Revenge only gets one so far, but The Wasp leans right into the most debased form of it imaginable. Director Guillem Morales’ film draws upon familiar tropes that we’ve seen in an extended succession of films centered around past trauma/victimhood. I suppose it’s what the people want, but at what point do these narratives become old hat when we’re inundated with them? Playing upon convention isn’t in and of itself a recipe for disaster if the execution is spot-on, but does The Wasp do enough to warrant acclaim? One’s mileage will vary.
Heather (Naomie Harris) is a troubled woman in an affluent but unhealthy marriage. Unable to conceive a child for unexplained reasons, she aches for more attention from her distant, career-obsessed husband Simon (Dominic Allburn). To make matters worse, her house is infested by a gnarly swarm of hornets that Simon keeps ignoring. Wasp infestations are bad enough, but Heather also has a sneaking suspicion that her husband is cheating on her.
Enter Natalie Dormer as Carla, an estranged childhood friend of Heather’s, eking out an underwhelming existence. She struggles with a late-term pregnancy, long shifts at the grocery store, and a part-time gig as a sex worker. Carla is known to Heather as a particularly vicious woman. She concocts a plan to hire Carla to help kill her husband. There are a dozen or so other twists that reorient our understanding of Heather and Carla’s history, but that’s the gist of it. We’re left with what is mostly a two-hander, with the two women spending an inordinate amount of time yelling at each other and reminiscing about their troubled past.
“…a troubled woman in an affluent, but unhealthy marriage…”
For this to work, the setup needs two great performances from Harris and Dormer. These seasoned performers are up to the task. Harris is at home as the affluent socialite, and Dormer eschews the period and fantasy roles she’s best known for to play a burnout just going through the motions convincingly. This class distinction becomes an integral part of the plot, and the casting is spot-on in terms of highlighting these differences between the characters.
Even the earnest performances can’t save The Wasp from being a missed opportunity for a more compelling revenge tale. There are also moments that beg the question as to whether or not this is the correct medium. Certain works feel better suited for the stage as opposed to celluloid, and the same could be said here. With the exception of brief flashbacks to disturbing childhood memories, the overall execution here is theatrical at heart.
The sundry plot twists are forced, and eventually we mourn the fact that The Wasp ends up in a bizarre perversion of what it was initially set it up to be. Beyond some sleek camerawork and the accomplished performances mentioned above, the film feels like an empty reiteration of tropes we’ve seen before. The potential is here, but The Wasp is a film missing that added boost of ingenuity.
"…leans right into the most debased form of revenge"
