Ready or Not
for violence, bloody images, language throughout, and some drug use.
Reviewed by: Alexander Malsan
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Extremely Offensive |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Adults |
| Genre: | Horror Mystery |
| Length: | 1 hr. 35 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2019 |
| USA Release: |
August 21, 2019 (wide—2,855 theaters) DVD: December 3, 2019 |
About murder
Extreme violence presented as entertainment
FILM VIOLENCE—How does viewing violence in movies affect families? Answer
About death
Profanity
Use of very vulgar and crude language
Learn about spiritual light versus darkness
Every time you buy a movie ticket or buy or rent a video you are in effect casting a vote telling Hollywood, “I’ll pay for that. That’s what I want.” Read our article
| Featuring |
Samara Weaving … Grace Adam Brody … Daniel Mark O'Brien … Alex Le Domas Henry Czerny … Tony Le Domas Andie MacDowell … Becky Melanie Scrofano … Emilie Kristian Bruun … Fitch Nicky Guadagni … Aunt Helene Elyse Levesque … Charity Le Domas John Ralston … Stevens Liam MacDonald … Georgie See all » |
| Director |
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin Tyler Gillett |
| Producer |
Mythology Entertainment Vinson Films See all » |
| Distributor |
 Fox Searchlight Pictures, a sister company of 20th Century Fox, a division of The Walt Disney Company |
Ever since Grace was a young girl, growing up as an orphan, she has always dreamed of having her own family. And today, on her wedding day, her dream is about to come true, as she is about to marry the love of her life, Daniel, and become an official member of the Le Domas gaming empire.
She hasn’t known Daniel long though, a year and a half at most. But in that time they’ve gotten to know each other quite well, except, well, Daniel’s family. Grace is warned, jokingly, before the wedding that she should bow out while she has the chance. She chuckles. How bad can one family be?
Well, shortly after the wedding Grace is informed that in order to officially become a member of the family she must play a game with the family that is chosen by the Le Domas family ghost. And the game that the ghost chooses for Grace? Hide and Seek.
The game is simple. Grace must stay hidden till dawn and she’ll officially be a member of the family… plain and simple. After all childhood games never hurt anyone, now did they??
Have you ever watched a trailer for a movie and, though you know that if decide to watch the movie that the movie will provide you with nothing morally or spiritually edifying, against all better judgment you still say to yourself, “Eh, I know I shouldn’t but I’m going to go see the movie anyways. It’s just a film anyways”? Next thing you know, you find yourself any way to justify the choice you’ve made to see said film.
Assuredly, I can state that this happened with me and the film “Ready or Not.” I walked in, knowing full well, that there was absolutely NOTHING spiritually edifying or anything that glorifies the Father. But still, I made the choice. And I say to you now, it was the wrong choice. A film that relies and focuses on the dark depravity of the human spirit is a film that is best forgotten and avoided. A film that blurs the concept of the means justifying the ends is a film that should always be avoided. A film that focuses on graphic, extensive bloodshed layered with a never ending amount of profane and vulgar language is one that Christians, including myself, should never give a second thought to.
For what it’s worth, the performances by the characters are strong. The premise is an interesting one (though one I fear seems slightly familiar), and the overall pacing of the face is even. And yes, there are even moments that this so-called “black comedy” is somewhat humorous. However, any beauty in the performances, cinematography and the like are undermined by the outrageous amounts of obscene content on the screen.
Objectionable Content
Violence: Extreme. In the beginning we see children running for their lives in fear. We witness a man shot in the chest with two arrows. This man is taken off behind closed doors for reasons that are undisclosed. At the beginning of Hide and Seek, a maid has her brains shot out, and we see brain matter and watch her die slowly, choking on her own blood; the blood is visible. In fact a few characters die slowly and choke on their blood in the process. A person is decapitated. Two people are seen choking each other. Someone smashes a pot over another person’s head. Grace takes a fall. Grace is shot in the hand by a boy (we see the bullet go right through her hand, and we see the wound). Grace in turn punches the boy in the face, and he is knocked unconscious. We also watch a nail go right through Grace’s hand. Grace climbs through an opening in a metal gate, and we see her deeply wound herself in the process. Grace is also hit by a car and tossed to the ground. While Grace is kicking another character in the face as he is driving, and the two get in a prolonged car accident. Dead bodies are seen being thrown into a ditch. We see a decapitated head being held up. Grace strangles a character to death. A character is strangled. A character is head-butted. A character is seen tied up to a table as a sacrifice (offering) to Satan. Characters are poisoned and are seen coughing up blood. A person is knocked out with a lamp. A character is bludgeoned to death (we see the bloodied victim afterward). Characters’ bodies are seen graphically exploding, and we see body parts everywhere.
Vulgarity: Extreme. F*ck (62), F**ker (2), obscene gesture (1), M*ther-f**ker (2), wh*re (1), d*ck (1), s*cks (3), p*ss (1)
Profanity: Very Heavy. J*sus (7), J*sus Chr*st (2), G*d (1), G*d-d*mn (6), richer than God (1), h*ll (5), sh*t (27), b*ll-sh*t (4), d*mn (1), a** (1), a**-hole (3), b*tch (5).
Sex/Sexual Dialog: Moderate— Grace and Daniel talk about their sexual relationship briefly and begin to have sexual intercourse (Daniel’s pants are undone), post-wedding, before being interrupted. Grace mentions to Daniel that his brother is an alcoholic and when he drinks he tries to hit on her.
