Movie Review: The Thinning: New World Order (2018)

The movie stars Peyton List, Logan Paul, Lia Marie Johnson, Callum Worthy and Matthew Glave.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Thinning when I had an opportunity to watch it earlier this week and, when I saw this sequel was available via my YouTube TV subscription, I decided to watch it right away. After finishing it this morning, my opinion of it was mixed.

On one hand, I thought the overall premise was an intriguing one. The idea of a corporation becoming so powerful, it can control a presidential candidate and create a system that generates a potentially endless supply of slave labor isn't that farfetched of a concept.

I also thought the movie had a good mix of action and suspense as well as a nice overwhelming sense of hopelessness attached to the main characters' objectives. This kept things interesting, especially since the bad guys seemed to always be at least one step ahead of them. This did keep me on the edge of my seat at times as a result.

Unfortunately, while the movie had a lot of good things going for it, those things only really work if you don't put a whole lot of thought into it. For example, I'm still not convinced the whole fake execution thing would work in real life because I would find it very hard to believe no parents would ask to see their child's body inside the (empty) coffin.

The movie also did become somewhat predictable at times. There wasn't anything that made it unwatchable, but the film's "surprise" twists would be obvious to anyone who has watched an action thriller before.

I'm also still not a fan of the desperate attempt to mix in a romantic subplot to a movie that really doesn't need one. it's one thing to have Blake (Paul) to take risks to help Ellie (Johnson), a woman he has had a long-time relationship with. It's another thing to make that into a love triangle by also having sparks between him and Laina (List). Either way, it just doesn't add anything of real substance to the plot.

Overall, I didn't hate the movie. However, I do feel this film expanded the overall plot of the franchise to a point where it is a lot less believable or, at minimum, has a lot of holes. That being said, it's still worth watching if you enjoyed the first film.

My Grade: B-