This revenge thriller stings you good.
When I asked for a critic’s screener link of “The Wasp,” I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I knew it starred Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer and that it was a thriller, but I didn’t know what it was about. After my viewing, I’ve come to terms with its ability to transition what the real turmoil inside the thriller is.
Set in the U.K., we meet Heather (Harris) and Carla (Dormer), who used to be friends in their teens, but something has happened to separate them for 30 years. In their teens, Heather is played by Leah Mondesir-Simmonds, while Carla is played by Olivia Juno Cleverley.
In their separate lives. Heather has a horrible husband named Simon (Dominic Allburn) and a wasp problem, while Carla is a struggling grocery store cashier and mother with four kids and one on the way and a gambling addict husband (Rupert Holliday-Evans). Neither one of their lives are glamorous, but rather depressing.
Heather finds Carla on Facebook and arranges that they meet at a cafe, so she can admit to Carla about her horrible marriage. And since Carla killed a pigeon as a teen and felt so natural out it, Heather offers her a substantial amount of money to murder her husband, which she soon agrees.
However, what starts off as a murder for hire scheme (which likes to mimic “Horrible Bosses” in the planning process) ends up being an act of revenge. The real tension thickens as we see what happened between the two ex-friends and how they handle the outcome. Or were they really friends in the beginning?
I probably would have liked it better without the flashback sequences, which are kind of irritating to me, and I can’t explain why until you see it. Come back and ask me when you do, or maybe you’ll acknowledge it. But the outcome of the climax gets interesting and riveting. Again, I didn’t know what to expect and I like the way director Guillem Morales (“Julia’s Eyes,” “The Uninvited Guest”) and writer Morgan Lloyd Malcolm handle the story. And they have Harris and Dormer in fresh leads with charisma and emotions. And none of them have that campy commercial feel to the genre; they have character development.
This week alone, I’ve reviewed two psychological thrillers that really has us thinking about what is happening and how the main characters are thriving on them. “Slingshot” is the space thriller about hibernation pods whose drugs are affecting the mind of the main astronaut, and now, we have “The Wasp,” which is on a lesser scale in theaters than the other one. I’m pretty sure it will stream online soon, and it’s a good choice to watch.
And about Heather’s wasp problem, she’s irritated that her husband hasn’t called the exterminator yet. And she should be irritated, considering that these insects sting and are poised to be part of the film’s mental instability. But I’m glad it proves to be more than that. That the title is explained in a different way. It sure stung me.
In Select Theaters