The Killer - Movie Review

Critics Score - 7 of 10

General Audience Score - 8 of 10

When it comes to the director David Fincher, his reputation supersedes him. The man has created some undeniably great films, a few of which the general consensus would esteem to be masterpieces including, but not limited to, Zodiac, The Social Network and Se7ev. So when we got news that Netflix was going to get Fincher’s latest project called The Killer starring Michael Fassbender, expectations immediately were through the roof. Well, it has finally arrived, on Nov. 10th we got to sink our teeth into this latest film, but did expectations live up to the hype? This is a much simpler film than many of the directors others, but like the assassin character that Fassbender plays in the film, it is nonetheless focused, methodical and calculated. Fincher’s precision has not lost a step at any point, he creates exactly the films he intends to. But The Killer’s cold calculations, while interesting and fascinating for some audiences and fans of crime dramas, will leave others feeling hollow, with nothing to walk away with other than knowing they just watched a well put together movie. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a good to really good piece of cinema here, but you might just find your blood run cold after staring down the barrel of The Killer.

SYNOPSIS - We get a stylized introduction sequence as the credits appear, clips of different ways to kill a human being from silencers being screwed on pistols to electrocution, poisoning, even a hit and run. But the dark and creepy techno music abruptly cuts, we sit in silence and see shots of construction materials, stacks of metal framing pieces, construction lights and stacks of sheetrock. We begin to hear some birds chirping and the electric buzzing of a space heater as we pan across a room in some kind of office building that’s under construction. Sitting in a folding chair in front of a large open window but laying way back with a coat draped over himself is The Killer (Michael Fassbender), we never learn anybody’s actual names in the film, just their titles. Killer is sitting, (does it feel as weird reading that as it did to type it), and staring out the opening in the early morning hours, keeping an eye on the building across the plaza, when we hear voiceover from him explaining that if you cannot stand boredom, this line of work won’t be for you. Onscreen text fills us in that this is Chapter 1, it’s called The Target and we’re in Paris. As we watch The Killer spend his morning staking out the penthouse suite across the park, we watch his daily routine of listening to The Smiths while stretching, watching people go about their business in the plaza below, then finally running down to McDonalds for some cheap protein. The first fifteen minutes of the film pass as days fall off the calendar for the Killer, the monotony of the job slowly sinking in until finally, the target arrives at the suite. 

An older gentleman and a woman come to stay at the penthouse and The Killer begins to prepare for the kill. He pops in his headphones, How Soon Is Now? by The Smiths fills our ears, and as he goes about his preparations, we more or less enter his mind. He speaks, we hear his voice as an inner monologue as we watch him screw the pieces of his long-range rifle together, put his beige jacket on and get into position. As he finally leans down and looks through the scope and we see the little red crosshairs begin to move around the apartment, he begins to recite to himself his assassins mantra of sorts, “Anticipate, don’t improvise, trust no one, never yield an advantage.” The following sequence is one of the better parts of the entire film, the quick edits, camera angles we get of The Killer looking into the scope, then seeing his finger cradle the trigger, watching him exhale, the song choice, it’s all so fluid and kinetic. You can virtually feel Fincher’s presence leaning over your shoulder as The Killer watches The Target walking around the apartment, then finally sit down on the couch while a woman dressed as a dominatrix emerges and they prepare to get down to some business of their own. But as this hit quickly goes south on The Killer, a tailspin of events ensues from the fallout that leaves The Killer having to watch his every step and then finally, John Wick style, go after the people that attack someone he cares about.

As I briefly mentioned, the direction of this film is felt throughout it’s duration and there are some sequences, one especially brutal fight scene in particular, with edits and camera work that could only have been created with Fincher behind the wheel. He’s a master of visual storytelling, there can be no denying what the man does when you put him behind the camera and yell “action”. Most of the issues I had were with the screenplay, while it is meticulous and focused, much like The Killer himself, it’s also dryer than most of Fincher’s other projects, The Killer having virtually no character arc. To continue with the film and character comparisons, I found the film to be cold and heartless, with nothing much to hold on to, no reason to root for anybody or care about who lives or dies.

Turning our attention to Michael Fassbender, who is near perfect in this role, I cannot think of a better casting choice who could’ve conveyed the quiet calculations and ruthless determination that this character embodies. The soundtrack is also very good, with a few exceptional bright spots during some scenes like I mentioned earlier in the review. The editing is very solid as well, it assists in keeping the pacing up for a majority of it’s almost two hour runtime, in a film called The Killer where only a handful of people are actually killed. But in the end, although I lean positive on this movie, I did find it a bit underwhelming, we’re well aware of what this director is capable of and we get a few tastes of that greatness, but certainly not a full meal.

SUMMARY - Some critics are heralding this film as one of the best of the year, I’m not among them. I enjoyed this film, which general audiences are likely to enjoy quite a bit as well, maybe even a little more, but The Killer just doesn’t quite hit his mark on being among the best films of the year.