The Craft: Legacy

[chelseagirl]

So every review I'd read about this movie said it was disappointing.

I'm not sure what they were expecting. It was just what it needed to be.

Spoilers behind the cut.

The thing that I found so disappointing in the original The Craft was that of course power corrupted. Nancy went completely off the rails, the girls turned on each other, and of course our heroine had to stop them. Same old same old story as always in the end.

This movie felt like a corrective to that. The girls stick together. When they overreach and something goes wrong, Lily's coven-mates bind their power. But the problem is really the patriarchy, in the person of David Duchovny's Adam. And in the end, they realize that. They embrace Lily. They join together and defeat Adam.

I actually burst into tears when Helen (Lily's adoptive mother) took Lily to see Nancy, who is her birth mother, at the end. Because in villainizing Nancy, the original movie negated a lot of what was so appealing about it in the first place.

The Craft: Legacy felt like fix-it fanfic. Yes, it was "woke." Well, good for it. In comparing it unfavorably to the original, critics are suggesting that it's better dramatically to take an empowerment narrative for four teenage outcasts, and have them turn on each other? Not be able to handle the power? Because that's not predictable at all. Oh, wait.

And the critics hated this new one. This is why we can't have nice things.

The original movie is awesome until a certain point. And then it becomes not-so-awesome. It becomes obvious. The heroine needs a male ally to take down her sister-witches, because women can't control themselves.

But what if that wasn't the story we told each other again and again? In Legacy, women didn't turn on each other. They supported each other and they prevailed.

And maybe there's even hope for Nancy.

Comments

[lunabee34]

That sounds like a fantastic movie; thanks for the review.

[chelseagirl]

I recommend it highly. Is it brilliant, no? Was it the movie I needed to watch, yes. Did it fix my problems with the original, very much yes.

[lunabee34]

I'm fine with enjoyable. Brilliant movies are often a bit much for me. I just want to have a good time. LOL

[havocthecat]

I've been waiting for the rental to move down from a $20 on-demand viewing to something a little more reasonable, but I do want to see it. It's just I'm the only one in the house who's invested in a sequel to The Craft!

[chelseagirl]

It was $6.99 on Spectrum today.

[senmut]

I may have to find and watch it now!

[chelseagirl]

It's not Oscar-caliber or anything, but I really appreciated it.

[bethynyc]

Oh good--I was hoping it would work out. I really want a movie or a book where the women who have magic get together and support each other. Looking forward to seeing this eventually.

[chelseagirl]

Yes! The On-Demand price has come down to something not ridiculous.

[bethynyc]

YAY! I'll look for it!

[epeeblade]

Huh. Now I think I'll be able to watch this. I didn't want to see yet another group of girls turning on one another.

[chelseagirl]

There's a moment when they blame her, but in the end they come together strongly. Definitely a different narrative than the one we're fed over and over.