movie review the killer

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David Fincher's The Killer First Reviews: A Gritty, Straightforward, and Surprisingly Funny Thriller

Critics at the venice film festival say fincher's latest echoes some of his past work — and other similar thrillers — but it's more accessible and narrowly focused, and michael fassbender is captivating in the title role..

TAGGED AS: festivals , First Reviews , movies

Here’s what critics are saying about David Fincher’s The Killer :

What can fans expect from The Killer ?

“A return to form for Fincher… A welcomed reminder that when it comes to gritty investigations of violent circumstances, few people can do it better.” – Josh Parham, Next Best Picture

“An accomplished and entertaining thriller.” – Jo-Ann Titmarsh, London Evening Standard

“A thriller of pure surface and style and managed with terrific flair.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“If you ever wondered what Fincher’s Bond might have looked like, this could be it.” – Jane Crowther, Total Film

“ The Killer is an anti-Bond, anti-super-cool-assassin film, an exercise in subverting expectations.” – Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter

“ The Killer is almost a B-movie, committing to the trappings of its genre and embracing schlockiness like previous Fincher films Panic Room and The Game .” – Adam Solomons, Awards Watch

“The Jeanne Dielman of assassin movies.” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire

(Photo by ©Netflix)

How does it compare to other Fincher movies?

“This is Fincher at his most accessible.” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire

“Though it doesn’t have the complexity of Zodiac or the resonance of The Social Network , this may be Fincher’s sleekest and most uncomplicatedly entertaining film of the current century.” – Donald Clarke, Irish Times

“It’s one of the filmmaker’s more commercial movies [with] a layer of added nuance.” – Jane Crowther, Total Film

“It’s the smallest-scale and most intimately focused movie of Fincher’s career.” – Adam Solomons, Awards Watch

“ The Killer is the simplest, most straightforward, and superficial narrative of his filmography.” – Manuel São Bento, FandomWire

“It is genuinely startling that this chilly hit-man drama feels most like a sideways follow-up to The Social Network than anything else.” – Ben Croll, The Wrap

“It’s a lurid crime thriller that, to some degree, chimes with Fincher’s 1995 masterpiece Se7en .” – James Mottram, South China Morning Post

“While this isn’t the brilliant Zodiac , it isn’t the paltry Mank , either.” – Rafaela Sales Ross, The Playlist

But haven’t we seen this kind of movie before?

“While it certainly holds our attention, [it] starts to seem more and more like heightened but conventional variations on the actions of a whole lot of characters we’ve seen in a lot of other thrillers.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

“There’s nothing about this hit man (seemingly emotionless but fragile on the inside) that’s particularly different from thousands of other big-screen hit men.” – Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict

What makes The Killer better?

“What elevates The Killer are its loftier ideas about the rules for life we impose on ourselves, and what it means to be, sometimes, unexceptional like everyone else.” – Adam Solomons, Awards Watch

“What it has to offer that’s any different from countless similar tales lies in the minutiae rather than the mayhem.” – Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict

“Watching a master filmmaker and a masterful actor quietly go to work on a by-the-numbers revenge rampage story is never a bad thing.” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire

“Instead of overloading his story with fussy layers, Fincher pares everything back to the genre’s essence… In Fincher’s hands, that narrowed focus expands the genre’s possibilities rather than shrinking them.” – Stephanie Zacharek, TIME Magazine

How is Michael Fassbender’s performance?

“Fassbender is hauntingly mesmerizing.” – Manuel São Bento, FandomWire

“Fassbender is consistently a captivating force… an appropriate vessel.” – Josh Parham, Next Best Picture

“Fassbender is eerily effective in his embodiment of utter emotionlessness.” – Rafaela Sales Ross, The Playlist

“He hasn’t sat with such intensity since Hunger .” – Rory O’Connor, The Film Stage

“His performance here most resembles his work in X-Men: First Class .” – Adam Solomons, Awards Watch

Is it worth watching for the action?

“There’s some nifty hand-to-hand combat, shot in tasteful low light — the sight of two silhouettes beating the crap out of one another becomes a kind of shadow-puppetry.” – Stephanie Zacharek, TIME Magazine

“A stand-out fight scene is chaotic enough that it really looks like two men kicking the ever-loving Christ out of each other, instead of like a choreographed dance.” – Hannah Strong, Little White Lies

“The off-the-rails violence is as balletic and beautiful as Amazing Amy Dunne slashing open Neil Patrick Harris’ throat in Gone Girl .” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire

“As carefully made and, at moments, ingenious as it is, the film never matches that opening sequence for sheer screw-tightening excitement.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Is the film funny as well?

“Absolutely hilarious.” – Serena Seghedoni, Loud and Clear Reviews

“The filmmakers wring an awful lot of wit from this frigid world. Andrew Kevin Walker’s screenplay is chock-full of delicious lines delivered by Fassbender in a deadpan VoiceOver.” – Ben Croll, The Wrap

“The gags are plentiful – whether that’s Tilda Swinton telling a bear joke, a close-to-the-bone comment about a wheelie bin, or the comedic appearance of a parmesan grater during a terrific house brawl.” – Jane Crowther, Total Film

“For all its grimness, The Killer is, indeed, something of a big joke throughout.” – Donald Clarke, Irish Times

The Killer premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2023. It opens in theaters in limited release on October 27, 2023 before hitting Netflix on November 10, 2023.

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‘The Killer’ Review: David Fincher’s Hitman Thriller Is a Portrait of a Coldly Methodical Assassin Played by Michael Fassbender

It's all homicidal procedure: gripping at times, more conventional than Fincher thinks at others.

By Owen Gleiberman

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In the bravura opening sequence of David Fincher ’s “ The Killer ,” we watch the title character, a cold-as-dry-ice professional hitman who is never named, as he prepares to assassinate his latest victim. The hit is taking place in Paris, and the target is some sort of powerful corporate tycoon who we, like the killer, know nothing about. His home occupies the entire penthouse floor of one of those ornate block-long Parisian apartment buildings. The killer, who is played by Michael Fassbender , has set up his sniper’s nest in an empty, darkened WeWork space across the street.

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The posters and ads for “The Killer,” a Netflix movie that’s premiering at the Venice Film festival, feature a terrific tagline: “Execution is everything.” The pun is crystal clear in its cleverness, yet there’s a third layer of meaning to it. For just as the killer’s execution of his job depends on coldly calibrating every moment (no empathy, no mistakes), Fincher has made “The Killer” with more or less the same attitude. The film is based on a French graphic novel, written by Alexis “Matz” Nolent and illustrated by Luc Jacamon, that was published in 12 volumes starting in 1998. And as staged by Fincher, from a meticulous bare-bones script by Andrew Kevin Walker (who wrote Fincher’s “Se7en”), the film is all about its own execution. It’s a minimalist nihilist action opera of procedure .

In that opening sequence, it works brilliantly, never more so than when the control-freak precision suddenly falls apart. For the killing does not go as planned. The target has a visitor, a statuesque woman done up in designer S&M regalia, and let’s just say that her presence gets in the way. When the hit fails to come off, it’s a major mess-up, and Fassbender, toting his lethal equipment and hopping on a motorbike, is as diligent and detail-oriented escaping from the crime scene as he was in setting it up.

But his cool façade starts to melt away after he takes a plane to the Dominican Republic, where he has a large house, which has been invaded. He rushes to the hospital, where his live-in partner (Sophie Charlotte) is laying in bed on a respirator. She has been attacked by goons who were hunting for Fassbender. As we learn, she told them nothing. But these are the stakes: You don’t screw up a hit like the one in the opening sequence without consequences. The forces of execution are now after him.

I don’t want to give away much more of “The Killer,” because the movie is all about discovering Fassbender’s journey of vengeance and self-defense right along with him. But I will say this: As carefully made and, at moments, ingenious as it is, the film never matches that opening sequence for sheer screw-tightening excitement. What the Fassbender character goes on to do, while it certainly holds our attention, starts to seem more and more like heightened but conventional variations on the actions of a whole lot of characters we’ve seen in a lot of other thrillers.

Fassbender learns that there were two executioners who came after him at his Dominican Republic home, and he’s got to confront both of him. He also has to find out who the original client was, and he does that, in one of the film’s more gripping sequences, by dressing as a delivery man with an oversize plastic waste bin and sneaking into the office of Hodges (Charles Parnell), the lawyer who recruited him into this business.

But watching the heroes of thrillers act with brutal efficiency (and a total lack of empathy for their victims) is not exactly novel. It’s there in every Jason Statham movie, in the Bond films, you name it. “The Killer” is trying to be something different, something more “real,” as if Fassbender were playing not just another genre character but an actual hitman. That’s why he has to use a pulse monitor to make sure his heartbeat is down to 72 before he pulls the trigger. It’s why he’s hooked on the Smiths, with their languid romantic anti-romanticism — though as catchy a motif as that is, you may start to think: If he’s such a real person, doesn’t he ever listen to music that’s not the Smiths? In “The Killer,” David Fincher is hooked on his own obsession with technique, his mystique of filmmaking-as-virtuoso-procedure. It’s not that he’s anything less than great at it, but he may think there’s more shading, more revelation in how he has staged “The Killer” than there actually is.

Fassbender, with his morose anonymity, is the perfect actor to inhabit this role, his sullen snake-like glare emitting silent notes of rage and fear. Yet it’s not like we ever feel close to this dude. And there’s one key episode that, for me, didn’t parse at all. Fassbender faces off against another killer, played by Tilda Swinton, and whatever excitement one feels at the casting is undermined by the decision to have Swinton play the character as a kind of abashed and typical British gentlewoman. Why does Fassbender get to go all cold-crazy-socio while Swinton doesn’t have the chance to create her own fatal stone freak? It feels like a lost opportunity, a stacked deck, and a case of a movie devoted to procedure suddenly winging its own rules.

Reviewed at Venice Film Festival, Sept. 3, 2023. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 118 MIN.

• Production: A Netflix release of a Plan B Entertainment, Boom! Studios, Panic Pictures (II) production. Producer: Ceán Chaffin.
• Crew: Director: David Fincher. Screenplay: Andrew Kevin Walker. Camera: Erik Messerschmidt. Editor: Kirk Baxter. Music: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross.
• With: Michael Fassbender, Arliss Howard, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Sophie Charlotte, Kerrey O’Malley, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte.

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

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

• David Fincher
• Alexis Nolent
• Luc Jacamon
• Andrew Kevin Walker
• Michael Fassbender
• Tilda Swinton
• Charles Parnell
• 926 User reviews
• 288 Critic reviews
• 73 Metascore
• 2 wins & 39 nominations

Top cast 59

• The Lawyer - Hodges

• The Client - Claybourne

• Bodyguard 1

• The Dominatrix

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• Airline Ticket Agent
• Female Doctor

• FedEx Clerk
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• Trivia The graphic novel "The Killer" (written by Alexis Nolent , illustrated by Luc Jacamon ) has been a passion project for David Fincher for nearly 20 years.
• Goofs The pistol the Killer uses to shoot his victims does not have a suppressor attached, it is a muzzle brake, which would not silence the gunshots.

The Killer : Of those who like to put their faith in mankind's inherent goodness, I have to ask- based on what, exactly?

• Connections Featured in Amanda the Jedi Show: Why does Netflix keep Killing their movies? | The Killer (2023)
• Soundtracks Well I Wonder Written by Morrissey (as Steven Morrissey) and Johnny Marr Performed by The Smiths Courtesy of Warner Music U.K. Ltd. By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User reviews 926

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• November 10, 2023 (United States)
• United States
• Official Netflix
• St Charles, Illinois, USA
• Archaia Entertainment
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• Runtime 1 hour 58 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Digital

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The Killer Reviews

“The Killer” is a slickly crafted beast that leaves you clutching your seat as its psychotic protagonist follows his mission through to its predictably bloody conclusion.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 19, 2024

The Killer is not a good film, it is misguided from beginning to end. Why should anyone care about the central character or most of the others?

