Ruthless Renegade

Granted, I was not familiar with the 2020 thriller titled "The Pom Pom Murders" (aka "Ruthless Renegade") prior to sitting down here in 2025 to watch it for the first time. So I literally had no idea what I was in for, but I have to admit that given the movie's cover and title, I wasn't exactly expecting this to be an evenings worth of Shakespearian cinema.

Writers Doug Campbell and Tom Shell put together a script and storyline that proved to be entertaining enough for what it was. Sure, this wasn't exactly a Sherlock Holmes mystery, but it proved to be watchable, provided you enjoy a young-adult-who-done-it-mystery. I will say that the writers actually managed to throw a couple of curve balls throughout the course of the narrative, keeping the audience guessing at who was the culprit. And it was nicely done, because many of the characters were portrayed and set up in manners that would indicate that they might have been the killer.

I was not familiar with a single actress or actor on the cast list, which was actually something that spoke in favor of the movie as I do enjoy watching new and unfamiliar talents on the screen. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

This movie is the type of movie you watch once and never again. There just simply isn't enough material in the storyline and narrative to support more than a single viewing.

My rating of director Tom Shell's 2020 movie lands on a five out of ten stars.

As in suspense rising ... not! So no pun intended .. was it bam bam? Anyway doesn't matter ... I reckon if you like watching girls doing some cheerleader stuff, looking pretty and all that ... well there is stuff to like here. Actually all the actors involved could be described as beautiful ... just saying.

Super predictable, super annoying too. It is decently shot I reckon - then again, nowadays that is not to tough to achieve. Not much story, a bit of love thrown in, actresses looking way too old for the role(s) they are supposedly playing (and school they pretend to attend) ... not sure if you care, but so much wrong ... you either block all this out or better not watch this at all.

Audrey tries out for a cheerleading squad and makes it. She also falls for Walter who is the star player for the Renegades and whose ex is Bailey, who also makes the squad. Suddenly, Bailey is strangled and Walter becomes the prime suspect and is arrested. But Audrey doesn't believe he did it and sets out to find the real killer. Then another cheerleader friend of hers is murdered. Who's behind them and why is reason to watch the movie. Strong plot and good acting makes this a watch. Reommended!

This would've been much better if they let it stay a mystery until the end. It does seem like they're going that route at the beginning, but then they just give it up. Once you find out who it is, it just gets boring and you're sort of waiting for the predictable "good guys win" ending. Ultimately it starts off promising, but ends up a disappointment.

The secondary characters showed more promise than the main ones, but the premise was way off and was not researched well at all. It was your typical superficial LMN murder mystery, but this was one was set in the behind the scenes look of a fictitious NBA team. A forced whirlwind romance between a player and a cheerleader results in murder. This fraternization would never happen today because the cheerleader would be fired and the player heavily fined. A terrible ending shows how ill-prepared the ending was thought out, which explains why this was so substandard. I am really surprised that the NBA allowed them to use their name since it will probably reflect bad on the teams