So this is Netflix’s much ballyhoo’d David Fincher thriller, a film reuniting the acclaimed director with the screenwriter who wrote his breakout film, “Se7en?”
It’s a hitman tale, beginning with a stalk and a job that finally happens and goes wrong when it does, putting the hitman on the lam until the he decides to seek revenge on those who don’t let mistakes slide.
I was…underwhelmed.
At least nobody kills his dog or steals his muscle car. Yeah, my first impulse is to label “The Killer” “John Wick Lite.”
Two-time Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender plays the callous, calculated and not-that-cool title character in an adaptation of a French comic book series. That explains why he monotonously narrates a running interior monologue for almost the entire two hour running time here.
“I serve no god or country,” he pontificates. “I fly no flag.”
Very comic book.
He recites his on the job rules, his mantra to us and himself every so often, as if he or we have had a chance to forget.
“Stick to the plan. Anticipate, don’t improvise. Never yield an advantage. Fight only the battle you’re paid to fight. Fight empathy.” And remember that one question that will keep him hale, hearty and wealthy.
“What’s in it for me?”
Our hired killer narrates how he settled on his disguise and invents jargon for this “profession” so popular with filmmakers. “Annie Oakley jobs” are sniping, which calls for patient, elaborate prep, long waits in which he monitors his heart rate to prevent over-anxious misses. “Proximity work” is more…personal.
The “blowback” from the blown job sends our killer home to a Dominican Republic estate, where his house has been violated and his girlfriend hospitalized. He decides to take care of this in the cliched hitman movie way — to hunt down the malefactors, middle men and the money men.
Almost everybody on that list has a speech when he gets to them. At least they’re talking out loud, and not in their heads.
That narration, the lazy screenwriter’s favorite crutch, can’t distract from a film that’s simply an extensive collection of genre cliches. There must be gloves, always gloves. The bolt-action rifle must always be assembled, and hastily taken apart after the shot has been fired. Wardrobe must be colorless and nondescript (“German tourist” here). Backup firearms are stashed in a buried safe at home (John Wick needed a sledgehammer to retrieve his). Silencers are screwed onto barrels, rounds are chambered, headshots fired.
The guy never misses. Except he did.
Our killer is comic-book movie-cute in his many aliases written on passports and credit cards as he scampers hither and yon. “Felix Unger, Archibald Bunker, Sam Malone, George Jefferson,” etc.
And oh yeah, likes to listen to music to pace himself, steady his aim. He’s got a thing for The Smiths. “Shoplifters of the World Unite” seems appropriate. “Girlfriend in a Coma?” Too on the nose.
It’s like a comic book version of a cinematically glamorized, seriously unglamorous profession practiced by insensate sociopaths, because it is. Skip the comics and watch “The Iceman” with Michael Shannon if you want a serious, fact-based take on who these psychopaths are and what makes them tick. It’s chilling. This? It’s not much of anything, and certainly not as “cool” as its focus-grouped character “accessories” were supposed to make it.
Tilda Swinton and Arliss Howard are in the supporting cast, and their scenes have a little snap (OK, hers does). But even they can’t make the big speeches memorable.
New Orleans, Chicago and Paris are among the cities visited, but the movie’s stand-out scene is a to-the-death brawl with a Florida Man. Of course.
Nothing else really resonates. The tech is too easily obtained, the targets too readily tracked down, the chases banal, most of the deaths perfunctory.
As the narration droned on, I was reminded of the cliches packed into “Se7en,” way back when. Then I thought of “Zodiac” and remembered how great Fincher can be. Without working from a Kevin Walker script.
And then I glanced at the budget for “The Killer” and wondered, as Netflix might, where the hell $175 million went? Aside from buying music rights?
As Fincher and Fassbender have earned the benefit of the doubt in terms of ambition, “The Killer” leaves one with a dilemma. Is this hit-man mocking satire, a Fincheresque essay on “the banality of evil,” seen via one really dull hitman? Or is it yet more proof of the gullibility of Netflix, signing a blank check to yet another famous filmmaker who indulged himself at their and our expense?