Full Review | Jul 11, 2024

It's pure Fincher on all fronts, and that's reason to rejoice.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 5, 2024

The Killer is David Fincher playing to his cold and precise strengths, to a mostly positive execution.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jul 2, 2024

This is the worst dressed, most haggard cinematic assassin in recent memory, with the ugliest beach villa.

Full Review | May 29, 2024

The Killer does provide a fine showcase for some expert close-up fight choreography, but the same attention to detail doesn't extend to the film's contrived, confusing plot and lazy stock characters.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 27, 2024

It plays like a John Wick flick for people who think they’re too good for a John Wick flick.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Mar 12, 2024

The Killer evaporates before your eyes, undone by an obtrusive voiceover narration that undermines its sleek minimalism at nearly every turn.

Full Review | Mar 11, 2024

Just like only David Fincher knows how to do it. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 23, 2024

A stark and stylish hit man drama that makes maximum use of the magnetism of Michael Fassbender.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 15, 2024

Even the fact that the film itself is a technical marvel, sleek perfection from start to finish, is part of the gag.

Full Review | Jan 4, 2024

The Killer is a self-referential work in which Fincher acknowledges his own reputation as a controlling director and digs under the surface to find the quivering child beneath. He’s there, but you have to look for him.

Full Review | Jan 3, 2024

The Killer feels like the Rosetta Stone for David Fincher: the core of his entire thesis as an artist.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jan 1, 2024

A satisfying film, yet I can't tell whether Fincher appreciates that his variations on the formula are still formula.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 29, 2023

An uneven revenge thriller without the emotional depth to match its visual prowess. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 29, 2023

In "The Killer,” a superb Fassbender is at the heart of almost every frame of the film. You could call it a Shakespearean performance. His acting in the thought-provoking, existential movie is a tour-de-force.

Full Review | Dec 29, 2023

Death, “The Killer” seems to say, is just another commodity — like office space at WeWork or a McDonald’s hamburger — and Fincher depicts Fassbender’s assassin as the Grim Reaper as the ultimate vulture capitalist.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 23, 2023

Michael Fassbender, another artist who should also have two Oscars, gives a restrained yet potent portrait of a man who must suddenly protect what he loves. Add a stunning turn by Tilda Swinton...

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Dec 21, 2023

David Fincher strips away the assassination thriller to its essentials ...

Full Review | Dec 16, 2023

Fassbender kills it as The Killer.

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What happens when a hit man misses his mark? 'The Killer' is about to find out

Justin Chang

Michael Fassbender plays an assassin on the run in The Killer. Netflix hide caption

Michael Fassbender plays an assassin on the run in The Killer.

David Fincher has had murder on his mind for so long, in thrillers like Se7en , Zodiac and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, that you almost have to laugh at his new movie's no-nonsense title: The Killer . It's adapted from a French graphic novel series by Alexis "Matz" Nolent and Luc Jacamon, about a hit man played here with cool precision by Michael Fassbender .

We never learn the killer's name; he has countless aliases and fake passports, which he uses to travel the globe, killing rich, powerful people at the behest of other rich, powerful people. He isn't troubled by questions of motive, let alone morality. For him, killing is just a job, one that demands the utmost commitment, patience and discipline, as he tells us in the acidly funny voiceover narration that runs through the movie.

The movie begins in Paris, where the killer has been hiding out for days in an empty WeWork space, waiting for his target, who lives in a swanky apartment across the street. We follow every detail of the killer's routine: the carefully scheduled naps, the fast-food runs, the yoga stretches he does to stay limber. He listens to The Smiths , his favorite band. And he uses a watch to monitor his pulse; his heart rate needs to be below 60 beats per minute when the time finally comes to pull the trigger.

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But in a rare moment of bad luck for him, this particular job goes horribly awry, and he misses his mark. Amid the bloody fallout, he somehow manages a clean getaway: There's a beautifully edited sequence of Fassbender speeding through Paris at night on his motorcycle, discarding pieces of his rifle in different trash bins while Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross ' haunting electronic score surges in the background.

But the consequences of his mistake are immediate and devastating. Arriving back at his hideaway in the Dominican Republic, he finds that assailants have broken in and attacked his girlfriend, who barely managed to survive and is now hospitalized. The killer's employers, trying to mollify their disgruntled client, have clearly turned the tables on him — and he decides to repay them in kind. Killing, something that's so impersonal for him, has suddenly become deeply personal.

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The plot, as laid out in Andrew Kevin Walker's perfectly paced script, is fairly standard revenge-thriller business. The killer's mission takes him to cities including New Orleans, New York and Chicago, where he breaks into his employers' office, gathers information and leaves a trail of bodies in his wake.

But the beauty of Fincher's filmmaking, as always, is in the ultra-meticulous details; this is a process movie in which the mundane becomes mesmerizing. The violence is startling but relatively brief. We spend a lot more time watching the killer make supply runs to hardware stores, Amazon delivery lockers and his own personal storage units around the country.

As in Fincher's 1999 classic, Fight Club , there's a whiff of late-capitalist satire here: After all, what is the killer but just another participant in the gig economy, only with above-average pay and especially lethal occupational hazards?

Who's Worth Your Trust In Fincher's Moody, Atmospheric 'Gone Girl'?

As he goes about his mission, the killer keeps repeating the same mantras: "Stick to the plan. Forbid empathy." The viewer, however, may feel sorry for some of the unlucky few who find themselves in the killer's sights — OK, maybe not the Brute, a hulking adversary who gets taken down in one bone-crunching, furniture-smashing action setpiece. But you can't help but feel for a rival assassin, played to perfection by Tilda Swinton in one exquisitely written and directed scene.

Spacey And Fincher Make A 'House Of Cards'

Fassbender's performance is also a thing of chilled beauty; like Alain Delon in Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 hit-man classic, Le Samouraï , he gives a cipher-like man of action an undeniable glimmer of soul. Even as he dispenses his glib aphorisms and spills his trade secrets in his running commentary, Fassbender's killer retains a crucial air of mystery. No matter how carefully he plots his every move, he still proves capable of surprising himself and us.

I'm not suggesting his story cries out for a sequel, but by the time this very dark comedy reaches its strangely sunny ending, you're curious to see what job this killer — and Fincher himself — might take on next.

Review: In ‘The Killer,’ David Fincher goes back to basics and proves he’s still untouchable

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David Fincher began his career by doing simple things perfectly — so perfectly, they approached a spooky kind of rush. A Madonna video. A Brad Pitt serial killer movie . Later, the excitement was in watching him take on not -so-simple things, often continuing to do them perfectly. Another serial killer movie, this one darker and more suggestive. A film about Facebook and backstabbing . If Fincher has since gotten too fancy with his choice of material, there’s always the possibility of that flash returning.

“The Killer” is that moment and you realize it almost immediately (and not just because of his savage, sliced-up Venetian blinds of a credit sequence, tenderizing us beforehand). The blood-simple plot begins in Paris with an assassin, never named, on an “Annie Oakley job,” lining up his target in an adjacent building with a scoped rifle. The guy in the chair is played by Michael Fassbender, leaning into a kind of hyperfunctional blandness. Even as he coos his mantras in voice-over, they’re so banal, they come across like a narcotizing aural carpet: the cat calendar of murder tips (“Don’t improvise,” “Forbid empathy”).

In short, he’s a person about to do a simple thing perfectly. (“The Killer” is almost certainly Fincher’s most autobiographical film.) But in a microsecond of exploding glass, it all goes wrong, sending our shooter out onto the street, zooming through traffic and boarding international flights in order to get to the bottom of an already grisly piece of business. He arms himself amply. It’s the kind of no-nonsense revenge story that directors like John Boorman (1967’s “Point Blank”) or France’s Jean-Pierre Melville (the Alain Delon-starring “Le Samouraï” ) used to elevate into high art.

But don’t confuse this one with high art. Don’t look for a wider cultural meaning. That’s by design. Adapted from a somewhat one-dimensional series of French comics by writer Alexis “Matz” Nolent and the artist Luc Jacamon — and further flattened out by “Seven” screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker — “The Killer” is an opportunity for America’s most stylish director to reboot, to get back to basics, to come in under two hours. I don’t even think the audience figured into it. Can a movie be made up of six chapters of violence, each one cut with vicious economy (by Fincher’s longtime editor Kirk Baxter), with no resort to flowery gangster language or metaphysical meandering?

You may find the lull of methodical process hypnotizing. In “The Killer,” you see everything Fincher does well, but in bursts. An icy but thawing Tilda Swinton shows up in one section for the kind of chessboard sparring that “Zodiac” was built on. (It’s also a reminder that this director needs only a corner table, two actors and a flight of whiskey to set off sparks.) An abandoned WeWork office — the perfect place for a stakeout — and a running gag about using sitcom names as aliases bring to mind the anti-corporate glint of “Fight Club.” And one extraordinary sequence of hand-to-hand combat, Erik Messerschmidt ’s camera painting in near-abstract darkness, is as sleek as anything in “Panic Room” or “Gone Girl.”

Fassbender empties himself out for the assignment, blending into the anonymity of car-rental checkout desks and Amazon pickup lockers. He’s just a dude on a ferry, disposing of a body part late at night. For somebody constantly monologuing, he’s perversely opaque. The performance isn’t quite AI-grade but there’s some kind of algorithm working in Fassbender’s head, feeding on precise movements and channeling the smoothness of Fincher’s technique into a gliding, Michael Myers-like sense of inevitability.

He is surrounded by some of the year’s most textural sound design (the work is by Ren Klyce): chirping baby birds on a warming French morning, the ominous whir of machinery, the sharp ping of a silenced gun barrel. The synth score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is extra squelchy but, fittingly for this film, devoid of any graspable melodies. There is sensation here, lots of it, but zero judgment.

The closest “The Killer” comes to being laugh-out-loud funny is its soundtrack of 11 Smiths songs, the preferred playlist of Fassbender’s operator. (Pressing play on his phone, it says “Work Mix.”) Jangly and morose, marked by some of singer Morrissey’s choicest caterwauling, the indie-pop numbers rarely have a chance to flourish uninterrupted, but they punctuate the flow of the action in blasts, like clues. Heaven knows I’m miserable now? Maybe so. Or maybe it’s just a Tuesday. Fincher, on the other hand, is having the time of his life.

'The Killer'

Rating: R, for strong violence, language and brief sexuality Running time: 1 hour, 58 minutes Playing: Now on Netflix; also in limited release through Tue. 21

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Joshua Rothkopf is film editor of the Los Angeles Times. He most recently served as senior movies editor at Entertainment Weekly. Before then, Rothkopf spent 16 years at Time Out New York, where he was film editor and senior film critic. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Sight and Sound, Empire, Rolling Stone and In These Times, where he was chief film critic from 1999 to 2003.

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‘the killer’ review: john woo’s remake offers omar sy and new twists, but lacks the poetry of his original.

Nathalie Emmanuel also headlines a new version of the Hong Kong filmmaker's groundbreaking hitman flick, which resets the story in Paris.

By Jordan Mintzer

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When it first arrived in the U.S. in 1990, John Woo ’s assassin flick The Killer felt like a shot (or rather, several thousand gunshots) to the system. With action scenes choreographed like pyrotechnical ballets, and a gushingly romantic take on love and violence that employed slow motion, dissolves and a seemingly endless supply of flying doves, Woo’s twist on the genre would help to transform it over the next decade — whether in blockbusters or in the work of a major fan like Quentin Tarantino.

