​FILMS

barely lethal

2015 review number 95:

Barely Lethal: (Comedy/Action): 45 out of 100: Don't you just hate it when a film starts off promisingly but tails away as it progresses? This is one such movie. It's an interesting concept that just needed to have a better written screenplay and more exciting plot.

 

Agent 83 (Hailee Steinfeld) is a teenage orphan who has been with a training agency for girls to become special ops agents, ever since her parents died when she was a young child. She is trained at the academy by personnel like Hardman (Samuel L. Jackson) and Analyst Knight (Jaime King). Agent 83 dreams of being a normal teenager so fakes her own death while on a mission, and enrols as a Canadian exchange student in a suburban high school under the name of Megan Walsh. She quickly learns that surviving high school is more difficult than the world of espionage which she is accustomed to. To make matters worse, her nemesis from the academy, Heather (Sophie Turner) also makes an appearance at her school.

 

Barely Lethal doesn't really know what it wants to be, a spy thriller with some exciting action sequences or a social commentary on peer pressure and bullying in high schools. As a result, it succeeds in neither. Comedy and action can combine well like it did in Spy if only everything comes together. Barely Lethal only comes across as second rate which is a shame as the beginning promised so much. We see Megan when she is a little girl in a montage of fight scenes before transforming into the teenager she is depicted in the film. You would expect an abundance of laughs when she enrols in high school but many of the jokes fall flat.

 

The fight choreography is a highlight of the film. There is some exemplary editing during these scenes. The other action scenes are just standard. The action scenes introduce us to Jessica Alba who plays a rogue agent and she doesn't really have much to do except to look beautiful. Samuel L. Jackson just shouts and appears menacing, which he is prone to do in some action movies. Don't expect to see much of these two established actors as it's Steinfeld who is the star of the film and she creates a fine balance between comedy and action.

 

The cool soundtrack is full of energy and will appeal to young audiences. Being the music dinosaur I am, I wasn't familiar with any of the songs but that didn't stop me from tapping my foot to some of the tunes.

 

Barely Lethal is yet another failed Hollywood high school comedy and it's all the more disappointing considering the calibre of cast. The idea was fine, it's just a pity about the execution.

 

Starring Hailee Steinfeld, Sophie Turner, Jessica Alba and Samuel L. Jackson

(96 minutes)

Parental advice: Coarse language, sexual references and violence

Additional scene during or after credits: Yes, during the credits we see Heather talking in the back seat of a car

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y-CJjJ-jtw (Movie trailer)

(Reviewed on Wednesday 1st July, 2015)

 

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