MaXXXine

This is a direct sequel to 2022's X, so this includes some minor spoilers.

It was just two years ago that Ti West broke out with X. He was well known in horror circles beforehand, having attained some notoriety for 2009's The House of the Devil, partaking in the first V/H/S, and directing an episode of the Scream TV series, amongst other works. But his last horror feature had been almost a decade prior, owing in part to releasing the oddly enjoyable star-stuffed Western In A Valley of Violence, as well as COVID delays. But the pandemic turned out to be a blessing in disguise for West; he wrote the script for Pearl during the mandatory production break, allowing him to film the two movies back-to-back. So when X garnered much praise upon release, coming as much from the story as the unorthodox setting and characters and its place in the resurgence of modern slasher films, West was able to capitalize on that with the vastly different prequel merely six months later.

And now he's back to finish the story of Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), the unlikely Final Girl, by employing another fresh setting and style. This time, he picked one of my favorites: neon-noir.

After six years of lighting up the adult film industry, Maxine is looking to move to "real" films. She lands a role in a horror sequel helmed by well-known director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki), who seeks to make "a B-movie with A ideas". Meanwhile, a few of Maxine's friends and co-workers from various walks of life turn up murdered after visiting a mysterious mansion in the Hills. But Maxine is preoccupied trying to figure out who's sent PI John Labat (Kevin Bacon) to harass her with threats related to the gruesome events on that Texas farm so many years ago.

As with the previous entries in the series, MaXXXine is a bit unfocused, clearly driving at grander statements but letting it get muddled under the genre exercise. There's a clear desire to showcase the oft-ignore underbelly of the city, as Maxine lives in a gorgeously hazily lit version of LA. Her employment as a porn actor and peepshow performer mean she frequents some of the more unsavory elements with the "real" people, as compared to the opulence inherent in an industry looking to take advantage of you at every turn. And it should be lost on no one that the finale brings us about as far away from that setting as possible, into the unfathomably wealth of the Hollywood Hills.

This is the mode we've seen West operate in throughout the trilogy, eschewing subtlety but landing points that can be extrapolated more widely. Take his core thesis here, that the dismissal of any piece of art as meaningless is a mistake. We hear director Bender espouse it about her own movie, of course, which draws your attention to the idea. It applies nicely to the climactic showdown, involving the creation of a film organized around a very different, repressive idea. It was present in X in the inherent politics of porn acting and production, as well explicitly in a key conversation. On a metanarrative level, it applies to how he's trying to do a similar thing with this whole series, as emphasized by moviemaking's central place in the story, and even the frequent artistic inserts of camera lenses. Of course, that implies there's a bigger idea under all of this, which becomes a bit clearer when viewed in light of the previous films.

So many plot beats are used to highlight the extra effort required by women in the film industry in order to legitimize themselves, and how their accomplishments are regularly diminished and dismissed regardless. The very first scene in which Maxine is auditioning for the movie features Hollywood types trying to brush her aside due to her adult film career, and culminates in West calling out their perceptions of being above it when they ask to see her breasts apropos of nothing. Almost every conversation between Maxine and Bender contains some element of the older woman talking about having to be a hard-ass ballbuster to advance her career. The reason all her friends make their fateful trips to that party is to rub elbows with a producer in order to realize their career ambitions. These are the types of stories we hear about women in Hollywood all the time, yet historically have accepted as "just the way it is".

Thing is, Maxine doesn't. She's calling the whole world's bluff, taking matters into her own hands rather than allowing others to tell her what her role will be. No one's gonna get in her way or tell her she's not good enough. She's not interested in society's Puritanism or desire to write her off. If you come at her, you best not miss. Because if you do, she'll make you pay dearly, as a wannabe mugger dressed as Buster Keaton finds out the extremely hard way.

The way the world is scared stiff of a self-assured woman is the central social message, strongest here although reinforcing what was started in X and Pearl. However, that doesn't mean it always meshes well with the execution. The neon drenched scenes in which these confrontations take place feel out of place in the film, despite that thematic resonance. The Labat subplot provides another strong personality for Maxine to play off of, and Bacon is clearly having a boatload of fun playing him, but it peters out without leaving a strong mark on the story. Then there's the numerous flashbacks to X: so many of them feel contrived and unimportant that they end up distracting instead of reinforcing the ideas at play.

It does keep the tradition that Pearl established alive, though, where many of the connections come from lines echoed across films. "I will not accept a life I do not deserve" makes several appearances here after debuting in X, including the very opening scene. Her assertions that she's gonna be a star, and that everybody's gonna know her name are central to her actions in the film, as is her insistence that she'll do whatever it takes to make it happen. While a more common approach for anthologies, it works here to better tie together the three films.

The production design is incredible, lending the whole thing a mysterious and exciting vibe which kept me engaged. The cinematography is gorgeous, utilizing various filters and split screen and aberrations that truly make it feel like an artifact of the decade. Even more here, the aspect ratio helps tell the story, switching it up for memories and old bits of tape. There is some truly gnarly and creative violence which is a sight to behold. To say nothing of the outstanding performances, especially from Bacon and Mia Goth. It's a pretty funny movie throughout, over the top in just the right ways and sly in others. Additionally, that climax I've mentioned a few times now is pretty great, with a coda which brings Maxine's journey to a reasonable conclusion, even if it leaves a handful of the movie's threads dangling in an unsatisfying manner.

Ultimately, MaXXXine is a film that is overstuffed, with too many ideas and plotlines to successfully manage. The threads are there to grab onto and discuss afterwards, and it's possible the muddled deployment of them will fade into background as time passes, leaving behind the ideas and fond memories of its unique vibe. But as it stands, the biggest success of the series will be the elevation of Mia Goth to Scream Queen and minor star. Which, to be honest, is a win for us all.