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The original The Killer , which starred Chow Yun-Fat as a hitman who gets a dangerous case of cold feet, was totally over-the-top but also perfect in its own right. Why, then, did Woo decide to remake it in English (and a little French) more than three decades later?

One reason, going by this well-executed but rather bland Peacock original, may have been the desire to reset the story in Paris — and Woo definitely exploits the City of Lights to the max here. Not since Tom Cruise pummeled the French capital in Mission Impossible: Fallout have we seen so many chases, fights and shootouts staged against so many breathtaking Parisian backdrops, from the banks of the Seine to all the rooftops offering perfect vantage points for scenes of gunplay and mayhem.

As film nerds and Woo lovers may know, the city was also the setting for Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 hitman masterpiece Le Samouraï , which starred the late Alain Delon and which was the major inspiration for the first The Killer . Both Delon and Chow-Yun Fat played impeccably dressed assassins named Jeff (spelled with one “f” in the French film), who expresses himself much better with bullets than with words, and who’s on the run from both the local authorities and the bad guys who hired him.

The chemistry between Emmanuel and Sy carries much of the narrative weight here, while the other plot additions, including a drug heist gone awry, a corrupt police precinct and an evil Saudi prince (Saïd Taghmaoui) calling the shots, feel as boilerplate as they come. (To Woo’s credit, he makes fun use of Manchester United forward-turned-actor Eric Cantona, playing a mob boss with awful taste in contemporary art.)

Many of these new elements muddy the mechanics of a movie that worked best, in its first installment, when the plot was kept simple and pure. That gave Woo the chance to concentrate almost solely on the action, whereas this version is altogether more chatty, including lots of bonding scenes between Zee and the damsel-in-distress, Jenn (Diana Silvers), whom she spares during an early bloodbath and decides to then protect against all odds.

That said, the maestro does get to show off his chops during a few memorable action sequences — especially a hospital scene where the tension is kept very high and the fight choreography (credited to Jérôme Gaspard) is impeccable. There’s also a very over-the-top opening shootout/car chase along the Seine that captivates our attention from the get-go.

Woo got the ball rolling back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, but that ball has gotten bigger and faster, more violent and technically competent — to the point that it seems to have rolled past him by now. If his new movie feels 25 years too late, it’s also a reminder of what made the original so special in its day. Those who manage to discover The Killer through this serviceable remake would be better off revisiting the one that started it all.

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The Killer Review

27 Oct 2023

The Killer (2023)

David Fincher is back on familiar terrain. His last film, 2020’s  Mank , felt like an unusual left-turn: a deeply personal period passion project, co-written with his late father, it was as sweepingly romantic as it was slyly cynical — but, with such a narrow focus and such niche preoccupations, it held less mainstream appeal than his usual fare. With  The Killer  (adapted from the French graphic novel  Le Tueur , by writer Matz and artist Luc Jacamon), the director returns to the kind of material that cemented his status as one of Hollywood’s most singular, incisive, ingenious genre filmmakers: bringing his unique artistic rigour to familiar blockbuster components.

It’s thrilling to see him back in the thriller world. A sweatily suspenseful opening sequence (the film comprises six chapters, plus prologue and epilogue; even the structure is neat) establishes the universe with ferocious clarity. As that prosaic title suggests, our focus is almost entirely on one assassin, a hitman-for-hire never named, and played with unblinking, icy intensity by Michael Fassbender — his first screen role in four years . When we meet him, he’s in the midst of a job: to take out a wealthy target in a luxury Paris hotel.

Through Fassbender’s coolly delivered, dry-as-dust voiceover, which falls somewhere between first-person novelistic narration and the character’s own internal monologue, we learn a little of what it takes to do what he does. He is pure efficiency, methodical to the nth degree; every scenario gamed, every outcome foreseen. He practises yoga and repeats meditative mantras (“Stick to the plan... Weakness is vulnerability”), which would sound like new-agey corporate motivation techniques, if they weren’t in service of murder. He listens to The Smiths to slow his resting heart rate, Morrissey’s morose warbling penetrating the film’s soundtrack throughout (and now, hilariously, forever associated with sociopaths). He is, in short, a well-oiled machine.

It is pure pleasure to luxuriate in imagery made with such obvious, deliberate care.

And then... something goes wrong. His Parisian hit — a simple “Annie Oakley” job, as The Killer puts it — goes awry, seemingly down to a very human distraction, sowing the first shred of doubt that this cold, heartless man is as robotically detached as he claims. It sets in motion a series of events that sees his stock- in-trade violence seep into his private life, initiating a jet-setting revenge yarn that recalls everything from  Death Wish  to  Kill Bill .

Though nothing quite matches that opening salvo for pure cut-glass tension, some brilliantly staged sequences soon follow. Particular shout-outs must go to a staggeringly well- choreographed fight with another man known only as ‘The Brute’, played by Sala Baker (aka Sauron from Peter Jackson’s  The Lord Of The Rings ), which could jostle  John Wick: Chapter 4  for best fight scene of the year; and a more cerebral stand-off with a fellow assassin, played with typical intrigue by Tilda Swinton .

Throughout it all, as you might well expect, Fincher’s filmmaking is immaculate. It is pure pleasure to luxuriate in imagery made with such obvious, deliberate care. You feel his precise framing, his careful composition, his notorious multiple takes. It seems, too, like Fincher is drawing on his past strengths: you can recognise the patient procedural plotting of  Seven  or  Zodiac , the nihilistic themes and sardonic narration of  Fight Club , the ruthless, unsettling violence of  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo , the outlandish moral relativism of  Gone Girl .

But what does it all amount to? To the very end, The Killer remains something of a cipher, a blank canvas of a human. We are welcomed inside the head of this unthinkable perspective, without ever truly learning the whys or the wherefores. Is Fincher pondering the soul-cost that such a vocation might bring, a theme even the most recent Bond films have toyed with? Is it another angry screed on capitalism and masculinity? Should we even draw parallels between The Killer’s diligent approach to work and Fincher’s own fastidiousness (a lazy comparison, perhaps, but one the director seems to invite)? Or should we just take it all at face value — simply a slickly made genre exercise, enough on its own merits?

After such a strong build-up, the film’s ultimate arm’s-length aloofness might feel frustrating, especially in its muted finale. For a director who crafted two of the best endings in cinema history ( Fight Club  and  Seven ),  The Killer ’s climax, ultimately, proves to be curiously anticlimactic. David Fincher is unarguably a master filmmaker, so with every new film of his, fairly or not, you expect a masterpiece.  The Killer  doesn’t quite reach that level — but even then, most filmmakers would kill to make something this good.

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Review: 'The Killer' falls gloriously into the right hands with director David Fincher

Are we lucky? We are, indeed.

In the wrong hands, a gun-for-hire movie can be a compendium of cliches that incites yawns instead of revelatory tremors. But "The Killer," now streaming on Netflix, falls gloriously into the right hands with director David Fincher calling the shots like the true cinema virtuoso he is.

Are we lucky? We are, indeed. It's a pleasure to behold Fincher doing his meticulous thing, putting his laser-focus on an unnamed assassin, played by Michael Fassbender, a mesmerizing actor unequaled at showing an angry flame flickering just under an uber-cool surface.

As written by Fincher's "Seven" collaborator Andrew Kevin Walker, based on French comic books by Luc Jacamon and Alexis "Matz" Nolent, "The Killer" is essential Fincher, not quite up there with "Fight Club" and "Zodiac" but raising hell in ways too satisfying to spoil in a review.

Holed up in an abandoned WeWork building in Paris, the killer trains his sniper rifle on a posh hotel suite just across the street. But he's playing a waiting game, marking time until his target shows up by scarfing McDonald's, practicing yoga and listening to the Smiths (his fave band).

MORE: 'All the Light We Cannot See' review: Audiences deserve better

He's also barking orders at himself in voiceover, reminding himself to keep his blood rate as chilled as a vampire's, ignore empathy at all costs ("It's a weakness") and telling us that if you don't like waiting around, maybe a job as a professional killer (or a film director) is not for you.

It's Fincher's deliciously depraved conceit that his process is not that different from the killer's. You can't watch this movie provocation without thinking of Fincher, the perfectionist behind the camera, the man who put Jesse Eisenberg through nearly a 100 takes to get the first scene of "The Social Network" absolutely right. Mistakes not allowed.

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Yet it's a mistake, a lethal and telling one, that kicks off this movie with the killer actually missing his target. Hodges (Charles Parness), his lawyer handler, offers to have the killer eliminated to placate the client. Hodges even sends two assailants to our boy's hideout in the Dominican Republic, where they beat his lover, Magdala (Sophie Charlotte) nearly to death.

Getting personal is crossing a line. And the killer forgets all his rules to exact revenge. Suddenly, the film has a pulse and the audience catches the heat. So does Fincher, taking the killer on a revenge odyssey, starting with Hodges in New Orleans (watch that nail gun) and moving on to Florida where he takes on the "Brute" (Sala Baker), who bashed Magdala's face into pulp.

It's in New York, where the killer finds the Brute's partner, a woman said to resemble a Q-tip. She's played by the terrific Tilda Swinton and she's a thrilling antagonist. Cornering her at a chic restaurant where she orders a flight of whiskey to steel herself for what's ahead, the killer comes close to meeting his match.

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Swinton is electrifying in the role, fiercely funny as she distracts the killer with a fable about a hunter pursuing a grizzly bear that ends with a sexual punchline you won't see coming. The laughs extend to the fake names the killer puts on his credit cards, usually vintage sitcom characters like Sam Malone and Felix Unger, names that Gen Zers never recognize.

Swinton and Fassbender spar like the legends they are. You'll want more of them, but the killer needs to make a stop in Chicago to confront the client (Arliss Howard) who started it all. Fireworks follow, but not the kind you're thinking.

"The Killer" is a first for Fincher -- it's the one where he refuses to stick to a plan, letting shards of humanity throw him off his raw and riveting game. Don't expect a sunny redemption. Fincher and his killer share an affinity for loose ends hauntingly left untied. "The Killer" is too machine-tooled to warm your heart, but you can count on its chill to linger and haunt your dreams.

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The killer review: john woo's energetic action remake overcomes a thin plot with explosive action.

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Iconic Action Director John Woo Remakes His Own Movie In The Killer Trailer

How did luke skywalker get yoda's lightsaber to offer to grogu, new star wars concept trailer shows how great a darth vader movie would be.

• The Killer is an engaging action flick, spinning a narrative around the complex relationship between a contract killer and a skilled detective.
• The film boasts a stellar cast, captivating plot, and exciting action sequences that culminate in a thrilling final showdown.
• While the central premise of Zee's moral code may raise some questions, the overall experience is entertaining and well worth a watch.

The Killer is an exciting action flick starring Nathalie Emmanuel as Zee, a skilled assassin with a strict moral code that gets her into trouble. The movie is actually a remake of director John Woo's 1989 hit film of the same name. While the film follows a largely similar plot, the action, the scale and the tension of this remake are all scaled up in a way that makes this a standout action film with a difference.

The Killer (2024)

Zee is the best in the game. When she is assigned to take down a den of criminals, she leaves a singer she accidentally blinded alive out of pity, and deems her to be innocent. However, her bosses press her to complete her job. Meanwhile, skilled detective Sey (Omar Sy) is hot on her trail, and the pair begin an intense game of cat and mouse. Zee and the detective have more in common than they are inclined to believe, and events push them to pick sides.

