"Ride or Die" Review

Netflix original is neither as representative or entertaining as it wants to be

Reporter Lilly Harris

Netflix Movie Review: Ride or Die

Rating: ⅕

Ride or Die is a Japanese lesbian representation film about how Rei, played by Kiko Mizuhara, kills her friend’s abusive husband. After the husband is killed, Nanae, played by Hona Ikoka, and Rei run away together; falling in love with each other along the way.

I think the concept of the movie is cool, however, It is a horrible representation of a lesbian couple.

A pattern I’ve noticed in the film industry is that woman-loving-woman (lesbian/bisexual/pansexual women) relationships usually turn out to be either killers or psychos.

Most of the time, women-loving-women relationships in movies are only added because people think it’s “attractive” to see two women kissing, which is basically the whole focus of the movie.

It is honestly disgusting to see woman-loving-woman relationships constantly being used for entertainment purposes.

They also make a lesbian character force herself onto a straight woman, which can be seen multiple times throughout the movie. Whenever Rei would try to force herself onto Nanae, she’d always say no and that she doesn’t see Rei in that way.

There are a lot of parts that feel like fillers to make the movie longer.

These clips made the movie boring and drawn out.

I had to stop watching 30 minutes before it ended because of how boring it was.

Throughout the movie, it will cut back to a flashback. While the flashbacks help further the story, they’re really drawn out.

There are also long, pointless car ride scenes that contribute nothing to the movie or storyline.

It honestly feels like filler clips to make the movie longer; they tried to add them to make the movie more interesting, but it did the complete opposite.

Rei lives with her girlfriend Mika, played by Yoko Maki, but drops everything as soon as Nanae calls. I find that strange, because Rei has not seen or even talked to Nanae in about ten years.

When Rei drops everything for Nanae, it’s played off by Rei being in love with her, but it is kind of weird that Rei would kill someone for her, no questions asked.

Plus, in the flashbacks from when they were in highschool, it seemed like that Rei only wanted to sleep with Nanae and wasn’t actually in love with her.

Ride or Die also used the “men bad, women good” trope, which is not only sexist, but also annoying.

None of the women in the movie are seen as bad, even Rei, who literally killed someone and abused Nanae.

On the contrary, pretty much all of the men that played major roles were portrayed as hypersexual and abusive. Nanae’s dad was also said to be abusive.

The trendy feminist trope that has been seen on Netflix for the past year isn’t even feminism, it’s just an excuse to be sexist towards men.

On top of being sexist towards men, Ride or Die is the worst LGBTQ representation movie I have ever seen. It is also extremely drawn out and boring. The only thing that makes it bearable to watch is the actors and actresses.

1/5 stars