This year has been a rather odd one in multiple fields, but especially so for the independent film genre. Due to the incredibly vast number of directorial debuts, the tonal inconsistencies within the independent film genre of 2018 has been rather infinite, to say the least.

Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You”) tried to have a message about capitalism by introducing horse-human hybrids; Bo Burnham (“Eighth Grade”) had an incredibly dark and uncomfortable almost-rape scene in a movie that was supposed to be a coming-of-age story; and Elijah Bynum (“Hot Summer Nights”) tried to do a coming-of-age story, a summer love story and a hard-core drug crime story all in one movie. There was one movie that stood out among the rest, not necessarily for its tonal inconsistencies, but for a lot of other reasons that typically afflict indie films, especially those that are trying to comment on society, and that would be Sam Levinson’s “Assassination Nation.”

The film covers the events that afflict Salem, Massachusetts, after a massive hack leaks all the town residents’ deepest, darkest secrets over the web. This results in all the men going crazy, donning masks, spreading fear, killing people and basically turning into The Purge. This results in the four main characters, Lily (Odessa Young, “Sweet Virginia”), Bex (Hari Nef, “Transparent”), Em (Abra) and Sarah (Suki Waterhouse “Billionaire Boys Club”) having to fight for their lives against the aggressive males.

Here is the first thing this movie’s trailer lied about: it is not an action movie. The trailers made it seem like everything goes nuts right away, but it actually takes quite a while before the craziness begins. While it is not nearly the worst thing about this movie, it is still worth knowing, considering that this is being pitched as “The Purge” meets “American Vandal,” only there is a lot more Vandal than Purge.

The film is exceptionally well-made, the cinematography and editing in particular are some of the best of the year, and the soundtrack, despite being made of primarily trap music, really helps to sell the style. Probably the biggest reason why this does not feel so tonally inconsistent and all over the place is because the director is not making his debut and is the son of Hollywood legend Barry Levinson, who is behind incredible films as “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Rain Man” and “Bugsy.” The performances are also, for the most part, great. Young in particular gives an incredibly raw and almost surrealistic performance, making her future acting career very promising.

Easily this film’s biggest problem, however, is that it has no idea what kind of message it wants to get across. It is trying to be a cautionary tale about the dark side of social media and a statement on aggressive agro-males pretty much running society, with a little bit of transgender rights thrown in there for good measure. It attempts to skirt by on surprisingly engaging dialogue and absolutely incredible camera work and editing, and it almost does.

The entire first half of the film is trying to present the other side of the argument for the never-ending social media debate, but it is done in the worst way possible, which works because it is told from the perspective of dumb, horny, self-obsessed teens. The problem is the film escalates so quickly by the time it gets to its third act that it never really feels like it earns it. This is not to mention the fact that all of the “antagonists,” presented primarily in the form of Lily’s boyfriend Mark (Bill Skarsgard, “Castle Rock”) and neighbor Nick (Joel McHale, “The Happytime Murders”), get little to no development, a characteristic that can be attributed to most of the characters in this film outside of Lily and Bex, a transgender girl.

Overall, “Assassination Nation” is a film that falls victim to a trope in Hollywood that has been mostly dead up until this point: style over substance. It is simply trying to say too many things at once, and that supremely drags down the enjoyment to be had, which is a shame because it is one of the best-looking and well-made films of the year.

Image from Movieclips Trailers via YouTube.com