‘The Wasp’ Movie Review: Naomie Harris Runs The Show In Twisty Drama
Photo from Shout! Studios
From Jeremy Kibler
Revenge gets methodically mapped out and goes past the point of no return in The Wasp, a twisty character drama with the tension of a psychological thriller. Written almost as a one-sided Strangers on a Train, director Guillem Morales’ film is unforthcoming on purpose, only to then switch gears. Not knowing who to root for here is actually one of the film’s most enticing features.
Naomie Harris sinks her teeth into the lead role of Heather, an affluent woman who spends more time trapping wasps than working. She’s also been trying to get pregnant with husband Simon (Dominic Allburn), but their marriage is frigid and sexless. That’s when she decides to take matters into her hands, but it involves an old friend/foe from her childhood. That would be Carla (Natalie Dormer), a brash, street-smart supermarket cashier who’s pregnant with her fifth child. When Heather reaches out to Carla on social media to meet, the desperate Carla obliges. Heather’s proposition? Kill her husband for a handsome amount of money.
The Wasp begins rather literally, maybe heavy-handedly. It’s clear from the onset that Heather is mentally losing it (and the worry stone she keeps on her person isn’t helping). In her kitchen, Heather catches yet another wasp underneath a water glass (other wasp corpses just sit by the window). Later, that night, her husband hosts a business soiree, only for Heather to become obsessed with the buzzing sound from a smoke detector. She takes a hammer to the ceiling, and sure enough, an active wasp’s nest falls through, putting a kibosh on the party. This coincides with Heather being haunted by childhood memories that bring context to the present. In grade school, Heather (played by Leah Mondesir-Simmonds) witnessed Carla (Olivia Juno Cleverley) putting an injured pigeon out of its misery with a rock.
Based on the play by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm (who wrote the script), the film rarely ever feels stagey or flat under Guillem Morales’ direction. In fact, the theatrical roots work in the film’s favor. It’s seamlessly edited as the past enters the present, and once the story clicks and narrows in on Heather’s plan (and doesn’t leave her townhouse), the film enthralls as a two-hander chamber piece. It’s a true pressure cooker reliant on Harris’ sensational, show-running performance. Dormer more than holds her own, putting on a tough, formidable exterior, but how Carla is written is less than penetrating, forcing her to be outshone by Harris’ meatier turn.
In the moment where it matters, plausibility is easily suspended. But, yes, in order for the rest of the film to be convincing, the script does ask the viewer to pretend that Carla would forget another memory (not involving the pigeon) to actually face Heather. Otherwise, the dynamic between Heather and Carla is compelling, and the secrets from their past are even more upsetting and disturbing than expected.
There’s enough pain and trauma here to fascinate and pierce through the pulpy trappings of what could have just been a cheap potboiler. With The Wasp, it’s the precise performances and crackling dialogue that keep the wheels turning before a gut-punch finale.
Rating: 3.5/5
The Wasp is currently in select theaters.