The first glimpse at Peacock's The Killer is here with a new trailer that reveals John Woo's updated take on his own previous classic action movie.

The Killer Has A Captivating Story & Great Cast Chemistry

Woo's The Killer remake has a lot worth praising. The story is an interesting exploration of the relationship between loyalty and morals, as both Zee and Detective Sey learn more about each other and develop a mutual respect. The connection between the actors is also electric, and every time they share the screen, it's fascinating.

Zee and the detective have more in common than they are inclined to believe, and events push them to pick sides.

The rest of the characters all add something tangible to the story that heightens the tension. Sam Worthington is a standout in the role of Finn, an Irish criminal who has ties with Zee and the larger drug empire in Europe. As the film progresses, there is a natural incline towards the final act, with several action sequences thrown in for good measure. The final fight is also incredible, as everyone is positioned and teamed up ready to make a stand.

The Killer's Moral Code Doesn't Add Up

However, there are some narrative elements that don't align with the setup. When viewing the film from the perspective of a pure action flick, it stands up, but with just a little bit of critical analysis, things quickly unravel. The biggest issue stems from Zee's moral code, which helps her to do her work without any feelings of guilt or shame. But considering she has been in this line of work for some time, things don't add up.

While it makes sense for superheroes and heroes in general to have a moralistic code, Zee is an assassin who works for criminals. Her job sees her completing hits on targets who may be bad and corrupt people, but they could also just be in the way of operations for her criminal bosses. So, when the movie's core premise spins out of Zee taking issue with one of the targets, the story starts to make less sense.

The story is an interesting exploration of the relationship between loyalty and morals.

On the other hand, there is a good cop who wants to make sure justice is served. This makes for a thoroughly fascinating story that stirs up plenty of drama, even as The Killer struggles to keep its thin story in line. Fortunately, the acting, action, and pacing of the story override the film's issues to make The Killer an extremely fun and engaging assassin movie .

The Killer is available to stream exclusively on Peacock from August 23.

In John Woo's reinvention of his own classic, Zee, aka the Queen of the Dead, is a contract killer who finds herself hunted by her former colleagues and the police after she fails to carry out the murder of a young woman.

• The cast of the film all deliver an incredible performance
• Sam Worthington as a villain is a great casting
• The films central plot is somewhat flawed from the start

'The Killer' review: Michael Fassbender is a flawed hitman in David Fincher's fun Netflix film

It’s not always easy to relate to David Fincher's characters, be it Gary Oldman as the screenwriter of the greatest film ever in "Mank," the fist-flinging members of "Fight Club" or the sinful serial murderers of "Se7en" and "Zodiac." On the contrary, the title character of Fincher’s new action thriller “The Killer” definitely seems like one of us, even with all sorts of blood on his hands.

As stylish and cool as the director’s other high-class cinematic efforts, the pulpy goodness of “The Killer” (★★★ out of four; rated R; in theaters now and streaming Friday on Netflix ) is straight up more fun than a lot of Fincher outings, thanks to a dark sense of humor and Michael Fassbender's enjoyably droll assassin. 

Based on a French comic book series, the slick modern noir upends expectations right from the start: Staking out a hotel room for his latest hit in Paris, Fassbender’s unnamed hitman does yoga and goes through his methodical daily life, waiting for the right time to aim and fire through a window with uncanny precision. That said, the gig is starting to wear on him. “It’s amazing how physically exhausting it is to do nothing,” he says via voiceover, preparing to do his wet work from a WeWork.

But what seems like it's going to be an extremely heady prestige assassin drama takes a nifty stylistic swerve toward the absurd, and an errant bullet turns the killer’s life completely upside down. After missing his target, the assassin tries to get out of town fast and to his safe house in the Dominican Republic, though it’s anything but a welcome sanctuary. He discovers that his handler (Charles Parnell), in an effort to smooth things over with the mysterious client, sent another crew of baddies to tie up loose ends and put the killer’s girlfriend (Sophie Charlotte) in the hospital.

Various people are trying to take him out, yet the killer's existential crisis is mostly internal, which Fassbender navigates with watchable steeliness. And there are no James Bond tuxes in sight here: This killer rocks bucket hats and Hawaiian shirts, blending into various environments and crowds using a series of fake identities based on old sitcom characters (for example, “Archibald Bunker”).

However, as the killer hops from New Orleans to Florida to Chicago to take out everybody involved in the attack on his beloved, he struggles mightily, increasingly off his game the more he's forced to depart from his predictable work life. The dude nevertheless is seriously good at living up to the movie title (and pretty handy with a nail gun).

So is Fincher, who doesn’t make bad movies. (“Zodiac,” Se7en,” “The Social Network” and “Mank” all speak for themselves, and even his debut “Alien 3” is pretty darn good in its own right.) It’s OK that “The Killer” probably won’t be a best picture contender. This is a master filmmaker putting his signature spin on a gleefully oddball B-movie – even Oscar winner Tilda Swinton seems to have a ball in a supporting role, making a whole meal out of telling a racy joke as a rival hit woman.

Fincher’s top-notch filmmaking raises the fairly straightforward narrative, and “The Killer” is aces with how it utilizes sound. The killer’s constant playing of The Smiths adds a sonic sense of nihilism to his character, while frequent Fincher collaborators Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ churning electronic score is symbolic of the main character’s roiling, stressed-out inner turmoil that belies his stoic exterior.

Fassbender’s cold-blooded protagonist isn’t presented as a hero or even an antihero that Fincher asks you to get behind. Instead, in this world of various people doing bad things and making worse decisions, he’s a flawed everyman who botches an assignment, faces some consequences and has to figure out the best way to remedy the situation. Sure, his is a heightened existence full of attack dogs and sniper rifles, yet he also has to deal with the absolutely mundane experience of sitting in the middle row of a crowded commercial flight.

That’s a “Killer” premise that most folks, even those who aren’t ruthless assassins, can understand.

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Review: ‘the killer’ is a powerful slow-burn action thriller.

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Netflix enters the award season race with its brutal, sometimes painful-to-watch thriller The Killer . The limited release film (it’s merely getting a week in a small number of theaters to qualify for awards, and to make a point) debuted on Netflix this past weekend to strong reviews, particularly praising the directing and acting in this powerful slow-burning action-driven story.

Michael Fassbender stars in "The Killer"

The Killer is penned by Andrew Kevin Walker ( Seven, Sleepy Hollow ), directed by David Fincher ( Seven, Zodiac, Fight Club, The Social Network ), and stars Michael Fassbender ( 12 Years a Slave , the X-Men franchise, Hunger , Prometheus ), adapting a graphic novel series Le Tueur from author Matz (aka Alexis Nolent) and artist Luc Jacamon.

That’s some impressive pedigree, all right. With a straightforward cat-and-mouse revenge plot, the real thrills come from watching Fassbender’s tightly wound performance as his titular assassin reminds himself of his professional code and rules, even while he increasingly violates every single one of them in an apocalyptic eruption of coldly passionate vengeance.

While I usually don’t care for voiceover narration (in most cases, I feel it is either a lazy way to convey exposition, or it is overwritten and steps on the scenes), Fassbender delivers Walker’s lines with precisely the right understated detachment, walking a thin line which perches him right between signs of boiling emotion and empty-hearted sociopathy, and just a twitch or gaze tips the balance — barely perceptibly — to one direction or the other. It’s a nuanced, bold performance.

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And yet it’s also wonderful camp in a way, akin to Roger Moore’s 007 knowingly stoically climbing and firing his pistol as each situation became more absurd and implausible — as did his own presence in it all. But whereas Moore would often wink at us to let us know he was in on the joke, too, Fassbender never lets on that it’s a gag. He takes this very seriously, it’s deadly stuff after all. Fassbender displays almost a weariness at the escalation and gruesomeness of his life and work even while he chooses to push it to its limits, and then grounds the story again with his investment to the character’s worldview and reality.

Fincher’s directing is as pitch-perfect as ever. His attention to detail and how each small element can add to the tension and sense of place, his almost transcendent awareness and subtle manipulation of pacing, the way he brings out the best in his cast, is all an impressive display that begs the question: how the hell is he still getting better at this? Still at the top of his game in his favorite playground, Fincher puts on a master class in thriller filmmaking, keeping things simmering and sizzling just beneath the surface until they violently erupt into the open and upend lives.

Watch Fassbender’s eyes closely in scenes where he’s sleeping — his eyes are moving, it’s REM sleep. When he wakes up quickly and turns off his alarm, notice the time on it. Never once does he discuss sleep patterns or the reasoning behind his “naps,” but he drives home the necessity of getting plenty of good sleep to stay mentally sharp. But he seems not to sleep through the night, instead taking several naps throughout the day.

This is a specific type of so-called “uberman” sleep schedule to force the body to rapidly fall into REM sleep — the kind we need most, and get roughly 90 minutes of per night within around 7-8 hours of average sleep. Some people can adapt to taking several long naps broken up during the day, instead of being awake all day and then sleeping through the whole night. It forces the body to fall almost instantly into REM sleep, so that three or four deep naps like this can serve the purpose of providing necessary sleep, allowing more than 20 hours of waking, productive time every day.

That’s the theory, anyway, and it seems Fassbender’s character employs this concept. The film never says so, however, and this is symbolic of much else about the film — even the precise nature of his [unnamed] character’s relationship with the only people in the film who seem to “matter” to him is left undefined, we are merely shown how they reside within these relationships and their world, and left to draw conclusions from the scattershot information we have.

Which adds to the feel of a pre-existing, lived-in world. In a film of this sort, that goes a long way, because often such films can feel overly stylized to the point of creating a sterile, bland experience. Even the choices of fake identities used to navigate the criminal underworld and move through “normie” society (as the regular daily world of ordinary people is referred to in the film) contributes flavor and subtext to various travel scenes and their preceding or subsequent sequences.

So many action thrillers sport a supposedly unflinching killer who tears through a gaggle of threats, to get to someone “at the top” of whatever conspiracy serves as entry point for a series of high-speed chases and bloody fights, and leave absolutely no impression whatsoever on the viewer and offer no insights or even a sense that it was particularly well put together. The Killer is what happens when you take that sort of setup and framework, and put it in the hands of master craftspersons and artists who elevate every aspect of the production so that the whole becomes ever greater than the sum of its parts.

You might call this a “thinking person’s John Wick ,” not to imply the John Wick films are empty-headed, but they aren’t setting out to make movies you talk about as potential Oscar contenders even before they’re released — they’re great at what they are, which is adrenaline-fueled vehicles for cool popcorn entertainment.

The Killer , however, cares more about the implications of killing and the lies we tell ourselves about our choices and our mistakes, and present its story in a way that imbues the slowest moments with importance and mounting tension, and allows action to feel painful and disturbing until you want it to stop . It is actioner as high art.

But wait, is The Killer in fact a real movie? It was produced by and released by Netflix NFLX on streaming after only a two-week limited theatrical release. Streaming movies are, according to many powerful established filmmakers in Hollywood, “only” TV movies and not true cinema.

Worse still, The Killer is adapted from a French comic book series, a genre which is likewise denied status as true cinema by those powerful established directorial voices. So it seems The Killer has a double-whammy against it as not even being a real movie or true art in the first place.

Before you roll your eyes at me, at least answer the question. Is it or is it not a real movie? Is it or is it not true cinema and art? Because if you agree with those voices claiming streaming movies and comic book adaptations are not true art or cinema, you can’t dismiss my point that it would apply to The Killer , to David Fincher, and to Michael Fassbender.

