Summary
A suburban mystery with a sprinkle of kink makes for an easy, predictable watch.
This review of the Netflix film Brazen does not contain spoilers.
Brazen, an adaptation from the novel by Nora Roberts, this film mixes online kink with murder and mystery. At 1 hour 36 mins this film does have a great cast, including Alyssa Milano, Sam Page, and Emilie Ullerup.
In this story, we follow the character Grace Miller (played by Milano) who is a celebrity author whose popular novels surround women being murdered, as she solves the case of her murdered sister. Very early on we see her rush to her sister’s aid, despite her not agreeing with her past life choices and not seeing her sister for five years.
Her sister’s double life as a webcam performer is revealed, just before she is murdered. Other women living similar lives and performing on webcams are being targeted and killed. Grace believes she can get inside the mind of a killer, and with the help of her new love interest, a detective, she goes undercover as a webcam girl, to find the serial webcam girl killer.
The story isn’t as gripping as I thought it would be — it doesn’t take much to work out who the killer is. Grace being “bait” for the killer, and also being allowed on the case, doesn’t make any logical sense, at all. Which makes the film hard to believe and gives it a cheesy, cheap thriller vibe. In the whole film, there is a complete lack of plausibility, but if you can get past that, this will be a good film for you to watch.
If it weren’t for the cast and their decent acting, I wouldn’t have been at all invested. The cast has a certain charm about them, which makes the film enjoyable and interesting to watch. Especially Milano, who has great chemistry with her co-stars and has some strong, heartfelt moments in the film. The secondary characters are strong and help drive the leads, which is great to watch as they complement and support one another.
What I did enjoy was the detective, investigative side of the film, this really quickened the pace of the story and built suspense. If there was this tension throughout the whole film could render itself to one long episode of CSI. I didn’t mind the cheesy music or either extra light or extra dark cinematography, either. They added to the cheesy, thriller vibe of the film.
The ending was quick and a letdown for me personally, but without spoilers, I’ll let you watch and see for yourself.
Overall, this film is more of a romantic thriller than a murder mystery. Awkward giggles rather than the shock factor will keep you entertained for an hour and a half. I would recommend watching If you’re looking for an easy thriller.
You can watch the film Brazen with a subscription to Netflix.
