The Killer (2023)

 

Genre: Thriller/ Crime

Time: 1h 58mins

Director: David Fincher

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

I find it absolutely brilliant that even though this assassin completely messes up a super big hit, he is chill about it. He casually picks up his stuff and leaves. This guy is methodical and knows what to do for every second, saying to himself throughout the film "anticipation don't improvise." and "stick to the plan". He never allows himself to feel empathy and follows his plans down to the smallest of details. Though he has a brilliant sense of dark dry humour that I really enjoyed throughout. His constant monologue stayed calm throughout, even through the most stressful situations which shows how well he has trained himself.

As well, to further his being such a bizarre guy, his only form of music is the Smiths which plays out throughout the film, getting quieter and louder depending on the situation. Such as when he's listening to it in the car, each time we have a shot outside the car it goes quiet and sort of muffled, or he's monologing in his head. It was jarring at times admittedly as it would do this through quick snappy cuts, and I'm not entirely sure I liked it, but it was pretty cool honestly.

Whilst being someone who is supposedly reserved and cold, he does a complete turnover to act out revenge on the people who attacked his girlfriend, all whilst justifying what he's doing and almost convincing himself that it is a necessary thing to do. I do really like, that even though this guy who can so easily take someone's life without a single moment of care, still has a small amount of humanity in him. It's a constant battle between keeping emotionally self-controlled and acting out a personal venttada.

Appearance-wise, the film is dark and gritty. It was hard to see what was happening in some parts due to how dark it was overall, and a lot of the background scenery was dull and wasn't that interesting. But that wasn't the focus, it was our main protagonist and listening to him.

Admittedly, the pacing was a bit strange at times. Nothing was dragged out, but I feel like this could have really used a bit longer run time, just to add some more weight to some scenes that felt a little cut short. As well, this type of story has been done a lot over the years, it's a basic investigation and revenge set-up that we've seen before. The motivations are a little bit basic and we didn't get enough of his home life to warrant the revenge from the viewer's side of things, as we are only introduced to this when the attack has happened. 

This is thrilling throughout, there's constant tension of is his plan going to work or will get caught doing this sketchy thing such as casually walking into places he shouldn't be. It sticks closely to the narrative and doesn't add anything to puff out the story, though like I said maybe a few little moments would have been nice. But I am so glad there were no subplots thrown into this. 

Whilst this isn't perfect, it's still such an engaging watch that I enjoyed throughout. I felt like the ending was cut short a bit too quickly. Micheal Fassbender was honestly brilliant and I'm so glad to see him back in films. 

8/10

"Stick to your plan. Trust nobody."

"Empathy is weakness. Weakness is vulnerability."

"This is what it takes. My process is purely logistical. If I'm effective, it's because of one thing. I don't give a fuck."

"Anticipate, don't improvise."