Of course The Killer is a real movie, it is true cinema, and it is art, despite also being a streaming movie adapting a comic book series (whether we personally like the film or not is irrelevant). Speaking about art in broad terms to disparage genres and those who work in it is wrong, and a more careful and considered approach to discussing the issues at hand would work much better and in fact find a lot of agreement among those of us tired of the lazy, shallow, and utterly false aspersions cast on genres, mediums, and artists.

The Killers is not likely to wind up as a frontrunner at the Oscars for above the line categories (film editing and sound editing, however, could show the film some love). But with such powerful storytelling and performances, it’s definitely worth watching, definitely well made and impressive, and will probably garner some awards talk and a possible nomination for Fassbender’s performance. Netflix once again demonstrates any pretense that films made and distributed by streamers are every bit as cinematic, and every bit as much true films, as anything being made by their detractors.

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The Killer Review: The Perfect Crime

• Immaculate visuals
• Wonderfully ironic needle drops
• Captivating lead performance from Michael Fassbender
• Could be considered a minor David Fincher film for its slight, straightforward nature

Throughout the divisive reactions to David Fincher's previous film, the prestige drama "Mank," there was this pervasive sense of loss. The film was nominated for 10 Oscars and was critically lauded, but at least on the surface, the Old Hollywood biopic felt like such a departure from what the masses have come to know and love about the celebrated auteur. To some, the black-and-white period piece was far too conventional. Too, dare we say,  safe . Where did one of our foremost purveyors of stylish and jagged portraits of the world's many freaks and outsiders run off to, and when was he coming back to wield his camera like the serrated edge of a blade?

Well, Netflix put him back to work, and he's returned with "The Killer." The sharp and darkly comic thriller follows  a fussy hitman (played by Michael Fassbender) with an obsessive eye for detail, whose life unravels after he misses his target for the first time in his career. The premise, based on the French graphic novel of the same name, immediately calls to mind the fairly obvious parallel between this nameless contract killer and Fincher himself. And that's even before his meticulous voice-over narration begins to register with the same cadence as Fincher's director commentaries.

It's charming to perceive "The Killer" as a comforting return to form that doubles as an autobiographical exercise processing a recent near-miss. But "The Killer" is more than just a slickly shot, brilliantly acted, and cleverly written little B-movie. It's also the most elucidating rumination on modern consumer culture since Fincher's own "Fight Club" took aim at the hollow commercialism of the 1990s.

This Charming Man

In the lineage of zen'd-out professional criminals like Alain Delon's ice-cold but sartorially sound killer from "Le Samouraï," the titular killer is a man for whom the devil lays in the details. The film's lengthy opening sequence, a deeply satisfying short film unto itself, takes the viewer inside his process of executing a hit, coupled with near-constant editorializing about his methods, his worldview, and how the same impersonal systems that isolate us from face-to-face interaction in our daily lives make doing what he does so much easier. Though the film's neo-noir nature allows David Fincher to indulge in some sinfully entertaining displays of violence, much of its actual power lies in using the protagonist's chosen vocation as an entry point into commentary on the nature of the gig economy.

The dominant hitman franchise these days is the  "John Wick" series, which burrows deeper into its arcane mythology with each chapter, showing us a secret underworld of like-minded criminals with their societal rules. But our killer dresses like a German tourist, eats breakfast at McDonald's, and has key fob copiers same-day delivered to Amazon lockers when he needs to make a clean break-in. By the time he's relying on a Postmates driver delivering food to a reclusive billionaire as an ingress point, "The Killer" resonates as a bleak portrayal of late-stage capitalism. There's something so humorous about watching a professional in an occupation like contract killing, which is usually depicted with an otherworldly sense of intrigue, operate with such clinical and rote mundanity.

The unnamed killer protagonist uses an Apple Watch to track his micro-naps while staking out a job. He drinks water from the same convertible metal cup that shows up in "everyday carry" videos all over YouTube. And in between his incessant musings on how to blend in and why murdering people for a living really isn't all that bad, he listens to The Smiths. A lot. Whenever Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' delightfully dissonant original score is not in use, or we're not subjected to the painful, waiting silence of the killer's downtime, an endless array of needle drops featuring Morrissey's trademark vocals and Johnny Marr's lovely guitar work act as a counterbalance for the dry, dispassionate way Michael Fassbender speaks and moves. Professional hitmen — they use apps to order food and dissociate to sad songs just like the rest of us!

Girlfriend in a Coma

If "The Killer" has a failing, it's in the general thrust of the film's plot and how boilerplate it feels. After the killer misses his mark, his girlfriend, Magdala (Sophie Charlotte), is brutally attacked and nearly killed in an incident meant for him. This sets the killer on a path for revenge that goes against every one of the high-minded little maxims he purports to live by. Along the way, we're treated to some great bits of suspense and one of the most brutal fight scenes in recent cinematic memory. But once he's set on this murderous quest, the beats feel like countless other, similar films. In particular, you might be reminded of "Haywire," the Steven Soderbergh spy-fi thriller in which Michael Fassbender also gets the crap beat out of him.

Luckily for us, "The Killer" in many ways feels more like a Soderbergh picture than that flick, which itself felt like little more than a charming style exercise. Soderbergh said he watched "The Killer" several times before its release, and David Fincher admitted his pal may have assisted in re-editing multiple scenes for the final product. There's a behind-the-scenes kinship at play that feels truly fascinating. Some of it is visible in just the overlapping influences, as both men seem to be enamored by the brusque structure of John Boorman's 1967 film "Point Blank." But the rerun nature of the film's plot makes it that much easier to join in on Fincher's current thematic preoccupations, which dovetail with Soderbergh's returning, again and again, to the role of laborers in society and their constant betrayal at the hands of those holding all the capital who see them as easily replaceable.

"The Killer" is in theaters now and debuts on Netflix on November 10.

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The Killer review: David Fincher stylishly roasts himself

“What makes The Killer more than an exercise in businesslike genre cool is the powder-dry humor sprinkled over its immaculate surface.”

• It's typically stylish
• It's atypically funny
• It's as personal as David Fincher gets
• The ending is anticlimactic
• It's a big-screen movie destined to be streamed

When Jimmy Stewart raised a camera to his eye and aimed it at the apartment building across the way in Rear Window , he looked less like himself and more like his director — Hollywood’s ultimate leering, obsessive voyeur, Alfred Hitchcock. Something similar happens in The Killer , David Fincher ‘s expectedly slick, unexpectedly funny new thriller. It’s a scope that Michael Fassbender peers through in this movie, and a shot of a different sort that he lines up through the rear window of his Parisian crow’s nest. All the same, the impression of a self-portrait painted over a movie star is hard to miss. Fincher’s silhouette may be less iconic than Hitchcock’s, but if you’ve followed the career of the man who made Zodiac , Seven , and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo , you’ll recognize all the lines it sketches around his latest dealer of death.

The character is an assassin, a man with no name, a man of few words. We meet him on assignment, staking out the secure apartment of his wealthy target from a rented office space — it’s a little vignette of wait-and-hurry-up that functions as the film’s introductory chapter and allows us to gaze into the methods of a WeWork wetworker. The Killer is a consummate professional: precise in his craft, comfortable with boredom. “My process is purely logistical, narrowly focused by design,” he narrates. He has a job and he strives to do it well. He is a perfectionist — the best word for a hitman slowing his heart rate for the sake of marksmanship, but also for a filmmaker prone to requesting upwards of 50 takes to get the exact mannerism he’s seeking from an actor.

Fassbender’s Killer belongs to a proud movie lineage, a tradition of existentially freighted and laconic men of action. He doesn’t talk much. Not audibly anyway. Inside his head, he’s a total chatterbox. The Killer reunites Fincher with Andrew Kevin Walker, who wrote Seven and punched up Fight Club and The Game . Here, he’s supplied a veritable novella of voice-over that might make Tyler Durden plead for a little quiet. It takes a moment to realize this coolly cynical inner monologue (“It’s a dog-eat-dog world”) might be intentionally rather than accidentally self-parodic. After a career of following mindhunters, Fincher has finally gotten into the mind of a killer and finds it resembles a dorm room plastered with posters of his movies.

He remains a wonk for process, even or perhaps especially when that process is tedious. In a David Fincher movie, people are always going and doing. The Killer is indiscriminate in its fascination with activity. It applies no more studious attention to Fassbender fleeing a crime scene — his motorcycle darting around tight corners, expertly escaping the perimeter set up by the authorities — than it does to him rifling through laminated documents or a Rolodex, trading out license plates, or placing a glass on a hotel doorknob to clue him to an ambush. This Killer is a gig-economy gunman, and it’s oddly amusing to see the kind of surface appreciation the James Bond movies reserve for the finer things lavished on commercial spaces: car rental desks, economy cabins, fast food restaurants that supply our antihero with a quick morning calorie fuel-up before his next kill.

Fassbender offers an ideal vessel for pared-down thrills. Like Steve McQueen or Alain Delon or Ryan Gosling , he looks sharp and cool, an iconic logo of a protagonist. His performance gives us nothing, but keeps us looking for something. The explicit emotion in the movie belongs only to the supporting characters unfortunate enough to slip into his crosshairs. There’s a great, queasy sequence involving someone in the wrong place at the wrong time who’s smart enough to know how little mercy they’re in a position to expect. The movie gravitates to this side perspective almost by default, as an alternative to a main character so methodical he literally slows his own pulse. Later, the movie stops for a last supper in a swanky restaurant and a feast of a star cameo as it plays out a futile one-sided conversation with a black void.

“Empathy is weakness, weakness is vulnerability,” The Killer tells himself. But is he really so free of feeling? Like the driver of Drive , the man seems to express himself in song selection — the Smiths tracks he pipes into his ears while doing his dirty job. The Pope of Mope is a funny choice for a guy proud of his supposed blankness. If it’s an emotional tell, Fincher undercuts any romantic stirrings of soul: The guy who tore down Manhattan to another revered ’80s rock group resists his music-video roots, never going for easy needle-drop catharsis. When The Killer cues up his soundtrack while steadying his aim, Fincher cuts in and out of his headphoned headspace, deliberately wrecking the rhythm.

The plot, adapted from a French graphic novel, is all sinew. A job goes wrong, consequences ensue, and several new, related jobs take its place. Fincher creeps the action across the globe step by step, from assignment to assignment, with the dispassionate flow of a balance transfer. How can something be so efficient and so neurotically detail-oriented? You might call it a perfect alignment of artist and material if Zodiac , Fincher’s masterpiece of file cabinet compulsion, didn’t achieve that already through its dense procedural legwork.

What makes The Killer more than an exercise in businesslike genre cool — though it is that, too, and quite hypnotically — is the powder-dry humor sprinkled over its immaculate surface. For all his devotion to protocol, for all his obsession with code, The Killer is far from infallible. The movie’s dark joke is on the way the plan always can and often will go awry: with a missed shot, with bad math, with a brutal full-contact fight that dashes his hopes of an in-and-out hit. Even his mantra — a kind of self-discipline pep talk — gets interrupted at one point, in what could be described as voice-over slapstick. Being obsessed with control doesn’t mean you’ll actually achieve it. There are too many variables.

The ending is anticlimatic, almost perversely. It begs for a capitalistic reading, not a dramatic one. You could see Steven Soderbergh making this movie, and pushing all the financial subtext closer to the front. Fincher is after something different, something more idiosyncratic: a neo-noir of relentlessly economical style that’s also, underneath, a comedy about the impossible pursuit of perfection without emotion. As The Killer’s quest begins to take on a distinctly vindictive bent, even as he swears up and down it’s all just business, you start to wonder if you’ve ever seen this filmmaker more clearly. Leave it to Fincher to find something personal in an ode to impersonality.

