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Journal #1
My Thoughts on Vengence (2022)
July 31, 2022

The most striking scene for me was when Novak's character was trying to reason why Whataburger was so loved by this family. Was it the quality? Was it the price? What was it? The family continued to give cop-out answers, "it's just there." It's finally explained that it's something to be loved in the same way as you would love a puppy or a family member. You don't need a reason why. You don't want a reason why.

This is a film about having two perspectives that are neither right or wrong. Politics, Texas vs New York, what you feel vs making logical conclusions. "How do you know?" "I know it in my gut." It directly ties into today's increasingly divisive culture of America. It tries to explain the increase of toxic cultures, such as the rise of conspiracy theories and hook-up culture.

The film for me started to fall apart at the end. I felt the writing got lazy, especially in the narrative between Kutcher and Novak's characters. Instead of conveying the message through the story, it was very direct...

The start of the film was really meta and foreshadowed what the film was going to be about. Not the plot of the film per se, but taking something and making it more palatable for people to consume. "You need to be here (pointing to heart) not here (pointing to head)". This is the same way "Don't look up" was structured -- sort of as a commentary of current society.

If I had to give it a letter grade, I give it a B. Great observations made by Novak, but Novak should have taken his character's own advice and made the story a little more palatable.