"Pretty Lethal" is Underwritten and Overproduced

Out of all the high-profile films to premiere at SXSW this month, few were as anticipated as Vicky Jewson's Pretty Lethal. After all, the story of a ballet troupe having to fight for survival against a murderous gang sounds great on paper and perfect for a festival audience. With a star-studded cast and the financial backing of Amazon, the film sounded like a guaranteed success... unfortunately, Pretty Lethal did not exactly stick the landing.

Pretty Lethal is an action movie that follows a five piece ballet troupe from LA who are invited to attend a big competition in Budapest. On the way to the venue, their bus breaks down and the girls seek shelter at the remote Teremok Inn, run by former prima ballerina Devora Kasimer, who has less than pure intentions for the dancers. As a team, the troupe must fight against Devora's violent gang deep in the Hungarian wilderness with no hope of help. Directed by Vicky Jewson and written by Kate Freund, the film features the talents of Maddie Ziegler, Avantika, Iris Apatow, Lana Condor, Millicent Simmonds, and the legendary Uma Thurman.

Pretty Lethal took South by Southwest by storm this month, becoming one of the festival's hottest tickets due to it's A-list cast. For the most part, the premise is very fun and executed decently. The art direction by Tibor Lázár is easily the film's strongest aspect, creating a lush, beautiful atmosphere for the characters to fight their way through.

Unfortunately there aren't any memorable performances, aside from a particularly bad one from Uma Thurman. Former Dance Moms child star, Maddie Ziegler has been in her fair share of small movies but she simply isn't a strong enough actor to carry a feature film. However, she does bring her unparalleled dancing skills to the project, which deserve some praise. Unfortunately these characters aren't even memorable enough for me to even recall their names.

Perhaps the best scene in the movie is when the dancers fight off an entire group of gangsters while simultaneously doing the choreography from The Nutcracker. I believe the film would've been much stronger if they had leaned into campier moments like that. The concept of young ballerinas fighting a criminal gang is ridiculous, why not lean more into that?

I really wasn't expecting Pretty Lethal to rely so much on action sequences. There's very little story or character development besides Ziegler's character, the rest of the ensemble cast are left in the dust. Apatow's and Simmonds' characters in particular feel like they are merely around to boost the numbers of the dance troupe.

Pretty Lethal comes from the producers of Bullet Train, The Fall Guy, and Nobody from 87North Productions. Clearly, this team knows how to make action movies, but Pretty Lethal falls victim to a common killer of action films, being severely underwritten and overproduced. Being a product of Amazon, Pretty Lethal cannot help from feeling intensely corporate and soulless. This film definitely had potential, maybe it would've turned out better if it were grittier and unafraid to take risks. There's no doubt there are some very talented people behind this film, but it's lacking a certain humanity that keeps me from coming back.

Personally, I think it's time we close the curtain on this era of overproduced corporate movies from Amazon.