‘Boy Kills World’ Review

Stars: Bill Skarsgård, Jessica Rothe, Michelle Dockery, Brett Gelman, Famke Janssen | Written by Arend Remmers, Tyler Burton Smith | Directed by Moritz Mohr

In an alternate universe, a young boy is raised by an off-the-grid shaman to become a lethal weapon trained to take down the family responsible for a totalitarian regime. When the boy (Bill Skarsgård) gets older, he takes it upon himself to go after the head of the family Hilda Van der Koy (Famke Janssen) — the woman responsible for killing his mother and sister when he was a child.

When you are a director who has no feature film credits to your name, the cinematic world is your oyster. Neither having to live up to a previously built reputation nor giving over to the commercial industry, anything is possible — and Moritz Mohr proves this is still true in Boy Kills World. In an absolutely bonkers merging of tone, hardcore bloody action becomes one with first-person black comedy, making its own mark on what is possible within the classic hero’s journey. Granted, this doesn’t always work, but the more you stick with Mohr’s vision, the more you get from it.

For fans of a certain animated family, our unnamed boy’s journey is jarring from the get-go. Becoming both mute and deaf in his early training, the boy can no longer remember what he sounded like before the tragic accident. As a result, he co-opts a voice from an arcade game he played with his sister — who just so happens to voice Bob Belcher. With H. Jon Benjamin serving as a voiceover throughout, the boy’s thought process is in fact exactly how Bob would likely approach peppered with misunderstandings and casualties. For much of the first third of Boy Kills World, wrapping your head around this completely takes you out of the moment, alongside the fact that almost no worldbuilding takes place.

With the Van der Koy family controlling a reign of terror, it’s never explained how this came to be, nor what its effects actually are. What viewers do know is that it’s responsible for plenty of compelling action sequences, including the ones that feel too far-fetched — even for a dystopian movie. That being said, the more Boy Kills World goes on, the more it finds its stride, transforming into a riot of authentic toe-curling action by its final chapter. Deaths are as gruesome as you can hope for, although the gags and humor surrounding them often miss the mark. The cast’s performances are solid with Skarsgård leading a silent charge, with Fleabag’s Brett Gelman proving that he really does remain committed to embodying the villain you love to hate.

Boy Kills World is a remarkably big swing in the world of action as we know it, and 70% of the time, it works. However, its unique tone occasionally hits a bum note, taking viewers out of what might be the most unique narrative in the genre.

*** 3/5

Boy Kills World is in cinemas now.