MaXXXine (2024, dir. Ti West)
Certificate: 18
Running Time: 104 mins
UK Distributor: Universal Pictures
UK Release Date: 5 July 2024
WHO’S IN MAXXXINE?
Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, Kevin Bacon, Sophie Thatcher, Ned Vaughn, Chloe Farnworth, Simon Prast, Charley Rowan McCain
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Ti West (director, writer, producer, editor), Mia Goth, Jacob Jaffke, Harrison Kreiss and Kevin Turen (producers), Tyler Bates (composer), Eliot Rockett (cinematographer)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
In 1985, Maxine Minx (Goth) faces a serial killer as she gets her big Hollywood break…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON MAXXXINE?
The singular recurring theme across all three films in Ti West’s X trilogy – which began with X, continued with Pearl, and now concludes with MaXXXine – has been the highs and lows of pursuing fame. While not a wholly original concept in Hollywood, an industry that practically invented the very concept of stardom, it is nonetheless a common dream that we all have to become known all over for our talents, whether it’s on the big screen or via all the various social media platforms out there. West, however, has managed to ingeniously twist that pursuit into a tryptic of deadly, disturbing and very impressively executed cautionary tales about how far some of us will go for a mere taste of notoriety.
The only other significant connective tissue in all three is Mia Goth, who has gifted viewers with a number of vicious and unhinged turns that have, to go slightly against the cautious themes of these movies, turned her into a new kind of star. Beyond her “scream queen” designation, Goth has proven herself a multilayered and fearless performer who can switch from one extravagant personality to the next with impeccable ease, all while retaining a sinister presence that can be legitimately terrifying at times (one only has to look at her acting tour de force in Pearl to see what I’m taking about).
Both of these elements come together once more for a concluding third part that puts the core theme of stardom and its dangerous consequences to the biggest test yet, and it’s another thrilling ride that is filled with throwbacks and homages aplenty, even if sometimes it comes at the price of thorough plotting.
Goth reprises her role from X as Maxine Minx, the adult film performer who survived that film’s massacre, and is now living in 1985 Hollywood where she pursues her dream of breaking into mainstream film. Maxine successfully auditions for The Puritan II, the sequel to a controversial Satanic Panic horror that is being directed by Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki), which could well be her ticket to the stardom she has always craved. However, she soon finds herself at the centre of a killing spree by a serial killer known as the Night Stalker – a real figure that actually did go about murdering numerous victims during that time period – in addition to being tormented by the arrival of sinister private detective John Labat (Kevin Bacon), who has been hired by a mysterious figure from her past.
As he did with both the southern-fried 70s look of X and the Hollywood Golden Age melodrama of Pearl, West lends MaXXXine a firm and loving vision of mid-80s cinema, from the superimposed opening credits to a soundtrack make up almost exclusively of synth pop hits. Seemingly with a much bigger budget than both X and Pearl combined (or at least, it certainly appears so), the filmmaker is able to meticulously recreate several pockets of Los Angeles during this era, particularly the seedy streets of Hollywood Boulevard where smut reigns supreme and with at least one crazy person around every corner.
There is also a lot of time spent on various movie sets, as we travel with Maxine across the lot with a few recognisable stops on the classic Universal Studios tour, among them the famous Psycho house that plays a small role in a later sequence, all of which put West’s clear fascination with the playful craft of moviemaking on full display. It’s fun to get lost in the artifice and sleaze of this world, where no matter how deadly it can get there is always something worthwhile to latch onto.
One such thing is Mia Goth, who continues to excel in a series of films where she has done nothing but excel. However, while this film gives the actor plenty of moments to solidify her character’s attributes, and even expand on some of her more awesome qualities – there is a scene early on that, without giving anything specific away, gives more than one new meaning to the phrase “ball-buster” – MaXXXine lacks the truly character-centric drama of Pearl, with the titular Maxine folding into an ensemble of equally colourful characters that vie for their own time in the spotlight.
It also lacks the straightforward simplicity of X, as West’s script tends to get tangled up in a convoluted web of its own making, with certain reveals that are telegraphed hard early on, and perhaps too many characters to juggle all at once. The performances, as led by Goth, are firmly committed to the exaggerated campiness (not least of all Kevin Bacon, who is having an utter blast as one of the sleaziest personalities he’s ever played), but it rings slightly less authentic than the previous two movies, both of which benefited from a smaller scope and an even smaller cast of characters to focus on.
Though it is comparatively the weakest in the trilogy, that doesn’t mean MaXXXine shines any less brightly than its predecessors. It has plenty of gnarly carnage and unapologetic sleaze to appease genre fans left and right, and its firm committal to its themes of achieving stardom amidst a vastly cruel and violent world is darkly delightful. Plus, it bestows upon us yet another excellent Mia Goth performance, which has you in awe of this performer’s ability to throw herself into all sorts of nefarious scenarios and still come out with her dignity intact.
As the end to this trilogy, it’s an enjoyable if slightly messy affair. But it’s clear that, for both Ti West and Mia Goth, it’s only the beginning for their own paths to stardom.
SO, TO SUM UP…
MaXXXine concludes filmmaker Ti West’s trilogy in entertaining if slightly wobbly fashion, with a lot of love having gone into meticulously recreating the sleaze of mid-80s Hollywood, and into a colourful collection of performances as led by the ever-excellent Mia Goth, though a convoluted and overly busy script keeps it from reaching the heights of both X and Pearl.
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