Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil and Vile
Movie, 2019, R
Premise - Based on the true events related to serial killer Ted Bundy, who murdered confirmed dozens (though estimates can go over one hundred) of young women during the 1960's and 1970's. This film details the events of his relationship to Liz Knoepfer, his lover at the time of all the murders, as well as the fallout of his relationship during the various criminal trials.
Review - I was excited from the moment I heard Zac Efron was going to play Ted Bundy! I was thinking about this the other day, but there are actually very few actors and actresses off the top of my head where I have seen more than 10 of their films. Zac Efron is one of them. That said, I believe that a lot of his later film work has been comprised of crude comedies. I really wanted to see him sink his teeth into a dramatic role, and I got my wish. His acting was such a blast to watch.
Unexpectedly, this is not a film about Zac Efron running around killing people. Not at all. I think you see him kill one person in the entire film and it is ridiculously quick and unrevealing. Unlike the title, I would not say that this film is vile. It's not gruesome, nor is it romanticized. It's about the trial for the murders more than the murders themselves. The events you see on camera are Liz first meeting Ted, a montage of their relationship over the years, then Ted first getting arrested, Liz ending the relationship, and the trials thereafter, with a flash forward at the end to his confession. It was reminiscent to me of American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson because you mostly get verified events on camera. There are moments that are subjective, but they are generally pulled together from memoirs and others recounts. That television event never shows OJ doing the killing. This film takes it one step further to show a little bit of killing on camera, because we do have Ted Bundy's confession. But it's not really about that.
There is a lot of mushiness about whose perspective the film takes. It obviously advertises itself as being from Liz's point of view. However, the trials are not very Liz-focused because they had broken up by this point. All we see of Liz during the trial and onward are some reactions of her watching the television. I would say that generally the film seems to be about how the people around Ted must have understood him and his life, including Liz, the judge, the jury, and his later wife Carol or whatever her name was. This doesn't entirely add up though as we do see some moments that are clearly Ted's perspective alone, such as when he escapes from prison multiple times. But if we see those moments that only Ted alone would have experienced, why are we missing all of his other experiences like the murders? For example, we see Ted escape from prison, but we don't see at all what he does once he escapes until he is brought back. Is it because historians never confirmed what he did during that time? Given that these are true events, I understand that there needs to be respect for accuracy. Also, there needs to be respect for his victims. But there are a LOT of holes that they left uninterpreted and unsolved.
What bothered me the most is that we don't see any moments that would lead Liz to give Ted's name to the police. The plot twist at the end of the film is that she was one of the people who added him to the suspect list, back when they were still dating and before he had ever been arrested. But why? If this is from Liz's perspective, shouldn't we have seen any hints that she thought Ted might be guilty? The whole thing left me a bit unsatisfied, and down a depressing path of Wikipedia and other articles that could give me a more holistic picture. (72/100)
Unexpectedly, this is not a film about Zac Efron running around killing people. Not at all. I think you see him kill one person in the entire film and it is ridiculously quick and unrevealing. Unlike the title, I would not say that this film is vile. It's not gruesome, nor is it romanticized. It's about the trial for the murders more than the murders themselves. The events you see on camera are Liz first meeting Ted, a montage of their relationship over the years, then Ted first getting arrested, Liz ending the relationship, and the trials thereafter, with a flash forward at the end to his confession. It was reminiscent to me of American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson because you mostly get verified events on camera. There are moments that are subjective, but they are generally pulled together from memoirs and others recounts. That television event never shows OJ doing the killing. This film takes it one step further to show a little bit of killing on camera, because we do have Ted Bundy's confession. But it's not really about that.
There is a lot of mushiness about whose perspective the film takes. It obviously advertises itself as being from Liz's point of view. However, the trials are not very Liz-focused because they had broken up by this point. All we see of Liz during the trial and onward are some reactions of her watching the television. I would say that generally the film seems to be about how the people around Ted must have understood him and his life, including Liz, the judge, the jury, and his later wife Carol or whatever her name was. This doesn't entirely add up though as we do see some moments that are clearly Ted's perspective alone, such as when he escapes from prison multiple times. But if we see those moments that only Ted alone would have experienced, why are we missing all of his other experiences like the murders? For example, we see Ted escape from prison, but we don't see at all what he does once he escapes until he is brought back. Is it because historians never confirmed what he did during that time? Given that these are true events, I understand that there needs to be respect for accuracy. Also, there needs to be respect for his victims. But there are a LOT of holes that they left uninterpreted and unsolved.
What bothered me the most is that we don't see any moments that would lead Liz to give Ted's name to the police. The plot twist at the end of the film is that she was one of the people who added him to the suspect list, back when they were still dating and before he had ever been arrested. But why? If this is from Liz's perspective, shouldn't we have seen any hints that she thought Ted might be guilty? The whole thing left me a bit unsatisfied, and down a depressing path of Wikipedia and other articles that could give me a more holistic picture. (72/100)
Quote - "The killings were extremely wicked, shockingly evil, and vile."
What to watch for - Zac Efron is the obvious answer. I'm going to give a shoutout here to Kaya Scodelario, one of my favorite actresses, who played Effy in Skins. In this she is almost unrecognizable with her fabulously well done American accent, and the wig/glasses, to transform her into Ted Bundy's wife during the trial.
If you liked this film, I'd recommend American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson!
If you liked this film, I'd recommend American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson!
Directed by Joe Berlinger
Distributed by Netflix
Comments
Post a Comment