‘The Killer’ Review
Stars: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Kerry O’Malley, Sophie Charlotte, Emiliano Pernía, Gabriel Polanco | Written by Alexis Nolent, Luc Jacamon, Andrew Kevin Walker | Directed by David Fincher
David Fincher is back on Netflix. His last project, 2020’s Mank, also shared the comfort of your home on Netflix. It seems Netflix will be the place to find new Fincher films from now on, with the film getting a limited cinema release. There were no screenings of the film anywhere close to me and I, like many, had to wait for the film to drop on the streaming platform. Netflix should look to Apple TV, who have been giving wider, and longer releases to their original films. It is safe to say that the experience Netflix offers affects every film I consume and the latest from Fincher is no different. With distractions all around, at times it can be hard to focus and hone in on the movie itself, exactly what the protagonist of the film doesn’t want in his line of work.
The Killer follows a nameless assassin (Michael Fassbender) who is meticulous and calculated. For the character, every action is woven with clockwork precision, every kill cold and without empathy, like the screen itself. There is a coldness to the film, a distance that’s hard to grasp. The style is so much more than the substance here, but perhaps that’s the point. We never get a character we really care about, but we do get to see him working at the height of his ability. If the nameless, cold assassin is what you’ve been looking for, there might be no better place to go than here. From the streets of Paris to the beaches of the Dominican Republic, Fassbender’s characters sets off on a globe-trotting revenge mission after a hit of his own goes wrong. What we learn early on is just how much patience it takes to be an assassin, to take every possibility into consideration. It’s like filmmaking itself, every decision and every thought needs to be calculated, and like Fincher himself, it doesn’t matter how many takes it takes to get there. In the world of an assassin, there are no multiple takes, you’ve got one shot, and we see the consequences of missing one. The craft throughout the film is something to speak of as everyone on the technical side of the film is working with brilliant timing and mastery. The film features some of the best sound design in recent years that really parallels the professionalism of the lead character.
The film is adapted from a graphic novel by Andrew Kevin Walker. Fincher and Walker have worked together before in 1995’s Seven. Since they have last worked together Fincher’s work has become deeper and more complex throughout his filmography. By the standard of some of Fincher’s work such as Zodiac (2007) and The Social Network (2010), The Killer is relatively simplistic. There are no twists and turns either, it’s a straight shot that runs at an incredible pace, for how patient the film feels, it breezes by and feels easy to watch. Sometimes it is really great to watch people at the top of their game do their job incredibly well, even if that job is an assassin. The issue I had throughout however, was the lack of empathy and care I had for the plot. Although the character is a cold killer who shows no sign of remorse, often telling himself “Forbid empathy. Empathy is weakness. Weakness is vulnerability” there was never any care for the reason for his revenge. I never cared for him going after those who had wronged him, and never cared for the reason why they had wronged him.
If you’re a fan of genre films and of watching people at the height of their ability, doing their job well, this film will be for you. It is great to watch the craft Fincher possesses and watch him use it brilliantly throughout and to watch a film that breezes by with brilliant precision. For me the film felt like it was missing something, I needed something more to pull me into the world and be fully immersed and connected to the character and events. Perhaps, through time, and more rewatches, the film will hit differently, and missing it on that big screen does feel like it makes all the difference.
*** 3/5
The Killer is available to watch on Netflix now.
