If Chris Evans outing himself as ‘Team Iron Man’ in the great Captain America: Civil War debate earlier today has left you seeking to exact punishment on the artist formerly known as America’s Ass, then fear not: Anya Taylor-Joy has you covered. Sacrifice, the Netflix bound latest movie from Athena director Romain Gavras, sees Taylor-Joy play a cult leader whose earnest belief that the only way to avert an extinction-level event is to yeet Evans’ down-and-out action star Mike Tyler into a nearby volcano. Sound mad? Well, it looks pretty mad, too. Check out the trailer below;
Well that was a lot to take in, wasn’t it? We weren’t kidding when we said Sacrifice looks mad! Insufferable rich folk everywhere. Eco-warrior-cum-cult-leader Anya Taylor-Joy, all bandana’d up, espousing her faith in the “cleansing power of death”. Chris Evans going full Knives Out shit-eating grin mode. And all that business with the volcano, the supposed extinction of humanity, and a rich vein of ever-welcome anti-capitalist sentiment. Let it never be said that Gavras’ ‘mythical dark comedy’ isn’t going for broke to deliver on each element of its niche micro-genre trifecta here.
The official synopsis for Sacrifice — whose starry ensemble includes the likes of *deep breath* Vincent Cassel, Ambika Mod, Sam Richardson, Charli XCX, John Malkovich, and Salma Hayek-Pinault — reads: “During a star-studded charity gala brimming with celebrities, billionaires, and empty speeches, a movie star in the midst of an existential crisis (Evans) is taken hostage by a radical warrior (Taylor-Joy) and her devoted followers. As the night descends into chaos, both an inward journey and an outward adventure ensue, where the lines between performance and belief — and salvation and sacrifice — begin to blur.”
Whether or not Sacrifice, which has already been dividing critics on the festival circuit, can handle the certifiably bonkers plates it’s spinning or not is anyone’s guess. But with its nuts premise, veritable who’s who of stars driving it, and the promise of some incredibly self-unaware bourgeois elites being made to squirm for a couple of hours, consider us ready and willing to sacrifice our time for Sacrifice when it hits Netflix in the US and France on 16 October. Stay tuned for confirmation of a UK release date in due course.
