Descent (2007)

PAYBACK, WITH INTEREST Much of Descent's revenge tale meanders, but Dawson gets your attention in the end

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It's been a while since we saw a demagogic feminist exploitation revenge drama, and Descent, while top-heavy with ''agenda,'' is shrewdly done. Rosario Dawson goes deep into fear and loathing as Maya, a college student who gets date-raped by the creepily charismatic Jared — played by Chad Faust as a new screen type: an intellectual jock sociopath. Maya's descent into druggy oblivion is too aimless, but the movie regains its intensity for her shocking payback — a scene that will give any liberal pause, if only to acknowledge the primal power of eye-for-an-eye justice.