The Killer opens in select theaters on Friday, October 27, and begins streaming on Netflix on Friday, November 10.

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More Jeffrey Dahmer content is heading to Netflix in the form of the true crime documentary series, Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes. The three-part series will feature never before heard interviews between Dahmer and his legal team. The trailer highlights the complexities of Dahmer and attempts to give insight into why he would commit brutal and horrific acts of violence. Even Dahmer says in the trailer that he can't give a "straightforward answer" to his crimes.

The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes will also cover the outside circumstances surrounding Dahmer and his crimes. Dahmer preyed upon marginalized communities in Milwaukee, and the series will explain how "race, sexuality, class and policing" empowered a serial killer.

Filmmakers have been ripping off the motormouthed, jukebox-boogie style of Quentin Tarantino for so long now that the ripoffs have spawned their own ripoffs, which in turn have spawned their own ripoffs, and so on into oblivion. The latest branch of this incestual family tree of archly violent hitman comedies is Bullet Train, a hyperactive, supersized barrage of jocular kill-or-be-killed mayhem. As directed by David Leitch, folding a bunch of sixth-hand Tarantino-isms into his own identifiable John Wick schtick, the film plays like the great great great grandson of Pulp Fiction. This means that it’s also related to multiple generations of bastard offspring, straight back from Free Fire to Seven Psychopaths to Smoking Aces to some of the earliest and most idiosyncratic of the pretenders, the lads-and-cads underworld picaresques of Guy Ritchie.

Bullet Train takes all the stereotypical hallmarks of the QT school of crime caper — the ironic pop needle drops, the digressive pop-culture blather, the “I shot Marvin in the face” punchline ultra-violence—and blows them out into a neon, candy-coated Saturday morning cartoon of flippant carnage. True to its title, the film unfolds almost entirely aboard a single locomotive, racing from Tokyo to Kyoto on the Shinkansen railway. That moving backdrop is reflected in the super-sonic speed of the banter and gunplay, but not in the nonlinear path of the narrative, which keeps breaking off into flashback detours of pertinent backstory splatter, including a literal body count tallied in a fourth-wall-breaking montage and the belated payoff of a background news story that makes a slithering, unconventional deposit into Chekhov’s armory.

If Hell has an Ikea, it’s fully stocked with the designer grotesqueries that pass for furniture in Crimes of the Future. Dangling womb hammocks, the latest advance in bio-mechanical Tempur-Pedic technology, squirm to relieve the discomfort of those slumbering within their folds. A chair, seemingly made from nothing but bone, rather hilariously jerks and fidgets to ease the digestion process of fussy eaters. The grandest of these organic-machine luxury amenities is an automated surgery pod whose incising tentacles are controlled by a shuddering, insectlike remote. The Geek Squad technicians ogle the appliance like a sports car, admiring its shiny surfaces and gleaming hospital hardware.

Who else but Carol Spier could have designed this mutant showroom? Her baroquely unmistakable work is the earliest indication that we’re watching someone plummet off the wagon into an all-night bender two decades after he went cold turkey on his biggest vice. That someone, of course, is David Cronenberg, the Canadian director of such gooey, goopy triumphs as The Fly, Videodrome, and Naked Lunch. His vice, creatively speaking, was once body horror, the queasy strain of corporeally fixated nightmare fuel on which he built a reputation. Cronenberg got clean at the end of the last century, kicking his habit of wreaking havoc on humanity’s spongiest bits. But after 20 years sober, he’s ready to party like it’s 1999. No flesh, old or new, is safe.

Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – The Killer (2024)

August 25, 2024 by Robert Kojder

The Killer , 2024.

Directed by John Woo. Starring Nathalie Emmanuel, Omar Sy, Sam Worthington, Diana Silvers, Éric Cantona, Saïd Taghmaoui, Tchéky Karyo, Grégory Montel, Angeles Woo, Aurélia Agel, Elie Haddad, Hugo Diego Garcia, David Clark, Guillaume Kerbusch, Michaël Erpelding, and Fabrice Scott.

An assassin tries to make amends in an effort to restore the sight of a beautiful young singer.

Legendary director John Woo’s remake of The Killer is inferior in every single way to his 1989 original, and yet it still outshines most Hollywood action. One also wonders the point of remaking one of his most acclaimed features. A striking shot blending reflections of an assassin and police officer, as if they are the same, might have something to do with it. Aside from similar characters and locales for action sequences, it is surprising how much this version differs from the original. In some ways, it comes down to disappointingly sanitizing violence (don’t expect bodies riddled with bullet holes and copious amounts of blood or unabashed grittiness), but there is also an interest in revamping the story, for better and worse (some of the choices here seem made to further transform this into a more accessible version with some optimism and happiness.)

However, John Woo can still construct the hell out of an elaborate action sequence, cleverly utilizing the environment and geographical space of a location for movement and stunts that come across as poetic as his trademark melodrama. Some of those stunts and action sequences also arrive in what feels like a greatest-hits package of memorable, stylistic, action-packed visuals (not to mention an excessive amount of white doves), now in France. It’s also difficult to label any of this as lazy since the hard work from the cast and crew is on full display with practical effects and the previously mentioned stuntwork. It’s exciting that John Woo is still making movies (although admittedly, there has been a decline in quality), but also refreshing that he is making them in ways that they simply don’t often make movies anymore.

Working with screenwriters Brian Helgeland, Josh Campbell, and Matt Stuecken (the crowded element of that team is undoubtedly felt during an elongated metal stretch that probably could have used some trimming, especially since this version is about 15 minutes longer than the original while also coming with plot beats that could be argued as overly cliché in 2024), John Woo sticks with the basic story framework of an assassin with a code who becomes wrapped up in a young singer (Diana Silvers) losing her eyesight, amid a hit.

This time, the assassin is Zee (Nathalie Emmanuel, appropriately cold and withdrawn but lacking the effortless coolness of Chow Yun-fat), and her involvement in the injury is much less direct, but enough so that she gets cold feet when her handler Finn (Sam Worthington) insists that the loose end be dealt with whether or not it appears she will talk to the police. He doesn’t plan on letting her leave the assassination game if she doesn’t. What’s frustrating is that the singer appears to be an afterthought in this version, given no emotional arc whatsoever and rarely figuring into the action.

That extremism is also because an outlandish amount of missing money and drugs are in play, bringing everyone from Saudi princes to gangsters and crooked police officers into this sphere. Omar Sy’s Detective Sey finds himself connected to the case after killing a man in possession of drugs who had been texting that singer immediately before violence erupted. A game of cat and mouse hunting the singer begins between Zee and Sey, leading to each other and targeting each other’s code of honor. Sure, it’s the “you and I are the same” trope but executed with slightly more substance.

The details of this case and the inevitable series of betrayals make for familiar material, but John Woo keeps the proceedings electric due to the staging of the action sequences, most notably the climactic sequence once again set inside a church. It’s an extended slice of chaos allowing Nathalie Emmanuel to give her best shot at daring acrobatic feats and dual-handgun wielding gun-fu. Meanwhile, Omar Sy plays an efficient mind and brawler who gets to be the butt of one or two playfully subversive jokes regarding John Woo/classic Hong Kong action bits. Sam Worthington also makes up for thin villain characterization by being plain cruel and unlikable, using his Irish accent to menacing effect.

Again, nothing here necessarily holds a candle to the original, but it’s far from a cynical and uninspired shot-for-shot remake. It is still  adrenaline-fuelled watching John Woo pull off his distinct brand of action and rework the story beats in ways that potentially reflect how he has changed as a storyteller and person.  The Killer is a thrill ride that showcases  that his knack for melodrama remains a gift just as much as the action.

SEE ALSO: The Essential Films of John Woo

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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Violent, stylish hitman story is shallow but never boring.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Killer is director David Fincher's crime thriller about a professional assassin (Michael Fassbender) who botches a job and must deal with the fallout. Violence is intense: Characters are shot and killed, blood spatters, a woman's neck is snapped, a house is set on fire, and there…

Why Age 16+?

People are shot and killed; lots of blood spray. A character shot in chest three

Sporadic use of "f--k," "motherf----r," "s--t," "Jesus f---ing Christ," "Christ"

Couple briefly seen having sex from a distance through a window; a naked bottom

Character buys and eats food from McDonald's, talks about the benefits of gettin

Secondary character orders and gulps down several shots of expensive Scotch. Bac

Any Positive Content?

Virtually all of the movie's focus is on the White male main character. Several

No clear positive messages. The frequent narration is largely about the meaningl

Aside from his skills and discipline as a murderer and criminal, the killer is c

Violence & Scariness

People are shot and killed; lots of blood spray. A character shot in chest three times with a nail gun dies slowly, making choking, gurgling sounds. A woman's neck is snapped; her body tumbles down stairs. A character slips on ice and falls and gets shot in head; a knife is in her hand. Brutal fight between two people includes punching, pounding, slamming, destruction of furniture and property, hitting with a fireplace poker, stabbing in leg, lots of blood. Lots and lots of guns. House set on fire with Molotov cocktail. Beaten woman in hospital with swollen face and eyes, stitches in forehead. She's said to have internal bleeding. Ransacked house with blood smears all over walls. Spoken story about a bear repeatedly sodomizing a hunter.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sporadic use of "f--k," "motherf----r," "s--t," "Jesus f---ing Christ," "Christ" as an exclamation, and "oh my God."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Couple briefly seen having sex from a distance through a window; a naked bottom is seen as a man lies between a woman's legs. A sex worker wears a leather outfit and pulls out a club of some kind, preparing to go to work on her client, but is interrupted. Main character undresses; chest and buttocks briefly seen.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Character buys and eats food from McDonald's, talks about the benefits of getting "protein" easily and cheaply. Starbucks coffee, Ensure nutrition drink. Character picks up an Amazon package from an Amazon drop-off station. Character rents a WeWork space. Mention of Google. FedEx truck shown. Hertz car rental facility and logo shown. Several vehicle brands shown, including Ford Transit, Kia, etc. Postmates mentioned.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Secondary character orders and gulps down several shots of expensive Scotch. Background characters drink whiskey. Character feeds sleeping pills to a dog. Character uses bottle of alcohol as a Molotov cocktail, setting a house on fire. Bodybuilders mention creatine.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Diverse Representations

Virtually all of the movie's focus is on the White male main character. Several minor characters are seen in just one or two scenes each and are almost all victims. The killer's handler, a lawyer, is Black (Charles Parnell), and a female administrator (Kerry O'Malley) works with him. The killer's secret hideout is in the Dominican Republic, and his girlfriend is played by Sophie Charlotte, who has German and Brazilian parents. Her brother is played by Colombian actor Emiliano Pernía. Other characters of color in small or background roles.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Positive Messages

No clear positive messages. The frequent narration is largely about the meaninglessness of life and people's lack of goodness, and the plot is mainly about revenge.

Positive Role Models

Aside from his skills and discipline as a murderer and criminal, the killer is completely lacking in admirable qualities. His main goal is vengeance, and he faces few consequences for his actions.

Parents need to know that The Killer is director David Fincher 's crime thriller about a professional assassin ( Michael Fassbender ) who botches a job and must deal with the fallout. Violence is intense: Characters are shot and killed, blood spatters, a woman's neck is snapped, a house is set on fire, and there's a brutal fight with punching, bashing, slamming, bleeding wounds, and general destruction. Many guns are seen. A man's bare buttocks are visible as he lies between a woman's legs, and the main character is shown partly naked in another scene, his bare buttocks visible. A sex worker prepares to entertain a male customer. Sporadic language includes "f--k," "motherf----r," "s--t," exclamatory use of "Jesus Christ," and more. Many brands are shown and mentioned, including McDonald's, Amazon, Starbucks, etc. A character drinks several shots of whiskey, and a man feeds sleeping pills to a dog. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (4)
• Kids say (3)

Based on 4 parent reviews

too much violence

What's the story.