Rating: R, bloody violence, profanity
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Kerry O’Malley and Arliss Howard.
Credits: Directed by David Fincher, scripted by Andrew Kevin Walker, based on the French comic books by Alexis Nolent and Luc Jacamon.
Running time: 1:59
Movie Nation 
Sounds like you want your money back. Oh that’s right you get in free.
It’s Netflix. Try to keep up.
I agree with your review. This was a joyless film. And for most of the movie, I was bored. It’s ironic, since they actually made a point to include boredom as a problem for hired killers. Try watching this movie. Also, I hated the so-called protagonist and didn’t care what happened to him. So there I am, watching this film, bored and hating the lead character who is in almost every frame, so my mind starts to wander. I start picking up on the little things that also made watching this terrible film more of a chore. Like, Fassbender using well known 1970’s TV characters name’s as false identities. I’m sorry, but if your trying to travel anonymously and under the radar to elude people who are trying trying to track you down and kill you, why on earth would you bring more attention to yourself by using famous names form TV shows? I get it…they were trying to be funny and clever. But it wasn’t. It was just plain stupid. I could go on and on…but I won’t. Suffice to say this is David Fincher’s worst film. And he directed Alien 3. Which was a mess. But from what I have read, that really wasn’t his fault. No such excuse this time. This one’s on him.
Comic book adaptations are a snake eating a snake eating its own tail. They take ideas and stories and characters and themes from other media and boil them down to the simplistic.
Most comics aren’t “researched,” save for the odd World War II/Battle of Thermopylae tale. I imagine the French fellows who made this watched a few Luc Besson movies — “La Femme Nikita,” “Leon,” etc. — and said “Voila! Let’s write a hitman comic.” It’s all a glib gloss on the tropes of movies about the “profession,” which have little to do with reality. That said, the comic might have been a good jumping off point for a far better script. Fassbender is Fassbender and Finch is Finch, but they just took Netflix’s money and Finch tossed a bone to his “Se7en” screenwriter.
I disagree. I found it very entertaining. Fassbender is always fascinating to watch and he’s in nearly every single shot.
I stopped watching after 15 minutes
It’s dull.
Well. I actually liked it. A bit gruesome in it’s portrait of a psychopath, but probably pretty much true to form. The way it plays with his mental stream of thought and leaves the audience in a knowing place as it is happening, and yet still full of narrative surprises it is entertaining in its way. It’s ok if you didn’t like it though. It was was still engaging for me.
You must have never seen a hitman thriller if you saw anything in this as “surprises.”
You seem terribly invested in proving that your opinion is the only valid one. That’s just an example of ego to me. Again. Fine if you don’t like it. So called critics are not the only valid ones.
Never read a review before? What you call “invested” is giving examples to make my case. I think I did. You can disagree with that, but that means “investing” in providing for a counter argument. Everybody has an opinion. Not all opinions are “equal,” though. tried to back mine up. You seem irked at all the shortcomings I laid out that you didn’t consider or lack the background to identify and use in deciding whether something’s “great” or maybe slow and shallow and puerile and pandering to easier marks.
Have to agree, fairly boring 😴
There was a reason for the clichés in Se7en to fool you to think you were watching another dumb Hollywood film and Se7en definitely is not that best fincher film he will never top
Great film, it feels your mind was made up prior to your viewing—
“Nope” on both accounts. Although I did have high expectations for this, and felt increasingly frustrated by Fincher’s desire to bore us with tropes and cliches in a movie that’s too eager to make its “banality of evil” point utterly banal.
Consider this: it’s a comedy.
Considered at the time. Alas, that works no better, does it?: Unless you find Felix Unger/Oscar Madison references and others from 40 and 50 year old Sitcoms knee slappers.
