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Review: The Killer - 2023

Story - After a fateful near-miss, an assassin battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn't personal.

Cast - Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell

Crew - David Fincher (Director), Andrew Kevin Walker (Writer), Alexis Nolent (Writer), Luc Jacamon (Writer)

Runtime - 118 minutes

         
Living amongst the “normies”

The year is closing and David Fincher offers us a thrilling movie about a hitman taking revenge over an assault made on his girlfriend. It is no surprise Fincher is one of the most critically acclaimed living directors (The Social Network, S7ven, Gone Girl, etc.) and in 2020 he released his first streaming movie, Mank in collaboration with Netflix. The Killer continues this partnership between the Streaming giant and the director.

The Killer, based on the 1998 French graphic novel of the same name, shows us a man who is capable of doing things as meticulously as possible, leaving almost no trace and depicting some creative ways to remove evidence. It is very much made for the "Literally me" crowd or at least those are the ones who will like it the most. 

One of the great things I think is unique to this movie (sorry if there is actually another like this out there) is the use of modern technology and the precise way to ambush people this nameless killer uses against his victims. Buying from Amazon, suing FedEx, copying an NFC card, these are very detailed ways to infiltrate places and I loved every single second of it.

I enjoyed it very much, and while I haven't read the novel I did find some shots to be similar to what a comic would illustrate. Fast-paced, engaging and it really looks like a movie, despite Netflix's awful video compression. I would love to see a Criterion 4K one day.

This movie may feel like a regular hitman movie -God knows how many Liam Neeson assassin movies we have gotten this past 10 years- but it offers us a very compelling revenge story, with masterfully edited sequences that make the action and tension build-up, a main protagonist -played by Michael Fassbender- that with little dialogue and precise movement can convey a real sense of danger. 

         

Final Score - 4.5/5

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