Occult: Characters are seen shouting “Hail, Satan” during a ritual, as they are chanting. Devil worship and the occult is a surrounding theme in the film. The first image of the film is a board game with a picture of the Devil on it. The second image is a Ouija board game. As mentioned, a mystical box controlled by the ghost chooses the family game.
Other: A girl is seen snorting cocaine as well as swallowing pills. Grace lands on a pile of skeletons.
There are no genuine, morally redeeming lessons I can draw from this film.
Summary
You know something is incredibly wrong with a film when a boy admits that he shot a woman and his mother tells him she is proud of him. I have to ask, since when did THIS become comedic or acceptable?
“Ready or Not” had some potential: an unusual story, moments of humor and overall good cinematography. But its moviemaking quality is brought down by the disgusting and appalling violence, profanity and strong presence of occultic themes. As such, I do NOT recommend this film to Christians. Please do NOT take children or teens to see this film, as the level of violence in this film is far too graphic. Save your money for something else. And above all…
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” —Philippians 4:8
- Violence: Extreme
- Vulgar/Crude language: Extreme
- Profane language: Very Heavy
- Occult: Heavy
- Sex: Moderate
- Nudity: None
Learn about DISCERNMENT—wisdom in making personal entertainment decisions
Every time you buy a movie ticket or buy or rent a video you are in effect casting a vote telling Hollywood, “I’ll pay for that. That’s what I want.” Read our article
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.
While there was so much that was evil in the movie, I thought it actually held some spiritual truths. I say that hesitantly, because I don’t think it was edifying overall. Once I got about half way through I had to stop. But the next day I couldn’t stop wondering if God would redeem Grace’s story. I decided to finish it.
This was a story about a family doing everything within their power to save their own lives. What started as a trade, Mr. Le Bail offers them wealth in exchange for playing his games. We know how easy it is for humanity to reach for the apple. In the very moment that Grandpa Le Domas agreed, he condemned not only himself, but his entire family to death. His children and their children and the wives and husbands of his children would all be slaves to this game until their deaths. That sounds exactly like our bondage to sin to me. At the bare minimum, this movie was able to capture the complete and total depravity of humanity. And in our efforts to save ourselves, we end up hurting (killing, in the movie) others. Our murder toll rises higher and higher until there is nothing left we would not do escape. And we console ourselves and each other in our sin: “it’s normal to make satanic sacrifices,’ (blatant sin is normal and not appalling); “it’s good to hurt someone else to save ourselves,’ (we are capable of saving ourselves); “anything that your family says is okay is okay’ (we can define good and evil without God). All of these themes and ideas are so present in the movie in the way the le Domases think.
** (Spoilers starting here) The sacrificial themes were very rich. She is the spotless, lamb. White in her wedding dress, with big, wide, innocent eyes. But she’s unwilling. And as the movie progresses, she becomes less and less spotless. She rips her dress, it gets very dirty, her hand gets shot straight through, a nail pierces her hand (sound familiar?). Then she both gets hit by a car and into a car crash. I’d be surprised if she had no broken bones. Finally, she is morally very tainted after committing murder. By the time she’s on the altar for the second time, her hair is completely undone and fluffy. As she escapes out of their hold, she makes an unmistakable vleet, like a sheep. Her death is no longer an acceptable sacrifice if it ever, ever was.
While Grace is unwilling, we find a willing sacrifice in Daniel. He’s not perfect as a Christ-figure because he’s not exactly innocent. But his sacrifice ends up buying her the time that would save her life. And he doesn’t come from outside, but from inside the mess, just as Jesus was not an outsider, but God With Us. He was unblemished (physically), he dies at the hands of his own people. Another important difference, however, is his lack of redemption from death. He stays dead. **
In the reactions to their perverse religion, the Le Domas family also represents many mistakes Christians make. I think it was the dad, Tony Le Domas, who exclaimed in his last moments (paraphrasing) “but I followed the rules, I did everything right!” But he was so off-base, and even by saying this he perjures himself, because he was breaking rules left and right as he got increasingly desperate to catch Grace. Note also that the whole family had begun superimposing rules to the game in order to be extra careful they would not break any. He represents legalism, or possibly pharisees. Emilie Le Domas saw her multiple accidental (careless) murders as small mistakes at most. She does not understand the consequence of sin. Then there’s the blatantly obvious fact: they are all worshipping a god who is not a god. They are worshipping Baal, who is nothing in this world. And it is Satan who uses this false god to lead them away, and he himself is nothing in this world, not while Christ is risen. But the important part of this is that Mr. Le Bail was a god of their making who gave them what they thought they wanted.
The last thing I want to talk about is Alex’s final pleas to Grace to have a fresh start. He wants Grace to claim him so that he can escape his guilt but she won’t touch him. This reminded me of Jesus’ prophecy that many would call Him “Lord” and have done many things in His name (like Alex did in her name to save her earlier in the film before he changed his mind) and He would say “depart from me” and “I never knew you.” The movie ends with the entire Le Domas family dead, but not peacefully dead. They are dead and they are burning. Meanwhile our lamb is covered in their blood and only just barely escaped the fire.
There were so many more themes and biblical allusions, but those ones stood out the most to me. While this was not a good movie, there was a parable inside it that I won’t quickly forget.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4