Veronica Mars Movie Backer Review

Such a rush of emotions after seeing the Veronica Mars Movie.

It was that good and I'm still thinking about that days later.

Crazy how easy it was for the writers and actors to pick up the characters again and bring them to life so easily, and so flawlessly.

A lot of questions remain but with the upcoming Veronica Mars book series, I think we fans will continue to get our fix. As for why Logan joined the U.S. Navy, I have a theory below the cut.

And yes, the Veronica Mars Movie was excellent. I’ve seen it twice in theaters now and I think it was even better the second time because the first time was the fan experience, which was a little sensory overload. 

Kudos to Rob for delving in deeper to Veronica’s adrenaline junky side, her addiction to justice at all costs--even when it came to her relationships, her school work, etc.

I’m glad she recognized that part of her identity instead of running from it as we saw at the end of S3. Some people did criticize Veronica for comparing her addiction to crime solving as being an alcoholic like her mom, but for me it made sense. Here’s why:

1. People do get addicted to their work. 2. Veronica knew she was getting close to something that had wrecked her life and relationships before and she knew she couldn’t justify that she wanted to return full time to being a PI, especially with a boring boyfriend and high paying corporate law job waiting for her unless she realized she wasn’t a normal, boring person as she had been trying to pretend for so long so she made jokes that she was addicted to pass that off. 3. Veronica makes light of her flaws a lot in the history of the show. She made jokes when she hurt her dad in S3 and S2, when she got arrested in S3, etc. making light of a situation when she is uncomfortable about what her actions were saying about her. To me, her addressing her compulsive need to find out “who did it” as part of her identity, and yes a bit of an addiction for her, was a serious step forward for her. Loved it! We’re all addicted to something after all. 

Speaking of character developments, I gasped when we saw Logan wearing Navy whites! Logan looked GOOD and his new career was definitely intriguing. Certainly more of a step up for the character than what he was up to in S3, moping around.

Then after the movie, I was racking my brain trying to figure out how Logan went from beating up the Russian mob dude at end of S3 to joining the military. It’s not unbelievable per say, Logan can be noble, he’s an adrenaline junky in his own way and I remembered him talking about his POW grandfather in a few episodes of VM, calling him the only “decent member of his family" and saving important items from him such as a lighter and a watch. But this development could still use a backstory Veronica Mars Movie writers!

Did the writers remember Logan’s grandpa too? Maybe when Logan was on his own, abandoned by pretty much anyone he’s ever cared about, forced to pick himself up by his own bootstraps (excuse the cliche but damnit, it fits), he decided to enlist/do what his grandfather did because he had nowhere else to go? 

Also happy to report that of all the characters in the movie, Logan appeared to have grown the most. He didn’t pick jealous fights with Sean or Piz over Carrie or Veronica. He saved Keith while calling him Mr. Mars! Aww. He didn’t bail out on his responsibilities with the Navy because Veronica was back in his life. 

I loved that last scene of Veronica and Logan together, it was just beautifully shot and still funny with Veronica’s quip about Logan’s “Harvard mouth.” Grown-up adults and they still have that wonderful chemistry, that magnetic draw between them. They still get each other better than anyone else and that moment confirmed that connection. Yes, Rob Thomas, that’s what we fans paid for! Also, I didn’t think Veronica and Logan would actually sleep together but, yep, thanks again Rob Thomas. The music was great for that moment too, the “Don’t go,” the body language, the hesitation before Logan finally kissed Veronica back. This was the love scene that fans have been wanting to see since the S1 finale but now the characters have the maturity to make it so much better and so much more deserved. 

The reunion fight was great lead up to that, with Weevil and Dick joining in to help Logan and Piz only jumping in to make a point about being as manly as Logan or something, so no kudos for him, but it made his character painfully obviously not the right guy for Veronica. The writers didn’t give us that at the end of S3 so it’s good to finally have the air cleared around that and for them to acknowledge that Veronica’s interest in Piz was actually interest in the anti-Logan. Piz’s lack of a connection with Veronica was totally clear when he whined about his mom’s hair while Veronica was busy clearing an innocent man from murder. He broke up with her for not being around for a few days, whereas Logan and Veronica were prepared to go six months without seeing each other at the end of the film; definitely showing their epicness as a couple. 

Other favorite moments included Veronica digging out her past PI accessories, Mac and Wallace surprising Veronica with going to the reunion party, Keith and Veronica bonding over their Kane Software hate, just like old times. Weevil and Veronica greeting each other so warmly at the reunion. The callouts to their dead classmates. All great moments. 

Since embracing identity was a big theme of the movie, I did find Weevil’s return to being in a bike gang an interesting movie ending for his character. Did he just rejoin to find out who was framing him? Or did he realize he wasn’t content with a nice, normal life like V? Or maybe it was his way of saying that Neptune was becoming a dangerous place for his family to live with Don Lamb and co. trying to get rid of any undesirables, so his best method to fight the corruption was doing what he knows and getting tough again to protect his own?

Overall, the writers crammed a lot of good stuff in the 107 minute running time of the movie. The movie got rid of a lot of annoying threads from S3 (no more Piz, no more Veronica in serious denial, yes!) but still took the characters in a direction that we all want to follow even more. That’s a tall order. 

And the body count. Offing fan favorites like Gia and Sacks? Rob Thomas wasn’t playing. Plus interesting how Veronica is partly to blame for Gia’s death for not doing research on radio stations. I wonder if that will ever be explored. 

I do wish the main mystery of Carrie’s death had been a little more complex and harder to solve, and more deserving of V’s skills. I never thought Gia would’ve been the mastermind so really that only left Luke and the unknown guy... so yes all of that was obvious once we figured out the night at the boat had something to do with Carrie’s death. I also didn’t see what the point of Sean’s character and why he was back for the movie so it would’ve been nice if that had been developed. 

The red herrings were still there though and I thought it was artful that the whole tabloid spying storyline didn’t really have anything to do with why Carrie was murdered but that it just took Veronica down an interesting path--connecting her with Vinnie and Leo. James Franco cameo was my favorite. Like Dick, I could watch the scene of him putting on the skinny jeans a few times at least.

The acting was great all the way throughout too. Kristen Bell is what makes Veronica, Veronica, no doubt. Her jokes, her no-bullshit attitude, the subtle body language towards Logan, the voiceovers, everything fit together again just like it was supposed to. 

I’m glad we got to see Veronica as a confident woman of 28, embracing her passion and her identity. So what if she doesn’t want to use her smarts to make bank or work for big corporations? So what if she protects the innocents and seeks justice above all else? Maybe that’s not normal or smart when you have a law degree and student loans. And maybe her compulsions have ruined relationships before, but both Veronica and audience realized this time it could be different and it could be better. 

That moment at the end where she realized that and smiled... Yes, I paid for that too. It was great being a kickstarter for the Veronica Mars Movie!