Assassination Nation Blu Ray Review (Universal)

Assassination Nation is a 2018 black comedy film written & directed by Sam Levinson (Another Happy Day). It had it’s world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2018. It was produced by David S. Goyer (Blade franchise, Ghost Rider franchise, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, & Constantine TV series), Jason Cloth (The Mule, Roman J. Israel, Esq., Tully, & The Front Runner), & Chris Conover (The Hurricane Heist, LBJ, Villains, & Prospect). It had a budget of $7 million & it grossed $2.5 million at the box office. Lily Colson (played by: Odessa Young from Tricky Business, High Life, Looking for Grace, & Sweet Virginia) is a regular high school senior in Salem who regularly hangs out with her best friends Bex (played by: Hari Nef from Transparent, You, & Mapplethorpe), Em (played by: Abra), & Sarah (played by: Suki Waterhouse from Billionaire Boys Club, Future World, The Bad Batch, & Jonathan). A hacker sends damaging photos of Mayor Bartlett (played by: Cullen Moss from One Tree Hill, Iron Man 3, & 99 Homes) all over town. The scandal causes him to kill himself at a press conference in front of everyone.

A local principal gets hacked soon after & it starts all kinds of controversy in Salem. Half of the town gets hacked & embarrassed including all the girls. Lily’s acquaintance Grace (played by: Maude Apatow from Knocked Up, Funny People, & This Is 40) discovers that her best friend Reagan (played by: Bella Thorne from Ride, The Babysitter, Amityville: The Awakening, & Blended) was spreading her private pics around so she gets a little revenge on her. Nick Mathers (played by: Joel McHale from Community, Ted, The Happytime Murders,, & Spider-Man 2) was the main source of Lily’s humiliation when he was hacked, his life is ruined now thanks to this. Lily’s boyfriend Mark (played by: Bill Skarsgård from IT, Castle Rock, Deadpool 2, & Hemlock Grove) takes his frustration out on her when she is exposed. He feels like a fool because she was sending risky selfies to a married man while dating him & now everyone knows about it. A known hacker Marty (played by: Noah Galvin from The Real O’Neals & Co-ed) is forced to lie & say Lily Colson was the reason most of the town got hacked & their lives destroyed. She is now a target in Salem & they want her head! Lily & her friends must survive the night as everyone tries to kill them for starting this chaos. What will happen next with this madness taking over reality????

Assassination Nation was one of the best films from 2018! It has a Heathers meets The Purge vibe to it, that alone should grab your attention to this flick. Speaking of The Purge, this feature actually ends up being way better than their last entry to the popular franchise. It’s very stylized with colorful cinematography so the visuals for the production keep your eyes peeled to the screen. It kinda 2 films in 1, the first half deals with the town & high school drama that leads up to the batshit crazy 2nd half that makes this one of the most entertaining features that I’ve seen in a long time! The acting from the lead females were very strong in this, I haven’t seen them in much besides Suki Waterhouse but I thought they were all unique & brought something different to the table in their roles. It has some familiar faces showing up in supporting roles like Joel McHale, Bill Skarsgård, Maude Apatow, Bella Thorne, & Kathryn Erbe. Comedian Joel McHale gives the darkest performance in his career, I would love to see him do more roles like this. I was actually blown away from Assassination Nation, I wasn’t expecting to like it this much. It was definitely made for this generation, it’s very hip & keeps relevant to today’s events. It’s Mean Girls on LSD & it doesn’t hold back. I had so much fun with this & the replay value for it is strong. You will be checking this out more than once & it deserves a spot in your collection, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

Let’s talk about the high definition presentation & special features from Universal! This 1080p (2.39:1) transfer looks amazing on blu ray! I am surprised that it didn’t get a 4K release. This production is very stylized & the cinematography is colorful, it really stands out when it comes to visuals.  It’s one of the best looking films from 2018. The English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track has a killer boost to it! The dialogue is very clean, all the madness in the 2nd half & music is elevated here. Both picture & sound are top notch on this release. It has English SDH subtitles. “Deleted/Extended Scenes” is almost 17 minutes & it has 8 different scenes. “Gag Reel” is a little over 6 minutes & it has some funny moments from the feature. It has 3 different “Trailers” for the film titled Trigger Warnings, Savage AF, & Fierce. It has a few Universal related “Trailers” before the film starts also. It has a slipcover & a digital code. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT ASAP!!!!