Film Review: THE MENU (2022): Anya Taylor-Joy Faces Off With Ralph Fiennes in a Clever Horror Film

The Menu Review

The Menu (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Mark Mylod, written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy and starring Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Paul Adelstein, John Leguizamo, Aimee Carrero, Reed Birney, Judith Light, Rebecca Koon, Rob Yang, Arturo Castro, Mark St. Cyr, Peter Grosz, Christina Brucato, Adam Aalderks and Jon Paul Allyn.

The Menu, directed by Mark Mylod, is a terrifying and bizarrely entertaining movie that knows everything to know about food. This film perfectly captures the art of food preparation, the essence of eating in all its stages and the picture also showcases a character who is an expert at cooking. That would be Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) who can easily sum up every type of meal imaginable in so many words or, at the bare minimum, simply make that kind of meal. Fiennes is perfectly cast in a role I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing. He is about to present the dinner of a lifetime to a group of wealthy customers in The Menu which is a horror film like no other in its amazingly detailed and layered story line.

Anya Taylor-Joy is a woman named Margot, the only person in the movie who is somewhat normal. She is attending a quite lavish restaurant on a remote island with a man named Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) as the movie’s main story takes flight in the picture. It seems the rich people selected to attend this extravagant meal that is being presented at the restaurant have been carefully curated for reasons the audience does not know at first.

John Leguizamo has one of his better recent roles in this movie as an actor known simply as Movie Star in the credits. His girlfriend (Aimee Carrero) has a lot of reasons to argue with him as the movie progresses and the interaction between Leguizamo and Carrero’s characters includes some revelations that will intrigue viewers. Leguizamo plays the role in such a way that makes it hard to like the Movie Star but we’ll never know which way his character will turn next for the duration of the picture.

The best supporting role in the movie is the turn by Hong Chau as Elsa who is the head of all that will transpire on the island as the night goes on. Elsa is confident and more or less assures her customers that the upcoming meal will be the most memorable one of their entire lives. Chau captures the essence of her character as she shows the customers where the staff sleeps and as the movie’s plot moves forward, there is tremendous tension created in the film by Chau’s fine performance.

Also quite interesting is Janet McTeer’s role as a food critic named Lillian who offers Chef Slowik and his crew of professionals some special treatment if they agree to let her go. You see, something is just not right about this restaurant and its staff. That’s right. Since this is a horror picture, the story reveals the point that Slowik and company are promising to actually kill the customers. It’s a horrific scenario that will make those characters involved test their survival skills and then some.

Anya Taylor-Joy’s character, Margot, may have some secrets of her own as the film reveals she was not Tyler’s original choice as the girl he was going to bring to the dinner. Eventually, Margot and Chef Slowik will face off as the tension builds and there will be no turning back.

This movie nails the whole process of creating a fine, elegant meal. The movie divides its scenes into meal “courses” where it will show the audience the specific food preparation that relates to the scenario in the given section of the film. Without giving too much away, the movie displays the most desirable, elegant type of meal and brings us all the way to the end of the movie where we see the least desirable (a simple cheeseburger). The character development is juxtaposed against the food choices Chef Slowik makes as well. For example, as Margot, finds herself in a no-win situation, she rebels and turns the tables on the Chef where he must take the quality of the food he is serving down a notch or two.

Mylod wisely keeps his movie’s tense secrets up his sleeve like a magician as we question each and every scene’s revelations wondering if this is all a joke or for real for the characters at hand. By the time the picture takes us to dessert time and everybody is in shambles, the audience members may know what’s going on but even if they do, there are several moments that could leave viewers scratching their heads. By the end of the film, you may just want to ask yourself what Mylod’s film was exactly trying to say. I have some suspicions but it’s all a bit hazy considering the last minutes of the movie which flips the script in a very compelling but somewhat confusing direction.

Fiennes steals the show and as the lead actor in the picture, he has every right to. His character is obsessed with perfection and there’s a good reason for him to be. As the one who challenges his tactics, Taylor-Joy adds another strong performance to her resume She’s especially good in the fierce scenes with Hoult where she must confront the man who has taken her into a hell like world where escape may seem improbable.

The Menu doesn’t offer any easy answers in regards to the logistics of the story it proposes. The film’s ending can remind one of maybe a happier version of Midsommar‘s conclusion but don’t let that comparison fool you. The Menu is not happy and is not a traditional horror movie dish at all. It’s elegant and sophisticated but may make you feel a bit hungry for more answers in an hour or two after it ends. Still, this film has the potential to become a picture that true horror buffs will adore years down the line.

Rating: 7.5/10

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