The final chapter in a parallel-universe trio of Halloween movies has fallen upon us, as grim and demented as its prior parts, and now with a philosophical twist.
Director David Gordon Green, who coscripted with Danny McBride, Chris Bernier and Paul Brad Logan, resumes John Carpenter/Debra Hill's timeworn battle between Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode and Nick Castle/James Jude Courtney's Michael Myers, who are no longer cursed-bound siblings in this alternate scheme of things, thus proposing the question, What's the Shape's motivation, anyway? Then again, when it comes to evil, motivation isn't required.
Halloween Ends dictates that evil extends and never dies. It's harbored within any number of shapes (get it?), spreading even unto those who proclaim to be virtuous. The most that anyone can do is place evil to the side, pretend it's shackled, but prepare for that inevitable moment when it returns.
That's what Strode does, putting her past behind her within a cloak of domestic life, and the same can be said of Will Patton's Deputy Frank Hawkins, a good man who yearns for a placid existence, in light of the carnage he's witnessed.
The same yearning impacts a new character, Rohan (The Hardy Boys) Campbell's Corey Cunningham, a young man scarred for a death he didn't cause, who finds solace in another scarred character, Andi Matichak's Allyson Nelson, Strode's gone-through-hell granddaughter. Dear Allyson seeks redemption through Cunningham, though it could also be the lad's comparable darkness that attracts her.
Within their turmoil, these principals graze melodramatic components from Breathless, The Loveless and Rebel Without A Cause, as well as such King-sized fables as Carrie, The Shining and Christine, for in these poor souls' wretched paths, Myers waits, prepared to spread his infection, and once it spreads, there seems no stopping it.
Maybe it shouldn't be stopped, but rather reciprocated. Though turning the cheek and acts of forgiveness have their place, in the (pun intended) end, only fire can fight fire. This ardent adage is perfect for promoting Myers' merciless legacy, and Green's pounding direction flaunts it for all the shameless brilliance it's worth.
So, does the Boogeyman get what he deserves in the allegorical end? Well, that's for me to know, and you to find out. However, this chapter ensures that at least in spirit, the Boogeyman is eternal. As insinuated, he lives in our Hyde-ish hearts and can surface at any time and within the mere blink of an eye.
Because of its allegorical thrust, I considered Ends one of the franchise's best. Inside its unpretentious, final-throes genius, you may just find a new way of looking at the world: from a lens, that is, callous and cynical, but all the more practical for it.
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