I never thought I’d see the day where David Fincher directs a generic action revenge flick. I’m still kind of shocked, not just by the lackluster movie, but also by the seemingly very positive critical response. To me, there was really nothing keeping this movie from being yet another addition to the ever-growing slate of mediocre Netflix originals—other than the name David Fincher.
The movie’s very simple story is that of a pop culture-oriented assassin who sets out to hunt down the hired guns who assaulted his wife after he failed to complete a hit. For the first ten minutes, I really enjoyed it. The opening plays out as a pretty solid short film and encapsulates all of the themes about pop culture and its impact on psychopaths that Fincher is going for in the film. I love the methodical process and the subtle details that provide vague insights into the assassin’s mental state. It also has a nice little twist at the end that perfectly satirizes the scene’s over-narration and the arrogance of the assassin. Unfortunately, this is where the positives stop and the movie devolves into a forgettable mess.
This movie seems to think it is a character study, and yet there is hardly a single standout character. The assassin is supposed to be ironic, he describes in his many narrations in detail how he will go about his violent acts, and then does the opposite. However, this never really amounts to anything more than some decent black comedy moments. You get it in the opening scene, and then it plays over and over like a broken record. It’s not as much a character study as it is an observation, as we never go any deeper than what he explains in his narrations and some vague actions that are never elaborated on. The concept of a pop culture-driven psychopath is hardly original in 2023 either, with films like “Reservoir Dogs” and “Scream” having done something similar over two decades ago. There just doesn’t seem to be an original bone in this entire film.
At no point do you get a sense that there was a singular creative vision behind this movie. The opening credits take on a pulpy comic book style reminiscent of the “John Wick” films, but then abandon that style for most of the story which they try to keep grounded in reality. Some of these parts were actually fun. It was interesting to see the assassin using Amazon lockers and other modern world technologies that you don’t often see in movies. However, this isn’t consistent either, as these down to earth sequences are interrupted by occasional bursts of almost comically over-the-top action scenes that just leave you rolling your eyes.
The movie’s editing is atrocious, in my opinion. Not once does it take the time to get quiet and suspenseful, which is absolutely shocking in a David Fincher film where you can usually expect to find yourself forgetting to breathe in some tense moments. It also feels like a slog for large portions, and although the runtime is only about two hours, it feels like it clears two and a half hours.
Having loved a number of Fincher’s previous films (“The Game” being one of my all-time favorite movies) I was beyond disappointed by the blandness and complete lack of any sort of emotional connection to anything happening on-screen in “The Killer.” Fincher is a wildly talented filmmaker and we can only hope to see him make something more interesting next time, because he has proven time and time again that he is more than capable of doing so.
