The Killer

No one is special. We are all mere aberrations, but otherwise we are all basically the same. Fincher's philosophizing assassin explains the importance of overcoming boredom and the benefits of diligence. I've never seen a more relaxed and serene opening. It's a balm to the soul and a throwback to the early days of Dexter. Fake smiles, at McDonald's or at an airport counter, Fassbender's emphasis on minimalist, spare and slow speech and a thoughtful, planned out life that goes out of whack at one key moment. Andrew Kevin Walker adapts a comic book about method and the importance of staying on top of things. Fincher chooses to repeat the rules, but they're often broken, to emphasize the hero's inner turmoil, but it doesn't affect his effectiveness. A melancholy quest for revenge seems to be the opposite of John Wick, yet it offers one of the most intense fights between two very different killers, supported by Reznor’s and Ross' restrained (as usual) soundtrack. Emotionless, yet absolutely precisely realised. It is the absence of emotion or some unexpected finesse that prevents The Killer from being anything more than a precise and cool study of people who simply, don't give a... Fuck! (11/11/2023)

The long-awaited film by master craftsman David Fincher (especially with the script written by the mind behind Se7en and Michael Fassbender as the lead) had high expectations. So, could anything possibly go wrong? Fortunately, there were no significant creative missteps from the team, so the film offers a certain level of quality. The Killer maintains a very cold and detached tone throughout (as is typical with Fincher), so don’t expect an emotional rollercoaster. Personally, I appreciated this approach. Presenting the story of a meticulous hitman in this manner feels like a safe bet. The plot benefits from impeccable storytelling (Fassbender's monologues were incredibly engaging) and a polished audiovisual presentation (the change of scenery in each chapter was a nice touch). The soundtrack also made a significant impact at times. As for the action, it's not abundant throughout the nearly two-hour runtime. However, the visceral fight scene in the middle of the film is one of the best I've seen in the genre for a long time; only Jason Bourne might offer a comparable experience. Overall, everything worked out well, except for the ending, which was, at best, peculiar. So, I give it a solid 7.5/10. (12/16/2023)

I was expecting a bombastic thriller from The Killer about a hitman who in his revenge killing spree mode was going to massacre everyone and everything in his way. The thing is that David Fincher is involved and The Killer is a far more "boring" drama with more or less no action, a very low body-count, no shootouts, no emotion and no story. In fact, the film relies purely on Michael Fassbender's face and Fincher's name in the director's chair, but that's not enough for me here. Fassbender has nothing to work with, the film is slow and drawn out, we get nothing of the potential assassin's repertoire, and in fact I search in vain for any element that would save the film and make me remember it even months later. I wasn't bored and the film is perfectly fine to digest, but it's just too "ordinary" and unimaginative, with no distinctive signature. (11/13/2023)

Michael Fassbender moves, walks and uses his voice in an interesting way. And that's all. His soliloquys are as empty as his character’s craft, and we’ve already seen the naturalistic depiction of brutal physical conflict between two cold-blooded professionals elsewhere long ago in more intense performances. The simplicity of the story wouldn’t bother me at all if it were dressed up with imaginative moments, an original psychological profile of the main character and some playing around with the formalistic aspect. However, The Killer offers none of that. The form is pure and precise, but not bold. The encounter with the perfectly cast Tilda Swinton at the table arouses the viewer’s curiosity and interest almost like the face-to-face encounter between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat, but it remains the only scene that I remember from the movie. And that’s just not enough for a David Fincher flick. I unequivocally prefer The American with George Clooney, a similarly minimalistic and creatively distinctive, yet more emotionally engaging profile of an unknown killer. (11/29/2023)

Since David Fincher started collaborating with Netflix, it seems like he's been making whatever he wants, and it's clear that this isn't working out. With The Killer, it feels like he was determined to make a movie about a murderer, a subject he enjoys exploring. However, the result is that Michael Fassbender spends more time narrating than actually acting. Plus, nothing really happens. The film lacks any real emotion. Sure, it's technically proficient — coldly proficient, in fact —but that's about it. (11/13/2023)