PLOT: After bailing on her wedding, a former bride-to-be must fight off her ex-groom and seven angry killer groomsmen in order to survive the night.
REVIEW: I always love a good revenge story. Ever since Kill Bill, even having a character named The Bride automatically evokes the imagery of Uma Thurman in that yellow and black jumpsuit. So I went into Til Death Do Us Part expecting something with a lot of personality. Sure, it was never going to live up to the Tarantino classic but that’s okay. Few do. And while the characters don’t hit quite as hard as I’d have liked, there’s a fun mystery present that elevates the film. Because the question of why this woman ditched out on her wedding doesn’t have an answer that you may expect. And that’s why I ended up enjoying myself, despite its many flaws.
The Groomsmen are so entertaining when they first show up that my expectations were unfairly high for any of their other interactions. Outside of a select few, they’re mostly bland and forgettable. Cam Gigandet has some fun moments that had me questioning why he wasn’t the groom. But he’s dispatched in such an unceremonious way that it left a sour taste in my mouth. Just felt like a massive wasted opportunity with him. Same with Orlando Jones who feels like he’s going to have a bigger role, only for it to be cut short just as it’s getting interesting. The only other Groomsmen who gets highlighted significantly is Pancho Moler, who is always fun when he shows up in Rob Zombie films. He’s great here and I was hoping for more characters like him.
The style of movie relies heavily on a charismatic lead and unfortunately, Natalie Burn is rather bland. The script itself does her no favors, creating someone that doesn’t evolve past a singular focus. Despite being the main character, she’s the least developed and provides very little to latch onto. Because of this, it makes her journey one that’s a bit hard to care about. She also doesn’t really possess any impressive fighting skills, so it makes her fights with these trained killers a bit absurd.
While the main story of The Bride duking it out against the Groom and all of his Groomsmen takes up the majority of the runtime, there are flashbacks that are some of the more interesting aspects. This is where we get Jason Patric and he’s absolutely phenomenal. He has multiple monologues and each of them is can’t miss. I’ve always enjoyed the actor, so it’s nice to see him shine so brightly here. In fact, he’s so good that I was expecting him to be much more involved with the general mystery. And there is an element that included him, he’s mostly ancillary to the main conflict.
Most of the kills are stabbings with a bit of blood. It takes quite a while until we finally get anything more than that but they go pretty hard when they do. Let’s just say it involves a chainsaw and they really don’t shy away. It’s a nice payoff. Otherwise, Til Death Do Us Part felt rather time. Though, I do have to give them credit for not just adding CGI violence to everything. The kills are practical, and as such, look pretty good. They’re just over so quickly that I was hardly able to grasp their demise before it was moving on to the next. Even the action beats that precede them feel very rehearsed and lacking in reality.
Til Death Do Us Part is a very fun concept that doesn’t entirely come together in the end. The most interesting actors aren’t in the most prominent roles and those that are, fail to be anything except boring. And while I understand why they started the film like it was a lifetime movie, the shift in tones really doesn’t work for the film that proceeds it. I enjoyed myself during most of the film, but I couldn’t help but see its full potential and feel a bit disappointed.
TIL DEATH DO US PART opens IN THEATERS ON AUGUST 4TH, 2023.