It’s self aware that those are corny aliases. The Killer thinks he is hot shit and so cold blooded, but his actions throughout the movie show he is not as good as he thinks he is. The movie is a means for Fincher to poke fun at himself, seeing as he has a reputation for being a neurotic perfectionist, but even a master can miss sometimes (i.e., Mank).
Perhaps if you’d seen Fassbender try comedy (“Next Goal Wins”) or if you knew anything about Fincher — who has deglamourized killers in other films, admittedly — and took 15 seconds to realize how much you’re overestimating the screenwriter, you’d sit in the corner and blush at your silly supposition.
Completely agree. I expected much more from this. Then when it ended I was thinking… that’s it? The opening 15 minutes or so, until he messed up, had me intrigued. But then the cliches kicked in. The fight was good, but that was by far the most exciting part and the only part that was.
It’s an old school styled film. If your idea of good cinema is “Top Gun Maverick” or “The Fast and the Furious,” chances are against your enjoyment of it. It’s visceral, requiring one to think, and not loaded with special effects or chase scenes that last half an hour. It has substance, and lacks a lot of synthetic scenarios that have dulled the minds of many regarding good storytelling. It’s a 5/5 star film and one of Fincher’s best.
“Substance?” The lack of action and entertainment value doesn’t imply “depth” any more than making a comic book adaptation “dark” makes it anything more than an all-surface-gloss comic book adaptation. Voice-overing everybody to death is your “tell.” The Emperor has no clothes, friend.
I’m not concerned with the comic book or anything of the sort. I will say that we’re all entitled to our own taste regarding film, but when I say substance, I’m referring to things like his motives for hunting down the people who harmed his companion. It was all about his vengeance in that regard, or love. As well as the fact that it appeared he was getting out of the game in the final scene (with his lady by his side). It seemed a classic ending, in my opinion.
However, let’s not pretend that this film comes close to the mass entertainment value of a story like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” I do, however, think it is a good film worth watching.
Fair enough. But everything you mention there is a pretty tired trope of the genre, which is why I listed many of them in the review. We expect Next Level from David Fincher. This isn’t close to even being a “genre best.”
Jesus. That amazing fight scene? Tilda Swinton getting iced?! The Smiths best jams??!! What f–kin movie did YOU watch?
It’s one of the only interesting, entertaining films out.
That budget IS a little high for something like this, but holy shit- what a fun film.
If you’re jonesing on the music he listens to through his headphones, you’re grasping for something, anything, that held onto you. You must’ve walked in and out of the room. A lot. Tedious talk talk talk repeating the endlessly recycled fundamentals of “the movie version” of what hit men are. One Bond film level fight, a couple of speeches, several “perfunctory” killings not all that novel for the genre, and “Are we not entertained?”
I feel validated after reading this review, I felt the same away about this movie, for all of the same reasons. It’s a solid “meh” for me. And the fight scene with Florida man was ridiculous, they stepped out of mundane realism for comic book super hero levels of ability to absorb punishment.
I’ve seen this character before in The Virtuoso, with Anson Mount. The Hitman that talks to himself in his head. The critics regurgitated the same reviews for that one too. People like to watch Hitman films, and Hollywood loves to make them. I’ll give it a watch some day. Although the connection to Se7en is disappointing considering.
No one can say anything negative about Se7en. That’s a true classic. Perfect casting, brilliantly directed, and amazing acting. I can watch it over and over again. Dark, disturbing, and memorable. Its up there with the classic, Silence of the Lambs, which stars Anthony Hopkins, who was also in The Virtuoso, coincidentally.
The only overt connection to “Se7en” is the shared director and miss or hit screenwriter. Given the price tag, one does wonder if he’s just getting that Netflix Overpays money. At least with “Mank,” you got the sense he was aiming high.
I really enjoyed this movie.
I didn’t know it was based on a comic book.
I see it though.
Are you not entertained ? I was!
I love the movie. There was no humping of female characters. Even though Swinton scene was short, it was clean and precisely done. There wasn’t any cute dogs, but only one fierce one that knew his job. You never know who is watching you and how it’s so easy to break into to a place and avoid security.