Pretty Good

Powerful

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

I think the consensus is that anything released straight-to-DVD is gonna be so bad it's laughable, but that's not always the case to me (though admittedly I love movies in general, so anything decent is worth the time to me). Cruel Intentions 3 has a few good plot twists, some pretty decent acting, a super hot lead girl, and a really good ending. The only thing that kept me from rating this movie a 7 or an 8 was that some of the plot never really felt finished. At 80 minutes or so, this movie could have benefited from ten more minutes to answer these questions.This movie is what you'd expect, it's nowhere near great but it's at least competent, and in my opinion worth watching once if you're a cruel intentions fan. If you liked the Wild Things sequels, Cruel Intentions 3 is along those lines.

I sometimes wonder if the people who make good movies ever feel a pang of anger or disgust when they see somebody else doing a crappy direct-to-DVD sequel of their work. It's not like the original creators are responsible for the talentless mimics who superficially ape their creations. They most times probably don't have a choice and for poor efforts like Cruel Intentions 3 that only copy the idea and form but nothing specific from the first movie, I'm not even sure they get paid for it. But it takes time and energy to make any film and when those efforts produce something worthy, it can't be fun to see someone else do a half-assed job trying to piggy back off your labor and success.Cruel Intentions, itself a modern version of Dangerous Liasons, was the story of amoral and decadent young people playing games of sex and betrayal where Sarah Michelle Geller and Selma Blair made out with each other. By the time they bothered to crap out this thing, that plot was as worn out as a heavily used piece of carbon paper (how's that for a dated reference?) This movie is actually closer to a Star Trek mirror universe version of Beverly Hills 90210 where Dylan has been coated in sleaze, Steve is a psychotic rapist and Brenda…well, she's just an even bigger bitch.Set at an expensive private college that's more like a summer resort than any kind of school, the movie's main characters are Jason and Cassidy (Kerr Smith and Kristina Anapau). She's a jaded rich girl and he's the guy from more humble origins who wants to have sex with her. Jason and Cassidy sit around and talk about what horrible people they are, even though they never do anything bad enough to get themselves on the Jerry Springer show. They're eventually joined by Patrick (Nathan J. Wetheringon), who's supposed to be so evil and twisted he made Jason and Cassidy just look "naughty". Since they're neither all terrible or shocking, Patrick comes off like some aggravated fraternity reject.Those three, surrounded by a cluster of poorly written script fodder, engage in a string of contests where the goal is for somebody to have sex with somebody else. That's pretty much what most college students spend all their time doing anyway, so there's never much of a point to it. The plot plods along with the occasional scene that isn't outright horrible and then concludes with a double cross that only confuses who is actually the evil character in this bunch.Here's the bottom line on Cruel Intentions 3. A couple of bit part actresses take their tops off for a combined total of less than 45 seconds. They look nice but there is no other nudity here. The only violence is an implied rape that happens 99% off camera. The language never gets saltier than an infrequent F-bomb. The young cast all seems reasonably capable, but their roles are less than paper thin and there's never any reason to care if anyone lives or gets run over by a golf cart. And the film ends with a moral that being a screwed up bastard is fun and the only thing that matters is being an even more screwed up bastard than the next guy.If this had been trashier with more naked flesh, profanity and all around debauchery, it might have made a marginally decent flick. However, the substance of Cruel Intentions 3 is simply too tame to overcome the disinterested storytelling and sub-mediocre filmmaking on display here. There are no facepalm moments where it runs completely off the rails. There are also no moments where it gets anywhere close to being interesting. You shouldn't watch this but if you've got a friend who wants to see it for some silly reason, you don't need to run screaming out of the house to get away.

I'm pretty sure that I am in the minority when I say that I prefer the unsophisticated Cruel Intentions 2 over it's self-consciously cool predecessor. Part 3 of the series offers even more sex and nudity, much sleazier wagers, and a totally outrageous plot in which the main characters go to almost any lengths to beat their rivals. Not surprisingly, I found it to be very entertaining.Kerr Smith plays Jason, an annoyingly handsome and rather devious prep school student who, along with his amoral pal Patrick (Nathan Wetherington), has made an art out of seducing hot women. After playing a mean trick on rich bitch Cassidy (played by brunette hottie Kristina Anapau), with whom Jason has a love/hate relationship, the two guys realise that they need a tougher challenge, so they set out to bed two of the least available girls on campus.However, when Patrick uses particularly nasty tactics to achieve his desired results, Jason teams up with Cassidy to teach the scoundrel a lesson.Whilst Cruel Intentions 3 may not be in the least bit believable, with its ridiculously gorgeous yet impossibly wicked characters and extremely unlikely plot developments, it is a whole heap of tacky fun. There's loads of eye candy for both guys and girls, some gratuitous T&A, and lots of wanton debauchery, meaning that those who enjoy titillating and tawdry trash will not be disappointed.

I'm not sure why but I was just curious where they were taking the story of Cruel Intentions. Now if you haven't seen the first Cruel Intentions, I highly recommend it. Cruel Intentions 3 had a very good plot that could have worked and been a worthy sequel, but the way they went at it was all wrong. I wasn't impressed with how unrealistic it was with all these incredibly gorgeous and naive people around, I wasn't even sure if they were in high school or college since some of the students were engaged. It was just weird and unrealistic to me or well explained.Cassidy and Jason are the new Katherine and Sebastian sort of speak. They are very much in love with each other but have a hate relationship as well, they play with each other constantly. Jason goes as far as to involve his new friend Patrick to play Katherine. But their intentions go cruel when they compete for taken ladies and who can do it first. Then they go for Cassidy in the ultimate bet of all and see who is the ultimate smooth operator.Cruel Intentions 3, at least to me, was also very predictable, for me the ending wasn't that big of a shock. But I do like the plot a little bit, like I said, it had very good potential. Just unfortunately, the actors ruined it for me, not to mention how it was made, it just could have been better. But if you wanna check it out, I wouldn't stop you, just because I think it's best you judge for yourself on this film, if you're a Dawson's Creek fan, I think you just might like it.3/10