In THE KILLER, the titular killer ( Michael Fassbender ) is an assassin for hire who's on his latest job in Paris. He narrates the minutiae of his work, his preferred mental state, his methods for avoiding evidence, etc. But after prepping and waiting for several days, he squeezes the trigger -- and misses his target. The fallout begins almost immediately. He returns to his hideout in the Dominican Republic and finds it ransacked and his companion (Sophie Charlotte) brutally injured. He begins an intricate plan of revenge, which means tracking down every single person involved, no matter how powerful or how well-protected they are. But can he stick to his regimented principles, or will passion take over?

Is It Any Good?

This story of a lone contract killer is shallow, familiar, and based on pessimistic and narrow philosophies of life, but it's rich with craft and style. The Killer moves beautifully and is never boring. After a career spent exploring violence and hubris in twisty, complex ways, filmmaker David Fincher offers perhaps his simplest work yet in this stripped-down thriller. It's based on a French graphic novel by Alexis "Matz" Nolent and Luc Jacamon (whose work also provided the basis for Walter Hill's Bullet to the Head ), and it borrows from movies like Grosse Pointe Blank , The American , and Gemini Man , stories of lone wolves and their meticulous methods.

The Killer is broken up into neat chapters that are set in various locations and peopled with characters that don't even have names. At some point, many viewers may find themselves wondering what it all means and coming up empty. But watching the title killer execute his intricate plans, an ace up his sleeve at every turn, is positively mesmerizing. Fincher's crisp editing and visual storytelling are as taut and lean and muscular as Fassbender himself. Ultimately, The Killer may not offer any lingering deep thoughts or solutions to the mysteries of life, but it certainly hits its target.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The Killer 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

What is the nature of revenge? Can it be satisfying? Why? Can it ever truly solve a problem?

What is the killer character trying to teach viewers with his narration? What, if anything, does he learn in the end?

How is drinking depicted? Is it glamorized? Are there consequences? Why does that matter?

Movie Details

• In theaters : October 27, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : November 10, 2023
• Cast : Michael Fassbender , Charles Parnell , Tilda Swinton
• Director : David Fincher
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Thriller
• Topics : Book Characters
• Run time : 118 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong violence, language and brief sexuality
• Last updated : January 12, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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The Accountant

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The Killer review: David Fincher's latest is as brutal and unfeeling as its central subject

As a hired killer, Michael Fassbender is chilling in a story that lacks a center.

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine , The Hollywood Reporter , and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight , is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

David Fincher has never been one for sentiment. From Se7en to Zodiac to Netflix series Mindhunter , his work is interested in unpacking the darkest parts of our humanity with the cold precision of an ice pick. His latest The Killer, now streaming on Netflix, is no exception.

Based on Alexis Nolent and Luc Jacamon's graphic novel of the same name, The Killer follows its unnamed assassin as a botched job propels him into a vendetta that breaks his one rule: never make it personal. Michael Fassbender stars as the titular character, bringing the chilling brutality he so often possesses on screen to its most emotionally detached rendering yet. His assassin is a killing machine, a man whose patience, precision, and physical fitness have made him perfect for his job.

With a reptilian coldness, Fassbender infuses the "Killer" with an eerie stillness that underscores the character's lack of empathy and warmth. He's in fine physical form, flowing through complicated yoga poses that help establish this character's grounded-ness, which is belied by his sociopathic occupation.

Much of the film is conveyed in narration through voiceover, as we hear the thoughts in Fassbender's head. He is a man of few words, speaking only the bare minimum required to get through daily interactions. We watch him deliver dialogue on camera only a handful of times. It's effective in conveying his detachment, but by and large, it makes Andrew Kevin Walker's script far too verbose, telling instead of showing.

Through this voiceover, we learn the killer's rules, that doesn't believe in luck, karma, or justice. We repeatedly hear the mantra he recites to himself in the moments leading up to a kill, which includes the notion that "empathy is weakness." But when his partner is brutalized in an attempt to hunt him down, that goes out the window, as he seeks to mete out revenge on those responsible. He maintains his mantra, reciting it like a prayer, but it's clear to us that his inner monologue is a lie. There's no way this isn't personal.

Fincher revels in this juxtaposition, the ways in which this character moves from "I don't give a f---" to "f--- it." But it all feels entirely hollow, a revenge drama that wants us to root for, or at the least, engage with a sociopath who can't recognize the limits of his own life code or the capitalist web even he is caught in.

Because it is David Fincher, the action is unquestionably rendered exquisitely. Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, who has partnered with Fincher since Mindhunter, composes each frame of the movie with as much meticulousness as the protagonist does his kills. They evoke the exactitude of our central character with rigor, and the composition is extraordinary. But it's all technique, no feeling, which is deliberate, but not successful.

The most interesting scene comes late in the film between Fassbender and Tilda Swinton 's "the Expert" over an elegant meal. These actors are similar creatures, their piercing unusualness their most defining aspect on screen. Facing off against each other here, it's amusing to watch Swinton's Expert try to exhibit more feeling than Fassbender's Killer. It requires palpable effort. Unlike his ascetic approach, she's found ways to suck the marrow from life and is the only one able to emphasize his own hypocrisy.

The central conceit of The Killer is an intriguing one, but nothing here ever hangs together. Structured into "chapters," the film plays out in brutal vignettes as the Killer executes the various jobs he's assigned to himself. There's an appeal in watching him orchestrate things. We can find humor in his sitcom-inspired aliases and some degree of admiration in his extreme competence and preparation. But we don't ever break through the veneer of his psyche, despite being asked to go on this journey with him.

The film doesn't need to have a Code-era comeuppance or morality (indeed, the film's only moral conjecture seems to be that ethics are irrelevant in late-stage capitalism), but it does need stakes, a reason to invest in this character's mission beyond being impressed by his skill.

It's clear that Fincher wanted the entire picture to carry the emotional detachment of its main character, to convey that in everything from a spare shooting style to its white and gray color palette to the killer's limited wardrobe. But The Killer is about a man so shrouded in denial that nothing can puncture it. Watching that from arm's length is hardly riveting. Fincher is adept at excoriating the darkness of the human soul, but he's missed his mark with a character so blindly determined to prove he doesn't have one. Grade: C+

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Killer’ on Peacock, John Woo’s new take on his own film, now with Nathalie Emmanuel 

Where to stream:.

• The Killer (2024)

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How to watch all 7 ‘mission impossible’ movies in order, movies about assassins give modern audiences something they desperately crave: a world with consequences for bad behavior, lance henriksen enters his fifth decade of silver screen stardom with ‘the unhealer’.

The Killer , directed by John Woo, is now streaming on Peacock. It is not The Killer , directed by David Fincher, that is streaming on Netflix. But it is also not The Killer , directed by John Woo, that the Hong Kong-based filmmaker made in 1989, the one he also wrote and which became a bullet ballet classic, even if it shares component parts with Woo’s first run on this material. Woo’s new Killer is in love with Paris, and the way Nathalie Emmanuel, replacing the original’s Chow Yun-fat as the title assassin, pirouettes past flying bullets in the City of Light. Zee (Emmanuel) has always been the best. But when a job goes bad, she’s suddenly in the middle of a struggle between the Parisian underworld, the cops, and the people she thought she could trust. The Killer also stars Omar Sy of Lupin fame, and Sam Worthington, who goes all-in on a totally bizarre Irish accent.

THE KILLER (2024) : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

The Gist: Reimagining his own The Killer , it’s not long before John Woo’s new Killer finds itself in a brokedown church where cooing pigeons appear before stained glass. The religious imagery is thick – a de-consecrated holy place, emptied, like the soul of our highly-trained hitwoman Zee (Emmanuel). Infamous in Paris for her skill and mystery, Zee takes jobs from Finn (Worthington), and always with the same caveat. “Do they deserve this death?” We assume all of her targets over a 15-year career met that criteria, and she assumes the sinister silk-shirted bunch in a private party room do, too. Oh, and don’t bother frisking her. The weapons are there, but you can’t see them. Until she goes into action. And in the aftermath, cops like Sey (Sy) are left to wonder how someone murdered a bunch of dudes with a samurai sword and departed the club unnoticed.

Zee and Finn’s relationship is built on a kind of trust, but her hard-won independence is what truly guides her, and that serves her well once everything goes to shit. Jenn (Diana Silvers), a singer in the nightclub, isn’t entirely innocent of the mayhem that unfolded around her, but she’s more innocent than most, and Zee feels terrible for partially blinding her during the hit. In her, Zee sees the hope for a good life that left her a long time ago. But all Finn sees Jenn as is a liability, because the singer is a link to $350 million worth of heroin that’s in the wind, with various criminal interests trying to get at it. (Sӓid Taghmaoui is enjoyable in his brief scenes as a Saudi prince mixed up in the drug plot.) And while Sey deflects internal pressure from his police department higher-ups, he also grows more intrigued with Zee. In the streets, she’s known as the Queen of the Dead. But Sey sees how Zee’s moral code is not so different from his own.

The more ridiculous Sam Worthington’s Irish brogue becomes in The Killer, the more fraught the situation in Paris becomes, and pretty soon everyone’s gunning for the unlikely duo of Zee and Sey. Cue them back to back, spinning as they fire revolvers and nine millimeters at their attackers. Find them getting philosophical in a few of the film’s quieter moments. (“You would be me” – if Sey wasn’t a cop – “and I would be you.”) And follow them back to that abandoned church, where its old graveyard is sure to serve up quite a few new resting places. It’s only when Zee lights a votive for your soul that you realize you’ve lost. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? In The Killer , when Nathalie Emmanuel’s Zee says things like “If you live by a code, you’re honorable; shame isn’t an issue,” her hitwoman would seem to share a kinship with Michael Fassbender’s process-driven assassin in David Fincher’s The Killer . And there’s nothing wrong with enjoying the self-referentialism of Woo’s film, like the motorcycle theatrics it shares with Mission: Impossible II , or Zee and Sey manifesting the ethos of Face/Off , representing two faces on two sides of the same violent coin. 

Performance Worth Watching: In time, Emmanuel and Omar Sey establish a real nice chemistry in The Killer , enough that we’d like to see them together in a sequel. ( The Killer-er ?) But we’ll highlight Tchéky Karo here, not because he was in Michael Bay’s bullet ballet tribute Bad Boys , but because the always reliable Karo plays a studied, wise tailor who both watches over Zee and creates for her garments with integrated tactical features, John Wick -style.    

Memorable Dialogue: La légende de la Reine des Morts . “The Queen of the Dead,” Sey’s cop buddy says. “A woman killer so elusive, so skilled, no one has ever seen her.” 

Sex and Skin: Nothing here. When she’s not carrying out contract killings, Zee is too busy being content to share her life with a goldfish named Y and her beloved Le Monde crosswords.

Our Take: You see it a lot in action films nowadays, the dynamic takedown of an adversary using a full-body leg-wrapping wrestling throw. But because John Woo is John Woo and he’s an innovator in this space, you see it done differently and better in The Killer . There are lots of familiar pieces in this film, things you can point to like Leo in the meme and say “Woo-ism!”. And yeah, some of those pieces don’t really land. Some of the action stuff can feel a little awkward, some of the chases are too long, that sort of thing. But the flaws are minor in the face of what’s fantastic. Nathalie Emmanuel is cool and cold-blooded as Zee, the contract killer. But she finds her heart, too, and lets that sensitivity simmer alongside all of the havoc. Omar Sy is funny as Sey, like when he does his awkward best to emulate one of Zee’s more balletic escape moves, but Sy also builds a nice rapport with Emmanuel that enlivens the stretches in The Killer where killing isn’t the only feature. 

