (2022). The trilogy began in the 1970s and then harkened back to the 1910s in the prequel Pearl (2022). West concludes the saga in Los Angeles in 1985.
Maxine has graduated from porn to horror. She’s the star of a new gore flick, The Puritan II. This could be her chance to finally achieve her dreams of superstardom.
But trouble is looming. A mysterious killer is roaming the streets of Los Angeles. We don’t see his face. West focuses on his black gloves – a clear tribute to Italian giallo movies. The sadistic misogynistic maniac is luring actresses to their doom. The police want Maxine’s help, but she dismisses them. She survived a killer before, she says, and these other girls are just going to have to do the same.
Unfortunately for her, the murderer turns out to be someone she knows – a specter from a distant past that Maxine thought that she left far behind. Can Maxine really survive on her own?
it has its strengths, but doesn’t live up to the first two films
Maxxxine was made by a talented group of people, and it has some positive qualities, but somehow it doesn’t quite come together. It’s not a bad film, but it doesn’t reach the standards of the previous two movies.
It does have a couple of things going for it: the cinematography and the cast. The film truly looks like it takes place in the 1980s. This is no surprise coming from Ti West, who pulled off a similar feat in House of the Devil (2009). West is great at making period pieces. The level of attention to detail here is truly impressive.
The movie also has an awesome cast. Along with the uberly talented Mia Goth, it boasts Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito, Michelle Monaghan and Sophie Thatcher. I especially enjoyed Goth and Thatcher’s scenes together. I’ve been a fan of Thatcher since the first season of Yellowjackets. I wish she had more screentime here.
Maxxxine is more style than substance, but maybe that’s the point. After all, you know what else is often criticized for having more style than substance? Hollywood! Still, the subversive spark of X and Pearl is missing here. This movie feels perfunctory, as if the cast and crew were making it out of obligation instead of inspiration. The first two movies were art. This one feels soulless.
This installment also suffers from the lack of the trilogy’s most interesting character: Pearl. Obviously, there’s no way that Pearl could have been in this movie. She’s been dead for several years at this point. But Maxine isn’t nearly as interesting. She also isn’t likeable (not that Pearl was likeable, but at least she was entertaining). I was rooting for Maxine in X, but in this movie, her ruthlessness is off-putting. It was hard to care whether she lived or not.
Rating
Maxxxine is a decent finale that’s worth a watch for fans of the series, but it lacks the freshness and soul of the previous two installments.
Rating from 1 (avoid at all costs) to 10 (masterpiece): 6
