Girls Against Boys

It's pretty obvious that even the media critics, who get paid to watch movies and are supposed to have greater insight than the average joe, didn't understand this movie. They were too busy looking for the elements of what ever genre they had already consigned the movie to and when those elements weren't there, instead of maybe wondering what they missed they simply wrote it off as a failed movie. To be fair, maybe you have to see it at least twice to pick up the hints that tell you what the real story is. I won't point them out because that would be too much of a spoiler but, to anyone who reads reviews before they see a movie, don't be sidetracked by those who call it a "revenge flick", or a "slasher flick", whether they liked it or disdained it as an example of those genres, and look for more.

Shae (Danielle Panabaker) is a college student/part-time bartender. She is having an affair with a married man. He tries to break it off and reveals that he has a daughter. She is shocked and decides to go partying. After a night out, she gets raped. She then befriends a co-worker Lulu (Nicole LaLiberte) who turns out to be a psycho and helps her get revenge.

This is Death Wish for girls. At least that's the goal. The concept is fine. Filmmaker Austin Chick is definitely trying to inject some feminist anti-male theories into the start of the film. It forms the justification for Nicole to seek revenge on all men. Nicole's character is so obviously crazy right from the start. Any justification is meaningless. Danielle Panabaker's acting is very wooden. She's trying for a stun look after the rape and then the murders. But she's not Charles Bronson. It just comes off as stiff acting. If anything, this movie is an indictment of female empowerment. Instead of rooting for the death of a rapist, we're thrown as to who to truly root for.... The Rapist or The Murderers. This is a flawed film but the anti-male bent seems to have riled up the critics.

GIRLS AGAINST BOYS is another cheap revenge picture with a battle-of-the-sexes slant. It feels very much like a cheap I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE remake and even features an actor or two who appeared in one of those films, I can't remember which. This one seems to have even less plot than usual and is merely a string of set-pieces of the main two characters going around and butchering unsuspecting blokes, some of them deserving, some of them not.

I find films like this one almost entirely devoid of merit. The cheap digital look of the production is almost anti-cinematic and an example of everything I DON'T want to see in a film. The acting is generally weak and exaggerated and the violence brief and not very shocking. The subject matter is distasteful but the approach is so lame that none of it is possible to take seriously.

A woman works at a club as a bartender and she has recently broken up with a guy who has decided to remain with his wife and young daughter. A co-worker sees her crying and asks her what is the matter and is it a man.

The pair go clubbing and meet some men and they go back to the guys place. One of them heads back to the main character's apartment. She refuses his advances and she is raped. The police seem disinterested in her case and her co-worker suggests that they take the law into their own hands.

The revenge is swift and brutal as the two young ladies find the bad men and serve their own form of justice. The two leads are good and although the story a bit far fetched, I found the film to be an entertaining one.

I read other reviews after seeing the movie and the explanations with spoiler alerts were informative but the scenes described were not that clear to this viewer.

This is a revenge movie ... or is it? There might be more to it, than you first think. Of course it's also something that people might feel cheated about. Why try to make something more intellectual than it is? But it does put/shed new light on the rest of the movie. You can decide how to see or observe some of the scenes. One might say it warrants a second viewing too.

The acting is solid, though we do get a few clichés thrown our way. And as stated the ending might not win you over to its cause yet. There is blood and violence and some minor nudity. There is also a very obvious hint at the beginning of the movie, that actually is followed by a flashback. Is it too smart, not smart enough? It has its flaws (emotional detachment being amongst them), but you can watch it, if you like those kind of movies (doesn't matter if you're a girl or not)