“You probably heard we ain’t in the prisoner-takin’ business; we in the killin’ Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin’.”
– Lt. Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds (2009)
There are a few things in cinema that most audiences agree on: killing animals is wrong, killing children is a delicate line to be walked, killing Nazis is a good start for a great time. The harming of animals, even if the intention is to give the protagonist a narrative motivation, can be an immediate turn-off for audiences, repelling even the most curious from buying a ticket. Killing children, while generally unacceptable in the real-world, can take on different dimensions in a fictional one wherein there may exist a Joffrey Baratheon (Game of Thrones) or Henry (The Good Son). But if you want a license to cause havoc without care for the increasingly violent ways in which bad guys are dispatched? Make them a Nazi and audiences don’t care. Run’em off the road (The Blues Brothers), burn their souls out (Raiders of the Lost Ark), carve their foreheads so folks know who they are (Inglourious Basterds), maul them with their own weapons (Sisu), or just use a bow and arrow to make it hurt (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare). The latest tale to make Nazi fodder for our amusement is director/co-writer Jenn Wexler’s The Last Temptation of Becky, the third film in the Becky series starring Lulu Wilson (Pizza Movie), having its world premiere in the Horizon 2026 section of Fantasia International Film Festival 2026. As the third in the series, The Last Temptation of Becky provides the by-now as-expected riotous violence and acerbic dialogue that’s delivered as simply and over-the-top as possible, all while providing all the entertainment you could want.
Since single-handedly taking out the leader of a white supremacist group and being recruited by the CIA, Becky (Wilson) has brought her typical heavy-handed approach to just about every mission she’s been assigned, much to the frustration of her team leader, Agent Kate Montana (Kate Siegel), and CIA Director Baker (Fiona Marr). Her last chance to maintain her position within the agency comes in the form of a recon mission in Poland to discern what Wilhelm Reuss (Neil Patrick Harris) is up to on a former Nazi compound. As with all her adventures, this one turns personal quickly as Reuss is in possession of the very same valknut-engraved key that Dominick Lewis (Kevin James) sought so many years ago. With things seemingly coming full circle for Becky as she goes in alone against great odds, can she get in and out without detection or is this going to be Becky’s last stand?
L-R: Neil Patrick Harris as Wilhelm Reuss and Lulu Wilson as Becky in THE LAST TEMPTATION OF BECKY. Photo courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival/Quiver Distribution.
Co-written by Wexler (The Sacrifice Game) and Matt Angel (The Wrath of Becky), Last Temptation follows the signature style first created by filmmakers Cary Murnion (Cooties) and Jonathan Milott (Cooties) and co-writers Nick Morris, Lane Skye (The Devil to Pay), and Ruckus Skye (The Devil to Pay) in the original outing, which became codified by second entry The Wrath of Becky (2023). Cold open sets the tone, playful yellow title cards set locations/time period, and then we catch-up with Becky who narrates to us what we need to know. With each film toying with a 90-minute runtime, the point isn’t some kind of gritty, dark thriller, but a darkly comic actioner that’ll make you squirm one moment and laugh with delight the next. This is a film series that has Becky blind Dominick with said-valknut key only to have Dominick with a knife to sever the optic nerve himself. This is grindhouse action, folks, wherein the setup is less important than the action payoff and Last Temptation doesn’t skimp. Broken bodies, bullet holes, and bloody scission is the end game. The stunt design by Drew Leary (Queens of the Dead) and Lemuel Black (Anniversary) largely continues the vision set in 2020 with a mixture of distance and close-quarters kills that play to the strengths of Becky while pointing out her weaknesses (though without examination of them). The ways in which she was able to get the best of Dominick and his goons, as well as Darryl Jr.’s (Sean William Scott) in Wraith, is that they are, by and large, disorganized and presumptive, allowing for Becky’s age to become her greatest advantage because they presumed she couldn’t be a danger to them. Here, however, Becky is given 007-like toys and still approaches everything like a juvenile, a charm that doesn’t work if we’re meant to believe she’s undergone training. It does, however, support the notion that she’s not meant to be an agent, something which the script reminds us of over and again; so at least there’s no dissonance between script and action. There’s plenty of creativity on display, especially when the film opts for direct action instead of teasing things out, but it’s all become so rhythmic by the third outing that audiences can more easily predict cause of death well before it occurs.
Rather than mix things up with the violence, it’s the drama where things get new by focusing on the old. In the same way that Becky found herself spurred to action to get revenge for the unnecessary killing of the kind woman, Elena (Denise Burse), who took her in, Becky accepts the assignment as part of her role within the CIA, but does so with a sense of purpose due to the connection between Wilhelm and Dominick. Dominick’s arrival into her life destroyed what remained of her family (post-loss of her mother) and her violent disposition conveys someone who’s not quite in touch with their feelings. This much has been clear from the jump when the initial outing juxtaposes Becky in a fight at school against a prison yard fight Dominick uses for a distraction. Each film has found a way to make things personal for Becky beyond the usual “must overcome in order to survive” tension that exists within the respective narratives; however, Wexler and Angel opt to tie everything back to the beginning so as to truly amplify Becky’s internal motivation which, in turn, also makes her excessive methods all the more satisfying. (Of course, with the targets being modern day Brown Shirts, the only people not taking delight are the shitbag targets.) Enter Harris who more-or-less redons his Starship Troopers (1997) costume as the latest fascist to try to kick off the Fourth Reich. As we’ve seen prior in performances, Harris is quite capable of diving into deplorability, making Reuss a proper antagonist for Becky with each venom-dripping line of dialogue and each cold act of viciousness. He is the next-level amalgamation of both Dominick and Darryl Jr. — a white man with a G-d complex whose belief in his own righteousness makes him a threat while actually having the sort of forethought that puts Becky on her backfoot differently than before. To her credit, Wilson has lost not a single step as Becky, the script affording her a pathos we haven’t really had since the first film, and once more making us believe that there’s not a force on Earth which can prevent her from killing those who take joy in harming others. Perhaps Becky has some Illinois blood in her and is on a mission from G-d all her own?
An interesting thing about trilogies, intentional or otherwise, is that they often feel like a completion. One is good, two carries it forward, and the third wraps it all up. Whether or not The Last Temptation of Becky is the final time Wilson straps on her yellow fingerless gloves and beats the crap out of someone is less important than whether or not the story told across the three films is done. In much the same way that John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) concludes Mr. Wick’s (Keanu Reeves) odyssey through perdition, removing any necessity to see Reeves return, so does Wexler’s Last Temptation deliver unto us a place of rest for the vengeful Becky. The adventure may not break the mold, may not push things in a way that have the tale standout from the others, but it does satisfy by staying true to itself, making a mockery of those who deserve it, and bringing down the hammer of vengeance upon those who dare use violence to hold others back. If there are more fools to suffer, there is no struggle, no pause, no bit of blasphemy, for Becky will always have a seat at the table.
Screening during Fantasia International Film Festival 2026.
For more information, head to the official Fantasia International Film Festival The Last Temptation of Becky webpage.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Share this:
Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
Leave a Reply