With some films, I still find myself highly anticipating trailers and often revisiting them before they’re released, but more and more I find myself not fully watching them in the same way as I used to, because they often reveal too much in the trailer. It’s safe to say that some trailers are safer to watch without having the majority of a film being spoiled. Depending on the project, or some of the creatives behind it. Whether it’s knowingly or unknowingly, we’re always left waiting for certain scenes and/or lines to be said. This is to say, I had seen and was familiar with the film, but didn’t really clue in that it was directed by John Patton Ford, who recently gave us Emily the Criminal, even though it’s mentioned in the trailer. My excitement and anticipation started rising after realizing that.

Emily the Criminal snuck up on me. John Patton Ford is quite incredible at letting the story build to a place that both makes sense, but also keeps it filled with surprises. Both films are about class and how much someone will go to try to improve their life. How one’s hunger sometimes can become insatiable, and then it’s so easy to succumb to that similar greed.

In Ford’s latest, we follow Glen Powell as Beckett Redfellow, who lives just outside of New York, just on the outskirts of where he thinks he belongs. When his mother got pregnant at 18, she stood out from her family’s values and was disowned, losing that connection and communication with their family. So much so, she isn’t buried on the family lot, and nobody arrives for her funeral. 

The film very much wants to tackle what we deserve versus the pursuit to do whatever is needed to make that a reality. “Promise me you won’t quit until you have the right kind of life” are the last words that we hear from Beckett’s mother, and they linger and loom large over the course of the film and are what sets Beckett on his journey of trying to murder his family, so he can sit at the top of his family tree and “earn” his family’s inheritance. 

Admittedly, the film begins near the end and is told through narration using a confessional as its narrative structure. I think that Emily the Criminal was such a surprise that I found myself questioning why we went this route. For what it’s worth, it does pay off, and I’m still left thinking about it since it ended.

Glen Powell has become a staple these past few years. Some of those roles are starting to feel a bit too similar. While it’s hard not to compare it to Hit Man, it does feel like a similar interpretation of a character. I think it’s the unfortunate aspect of a trifecta of three roles in which Powell has to spend a lot of time pretending to be someone other than himself. Or in the case of The Running Man (haven’t seen the film, so cannot comment on it), but he is again putting on disguises and/or being inconspicuous as best as possible, while people are dying. Comparing that with Margaret Qualley’s performance as a femme fatale is extremely fun and playful until it no longer is, but it still feels like something that does come off as “fresh” for her interpretation of it.

We also get a fun rotating door of supporting characters, each a new level of ridiculous between Topher Grace and Zach Woods. Both had lines and moments that had me cackling in the theatre. He meets and falls for Ruth (Jessica Henwick) fairly quickly, and it feels authentic and sweet. Henwick shines as almost the North Star of the film as the film tries to navigate these impulses and decisions towards trying to earn your family’s inheritance, and what it means.

I really loved How to Make a Killing. Part of it does come with how the ending hit. For some, they may consider that a spoiler, so skip this paragraph if you wish to, but I’ll avoid specifics and do my best to speak only about how it hit. Both Emily the Criminal and How to Make a Killing are both about class in America, trying to maintain it, or to achieve more to surpass your current place in the world. And both are into the idea of this cycle continuing. Both are violent in such a matter-of-fact way that it’s easy to brush off and be accustomed to it.

I’m very curious about what Ford does next, as two films in, he’s not only made strong, incredible films, but also to see if they follow similar themes. Not to mention, if he continues to bring on strong actors and giving a bit of depth and darkness to those actors like Glen Powell, then please keep making films.