‘Is God Is’ Review – A Rage-Filled Revenge Epic That’s A Barn Burner Like You’ve Never Seen

Is God Is is the type of film that, upon first glance at its description, you might make certain assumptions about based on surface qualities. We’ve seen the elements of both classic and new revenge tales be told over and over again, but writer/director Aleshea Harris proves from the film’s opening moments that she can confidently take the bones of what is established and craft a bombastic vision within familiar territory.

Nearly every frame of Harris’ direction is at one with the classic visual stylings of Tarantino revenge thrillers like Django Unchained and Kill Bill, but Harris offers a distinct voice, blending from inspiration all over while never losing sight of the sibling dynamic that’s the core of what is a quest to rightfully rage-filled liberation. There are occasional points where Is God Is gets lost in its own hyper-stylized journey to the point of being confusing. Still, Harris undeniably makes her own unique mark on the landscape of revenge thrillers. With a powerful ensemble matching the fiery soliloquies written on the page, Aleshea Harris adapts her own play to the cinematic plane with a ferocity you won’t soon forget.

The film follows the bond between two twin sisters, Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson). The sisters, from a young age, have been ridiculed for the burn marks that disfigure nearly all of their skin from a traumatic fire incident at a young age. After being in foster care for most of their lives, the twins had virtually no one to look out for them as they slid into adult years, with Racine acting as the tougher sister protecting her more shy and reserved sister Anaia from both those who looked at them with pity or laughter.

Things change, however, when out of nowhere their estranged mother, Ruby (Vivica A. Fox), who they dub as God due to her birthing them, contacts them out of the blue, telling them she’s nearly dead and has something major to tell them. She reveals to her daughters that the cause of both her and their burns was from their psychopathic father (Sterling K. Brown), who burned both Ruby and the girls in a bathtub years ago.

Ruby’s final dying wish is for the girls to take long-awaited vengeance and kill their father in ruthless, cold blood. While Anaia is particularly hesitant at first, the twins realize they have nothing to lose and embark on a quest for vengeance across the country, where they’ll soon discover the multiple trails of familial destruction their father left behind.

From Is God Is’ opening moments, its erratic stylization and hyper editing will either click or throw you off completely, but Harris finds a rhythm within the film’s numerous creative liberties that are right at home with its mix of comedic and deeply intense tonal play. The center of the movie is the connection between our twin sisters, and a big factor in the visual essence of their bond is how it’s displayed both through incredible performances and smart editing choices.

Throughout, the sisters are showcased a ton through split screens, and are shown to have a telepathic intuition of sorts where they communicate to each other through head nods and eye glances only, and we see the dialogue they’re communicating via text on screen. There are points where the visual liberties here can take a minute to click, but they ultimately add a unique perspective to Racine and Anaia’s special link, making the movie stand out from other similar character dynamics while cleverly showcasing the two sisters’ opposite personalities.

Much of the movie, as mentioned, has studied greatly from the lessons of Tarantino’s revenge thrillers of all sizes, but that inspiration shines even more throughout much of the film’s black-and-white flashback sequences. These scenes are often where the movie is at its most intense, pressing the envelope until you can feel the tension of the scenes make your palms begin to sweat.

The inciting incident of Ruby and the twins being burned alive by their cold-blooded father is especially relentless in its intensity, going for a full one-take of Ruby searching the house for a noise before revealing her former husband behind her like he’s straight out of a slasher movie. Some of the movie’s thriller logistics tend to be a bit weaker in some scenes where full-blown fights break out, and the choreography can leave a bit to be desired, but the extremely snappy editing through every chase scene and head splatter makes up for any shortcomings. This especially rings true through Alexander Dynan’s luscious cinematography, which captures the western landscapes with both beauty-filled landscapes and harsh intensity when needed.

There are certain points where you can tell Harris’ film is adapted from a stage play, but it never ends up a negative, as the bracing dialogue is as powerful as it is bursting with fury. Harris tackles many themes within its plight that sometimes don’t get the weight they need, but the film is at its most cathartic when focused on its central theme of the multiple ways Black women are taken advantage of and discarded, and the complexities that lie in the pursuit of revenge. The question of whether it’s worth it to bulldoze others who may be innocent on the path to ultimate retribution is one brought up multiple times by the sisters, and while this isn’t exactly new for most revenge thrillers, Harris brings a sharp message to the concept of destroying what lies at the center of the titular evil before the pattern of cruelty can repeat itself.

Nearly every aspect of Is God Is wouldn’t work without the performances at its center, and thankfully, there’s not a single weak link to be found. Smaller supporting players, such as church leader Divine (Erika Alexander) or the third wife of the twins’ father, Angie (Janelle Monáe), lend themselves to more satirical comedy or pieces of the film’s thematic puzzle, respectively, but Kara Young and Mallori Johnson are naturally the standouts here.

Each of them makes the clashing personalities of the siblings their own while also making their stick-together attitude believable through every peak and trough of their journey, with Young portraying a just amount of anger and protection for her sister against the adversity that continuously surrounds their lives. Sterling K. Brown is terrifying as a deeply despicable and abusive father whose face we don’t see until near the film’s end, and it ends up an effective choice that only makes his chilling demeanor and presence throughout the film’s back half deeply disturbing even when he’s not on screen.

Is God Is has a lot going on, and it barrels through so much visual identity and character dynamics that it’s almost to the point of its detriment, but Harris helms a miraculous fist feature that’s unafraid to fully lather itself in the rage-filled fury of its revenge quest. With a powerful twin sister bond as the glue that holds even the film’s messiest moments together, Is God Is will go down as one of the most distinctly memorable revenge thrillers conceived as Aleshea Harris makes her mark as a powerful new voice in the filmmaking space.

Is God Is is currently playing in theaters courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.