The Killer shares a throughline with an entire heap of VOD actioners, the kind of random stuff that clogs any number of streamers’ what-to-watch boxes. What it’s better at is the casting of Emmanuel and Sy, both terrific, and how it becomes a welcome return for John Woo’s signature moves. It does what a lot of movies do. It just does it with Woo.   

Our Call: STREAM IT. John Woo’s reimagined The Killer enjoys its Parisian setting immensely, turns loose an eager, charming Nathalie Emmanuel on an assassin character full of creative ways to kill, and upholds Woo’s longstanding adoration for fluttering birds and conducting violence in shafts of light.

Johnny Loftus ( @glennganges ) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.

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The Killer 2024 Movie Review: A Masterclass in Action-Packed Cinema

The action-thriller genre has evolved significantly over the years, with each decade bringing forth new techniques, narratives, and characters that have shaped the way we experience high-octane cinema. The Killer 2024, available on HuraWatch ,  is the latest addition to this illustrious lineage, a film that not only pays homage to its predecessors but also pushes the boundaries of what modern action movies can achieve. Directed by an acclaimed filmmaker, this movie promises to be a landmark in the genre, blending intense action sequences with a gripping storyline that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. At the heart of The Killer lies a story of vengeance and redemption. The protagonist, a skilled assassin with a troubled past, finds himself embroiled in a web of intrigue and deceit. Tasked with eliminating a series of high-profile targets, he uncovers a conspiracy that forces him to confront his own demons. The narrative is layered, with each twist and turn adding depth to the character's journey. The screenplay is meticulously crafted, ensuring that the pacing never falters, even as the tension builds to a crescendo. The character development in The Killer is one of the film’s strongest aspects. The protagonist is not just a one-dimensional figure; he is a complex individual whose actions are driven by a mix of personal vendetta and a search for redemption. The supporting characters are equally well-drawn, each playing a crucial role in the narrative. The antagonist, in particular, is a formidable presence, providing a worthy foil to the protagonist’s plans. The interactions between these characters are charged with emotion, adding layers to the story that go beyond the usual action fare.

Visually, this movie is a masterpiece. The cinematography captures the intensity of the action scenes with precision, making each sequence feel visceral and immediate. The use of lighting and camera angles adds to the film’s overall mood, creating a sense of unease that permeates the entire runtime. The action sequences are choreographed to perfection, with a blend of practical effects and CGI that enhances the realism without overshadowing the performances. The sound design in it  plays a crucial role in heightening the film’s tension. Every gunshot, punch, and explosion is rendered with clarity, adding to the immersive experience. The score complements the action perfectly, with a mix of pulsating beats and orchestral arrangements that underline the film's dramatic moments. The music is used sparingly but effectively, allowing the natural sounds of the environment to take center stage when needed. While The Killer  is primarily an action film, it delves into themes that add depth to the narrative. The concept of redemption is central to the protagonist’s journey, as he grapples with his past actions and seeks a way to make amends. The film also explores the idea of identity, particularly in how the protagonist is forced to confront who he really is beneath his stoic exterior. These themes are woven seamlessly into the plot, providing a richer viewing experience. This film is more than just an action movie; it is a cinematic experience that sets a new standard for the genre. With its intricate plot, well-developed characters, and stunning visuals, it is a film that will be remembered for years to come. Whether you’re a fan of action-packed thrillers or just appreciate a well-crafted story, The Killer  is a must-watch. Prepare yourself for a ride that is as emotionally engaging as it is thrilling, and don’t miss the chance to witness a masterclass in modern action cinema.

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Strange Darling

“Strange Darling,” J.T. Mollner’s self-consciously edgy gotcha of a serial-killer thriller, is so high on its own cleverness that it never stops to think about what it’s actually saying. A pithy way to summarize this movie’s whole vibe would be “If  Quentin Tarantino  tried to make a ‘#MeToo movie.’” But that’s not fair to Tarantino, who, for all his flaws, is at least somewhat self-aware.

To give Mollner the benefit of the doubt, he may have been so impressed with himself when he came up with this movie’s twist that he didn’t realize that he had written a scenario that reinforces misogynist beliefs about women being untrustworthy, heartless manipulators who take pleasure in destroying decent men for the fun of it. (Apologies for the spoiler, but it’s impossible to articulate what’s wrong with this movie without at least obliquely referencing its back half.) The way that this revelation is presented suggests that its more noxious overtones are truly unwitting. But that doesn’t make their aftertaste any less gross.

The reason “Strange Darling” gets a marginal pass is that the film seems to truly believe that its subversions are empowering. Its intentions—and its disruptions—are straightforward, and it seems unaware of the implications of the specific ways in which it turns the audience’s expectations upside down. It’s not that deep, in short, and there are some shallow thrills to be had along the way. Much of that enjoyment comes from watching star  Willa Fitzgerald , who commits wholeheartedly to her unnamed character’s sudden shifts in mood and affect. She gives her more range and personality than she — or, rather, the man who wrote her—really deserves. It’s a bravura performance, one that’s wasted on this stylish, but ultimately thoughtless and self-indulgent film.

Speaking of indulgence: “Strange Darling” is shot in gorgeous, vibrant 35mm. But it can’t just let its visual beauty stand on its own, instead opening with a real eye-roller of a title card that reads, “shot entirely on 35mm film.” (It should have read “shot entirely on 35mm film by  Giovanni Ribisi ,” given that the prolific character actor does some impressive work here as the film’s DP. Now  that’ s a twist.) The chase and action sequences are thrilling, the blood is convincing, and Fitzgerald isn’t the only engaging actor in the film:  Ed Begley  Jr. and  Barbara Hershey  are also endearing in minor roles as a pair of aging hippies who open their door to the wrong stranger.

Nostalgic stunt casting is a Tarantino signature. And that filmmaker’s influence on Mollner’s film, from the pithy dialogue to the non-chronological structure, is difficult to overstate. “Strange Darling” is a pastiche of a pastiche, which speaks to how a movie that has so much going for it can end up ringing so hollow. It subverts tropes because that’s a clever thing to do, not because it has anything to say about what those tropes represent or how they play out in real life. It doesn’t have any new insights about gender relations, or about gendered violence, or about sublimating violence through sexuality, although it spends long stretches rat-a-tat-tatting about those very subjects. Handed a Rorschach test, it sees nothing but a blob of ink.

Katie Rife is a freelance writer and critic based in Chicago with a speciality in genre cinema. She worked as the News Editor of  The A.V. Club  from 2014-2019, and as Senior Editor of that site from 2019-2022. She currently writes about film for outlets like  Vulture, Rolling Stone, Indiewire, Polygon , and  RogerEbert.com.

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• Kyle Gallner as The Demon
• Jason Patric as True Crime Narrator (voice)
• Giovanni Ribisi as Art Pallone
• Ed Begley Jr. as Frederick

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World premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2023 and had its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest 2023. Took the Grand Prix at the Brussels International Film Festival 2023 as well as Best Actor for Olivier Rabourdin. He plays a shaggy dog private investigator eking out an existence one seedy adultery case at a time until turning his attention to the cause of his estranged twin brother’s death in a ruthless shady world steeped in vibrant neon imagery on the Franco-Spanish border.

Paramount+ in partnership with Iconic Events Releasing is releasing Yariv Mozer’s We Will Dance Again ,  examining Hamas’  October 7 , 2023 attack on Israel, at LA’s Laemmle Encino for a week-long Oscar qualifying run, ahead of advanced event screenings on Friday, August 29 and Sunday, September 1, in select theaters nationwide. The documentary focuses on the Nova Music Festival where thousands of young people became one of the first targets of Hamas’ deadly terror attack.

I like It Here , a documentary by Ralph Arlyck ( Following Sean ), opens at the Firehouse: DCTV in New York with additional cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston to follow in the fall. Argot Entertainment is distributing the film, winner of the International Critics Prize at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, and official selection at Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, True/Falls, San Francisco and New York Jewish festivals and numerous other international fests.

Arlyck, who spent a lifetime filming the people he’s close to and the things he sees, wanders through his upstate New York neighborhood and his own past, taking stock of where he’s been and where he’s going as he approaches 80, pulling together decades of footage into this eloquent personal essay.

Adds LA’s Lumiere Music Hall next week, and Chicago (Music Box Theaters) Sep 13.

Strand Releasing opens Japanese drama I’ll Be Your Mirror at New York’s IFC Center, adding Laemmle Glendale in LA next week. Written and directed by Bradley Rust Grey, stars Carla Juri, Takashi Ueno, Issey Ogata, Gustaf Skarsgärd, and Sachiko Ohshima. Premiered at Sundance 2022 and has floated in release limbo for a bit. After the death of her husband, a young woman travels to Japan where she finds solace in an old friend. But when his comforting turns to affection, she realizes she must give herself permission before she can fall in love again. Rust Gray will be in New York this weekend to intro and Q&A the film. 

Dark Sky Films low-budget Beyond Fest-premiering twisty horror Hostile Dimensions from writer-director (and star) Graham Hughes ( Death Of A Vlogger ), opens in limited release. Two documentary filmmakers are investigating the disappearance of a graffiti artist who seemingly vanished. As they delve deeper into their research, they encounter an ominous freestanding door which leads them on a dark journey through the dimensions behind it. With Stephen Beavis, Cedric Gall, Paddy Kondracki, Annabel Logan, Josie Rogers, Andy Stewart and Joma West. 

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Critic’s Pick

‘Strange Darling’ Review: Assume Nothing

In this cheeky, cunningly assembled thriller, a serial killer gets a satisfying and surprising comeuppance.

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

A movie that’s best experienced stone cold, “Strange Darling” is so dependent on its surprises — one head-snapping twist, with several judiciously spaced lesser shocks — that to reveal any one of them would be critical malpractice.

A crawling onscreen text, read by Jason Patric, informs us that what we are about to see is the dramatization of a spree killer’s final, vicious acts. Thus primed, we’re thrown into the middle of a frantic car chase as a terrified young woman in scarlet scrubs races to escape a shotgun-wielding man in a pickup truck. She is known only as The Lady (Willa Fitzgerald), and she is bleeding from a head wound; he is The Demon (Kyle Gallner), his sleazy mustache and snorts of cocaine familiar bad-guy signifiers. We’ve got this, we think, settling in for some serial-killer comfort viewing. We could not be more wrong.

Playing out in six, ingeniously scrambled chapters, this headlong thriller transforms a simple cat-and-mouse premise — and maybe even a toxic love story — into an impertinent rebuke to genre clichés and our own preprogrammed assumptions. Flexing back and forth in time, the writer and director, JT Mollner, bets the house on a mechanism that repeatedly asks us to reassess what has gone before. Cunning as it is, structure is not the movie’s sole strength. Both Z Berg’s haunting, otherworldly pop songs and Giovanni Ribisi’s eloquent photography (it’s the actor’s first stint as a feature cinematographer) bathe the film’s violence in an unexpected dreaminess. In one pivotal scene, shot with shadowy intensity, flirtation and threat alternate so frequently that the flickering power dynamics are completely destabilizing.

Less complicated by far are Ed Begley, Jr. and Barbara Hershey as a pair of doomsday preppers who think the bleeding woman at their door has been attacked by a Sasquatch. They will soon learn that there are some problems even bear spray can’t solve.

Strange Darling Rated R for cutting, ketamine and lots of killing. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. In theaters.