I’ll be the first to tell you, I’m not a fan of independent movies. I love high concept films, the big-budget blockbusters, the CGI infected movies that are shot like video games, even sometimes based on video games. It’s just the way I am. Every now and then, though, I stumble into the world of the indies and find a gem. Extracurricular Activities is just one of those rare jewels.
And it’s one of those elements that we can both be entertained and educated by.
So let’s get straight to the Maverick review. By the way, if you didn’t see the movie, I suggest you do so first before proceeding as I will include a few spoilers for educational purposes. The video is available on Amazon Prime and you can rent or purchase it by navigating to this website
FIRST RULE OF FICTION
One of the first rules of fiction, or even responsibilities of any storyteller, is to create a fictional world that is believable to their audience. In the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), humans are aware that aliens exist, New York City’s worst event wasn’t 9-11, it was an alien invasion. The Hulk is a celebrity, and half of humanity had been wiped out. To enjoy the MCU, one has to suspend their belief of our world and accept their universe.
Extracurricular Activities is no different. In their world, there are parents that are such big douche bags, that killing them seems to be a sense of justice for the kids who suffer at their hands of abuse. The cops are not that bright either; in other words, they are not gonna be featured on Forensic Files anytime soon.
As long as you can let go of reality and accept Extracurricular’s reality, you’re going to enjoy this movie – tremendously.
If you don’t, you’re just going to nitpick it to death.
The movie does a pretty good job pulling you into their world, but it does take an effort by the audience, or did take an effort from me, to check into their reality. Could have it been done better? Maybe. But it worked, so it was good enough. I’m not going to give a grade on this because it’s impossible to do so. You’re either going to believe their world or not. And everyone will be different.
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Extracurricular Activities is a movie that doesn’t feature well-rounded characters. Most are one-dimensional and academic writers would have a field day criticizing the hell out of it. But it works in this world, so it’s not bad at thing.
Let’s get to the Enneagram Personality Breakdown
REAGAN COLLINS: TYPE ONE “REFORMER”
Reagan Collins is the main character of Extracurricular Activities who wants to rid the world of evil – that evil just happens to be horrible parents. Like all Type One’s, they live in a box full of rules and regulations. He doesn’t drink, doesn’t do drugs, and is a model student and ideal son. Reagan doesn’t kill all parent(s), there is a threshold that needs to be met in order for a student to enlist his help.
A similar character would probably Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, who was also a Type One Personality. Even though he killed, he had rules on who he killed, who he saved, and when he operated.
The glaring problem with Reagan Collin’s character is that he was completely perfect. He was never triggered, never flustered, never displayed any agenda or fears that powered his ego. Type Ones Reformers have a habit of being perfectionist, and many times their pursuit of perfection and correction, can make them very argumentative and unlikable. Imagine an overbearing religious figure that wants you to live their life by their rules and you have your typical Type One Personality.
We also never got to know why Reagan he became a young hitman. Maybe there’s a story there? Maybe a prequel? There’s a bit of story left untold here, but it doesn’t matter.
But despite Reagan displaying only a single characteristic of a Type One Reformer, it still worked because it was fun to watch. Note to all the anal-retentive aspiring writers out there, that you don’t need to follow the rules of creating three-dimensional characters to have an enjoyable film.
By the way, Reagan Collins was the main character and he was the antagonist! You don’t see a lot of that these days. And sometimes, you can get away with the antagonist being a bit one-dimensional, especially if it’s a comedy. For me, I would have loved to see a bit more dimension, but that’s just a subjective call. Adding more dimension would have not made the character more entertaining.
DETECTIVE CLIFF DAWKINS: TYPE ONE “REFORMER” – UNHEALTHY
Detective Cliff Hawkins was the protagonist of the film who shared so much on-screen time, he could have been the main character. I’m still questioning if he was. We learn much more about Hawkin’s life than any other character. The wins he had, how he treats his son, and his wife.
Dawkins is a Type One Reformer, just a very unhealthy version. He is committed to fighting crime, wherever it may lurk, it’s just that Reagan Collins is much smarter than him and overall, just mentally healthier. Unhealthy Ones tend to be argumentative and hell-bent on proving people wrong. Life can be a constant debate for them. “Letting things go” tends to be very difficult. At the unhealthy end of the spectrum of a Type One, these personality types tend to lose their character and their purpose in life. And when desperation sets in, they embark on a path of self-destruction.
And that’s all I’m going to say here because I don’t want to give away too much.
If you want to learn more about a Type One, click here
FRIENDS AND CLIENTS OF REAGAN COLLINS: Type Six “Loyalist”
Loyalists commonly suffer from trust issues that stem from bad parenting. Even the “Emo” girl who hired Reagan to kill her parents was more of a Type Six Loyalist, than what Emo kids usually are, which is a Type Four.
Commonly, there are usually two different types of Loyalist
- PARANOID – the personality who has trouble trusting anyone and everything, and habitually testing relationships.
- COUNTERPHOBIC – the character who has a tendency to destroy what they fear instead of dealing with their problems realistically.
All of Reagan’s clients are counterphobic Loyalist. There are, of course, some who may argue that the parents got what was coming to them. But let’s be quite frank here. Even your if your parents are the worst in world, it doesn’t mean you need to go Menendez Brothers on them.
To sum up the characters…
An academic or overly picky aspiring screenwriter would probably want to point out every flaw in each character, or lack of flaws. And to be honest, they could make a solid argument. But all that matters is if these characters were enjoyable to watch, and they were. You don’t need perfect characters to make a good movie.
GRADE: A
SCRIPT AND DIRECTION
From the beginning, the movie had a very comedic tone to itself. I even commented to my friend that the music had that “Beetlejuice” feeling, a sense that we shouldn’t take the movie too seriously.
It was entertaining from beginning to end.
The script was good. Quirky in the right places. It’s nice to see movies that are written from the antagonist point of view. I couldn’t spot any noticeable plot holes.
GRADE: A
OVERALL
The movie was great. I paid $13 for it and I’m glad I did as it’ll be one of those movies I can watch with my buddies and laugh all night. Don’t think it’s cheesy like Sharknado where you probably need to be high or drunk to enjoy. It’s not a B-Movie. It’s just a movie that is not distributed by the big boys, that’s all.
GRADE: A
Steve Young
