David Fincher's The Killer has arrived on Netflix and after watching the film, I think
it's a great return to the stylish thrillers that we used to see from this filmmaker.
The direction by Fincher, the score by Trent Reznor, the performance from Michael Fassbender,
and the bending of thematics in a character study or assasin film like this, makes it
an intriguing dive into the mind of a cold killer, even if it is flawed.
It really is a welcome return to the thrillers of old by Fincher and it honestly feels like
he never left.
So in this video, I'm going to be listing the main reasons why I think The Killer is
David Fincher back to his stylish best.
This video essay will contain brief spoilers, so if you
do happen to be someone who hasn't seen the film yet, then I would recommend watching
this video after you've seen it.
Before I get into it though, if you want to keep up to date
on any of my upcoming content for auteur driven films David Fincher's The Killer, then don't
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But without further a do, lets dive into my thoughts on The Killer.
So David Fincher is known for being a meticulous and precise modern filmmaker, and it makes
sense that his latest film The Killer, is about a meticulous assassin who initially
details exactly how things will go down and what makes people be the way they are.
He's essentially able to stick to his plan, stay hidden, kill his target and then flee
the location without being seen.
The film is based on the comic book of the same-name, and centres around the unnamed
assassin played by Michael Fassbender, taking on his latest
objective in Paris.
The opening scene is one that really sets the tone of this stylish thriller and depending
on how you react to it, it will probabaly result in how much you
become attached the film or not.
For me, it's probabaly one of my favourite openings in a film this year, as Fincher combines
a somewhat Rear Window inspired sequence, with that of
Patrick Bateman inspired narration, to make you understand the lack of heart and empathy
that this individual initially gives off.
Fassbender’s killer uses an abandoned space to snipe his target across the street, but
before we get to that shooting, Fincher puts us firmly in his mind, watching his monotonous
routine, listening only to the music of The Smiths, and hearing his inner thoughts through
narration as he talks about how his coldness makes him perfect for what he does.
The scene goes on and on until we reach the moment
that he shoots his target, but instead of killing them, he kills the woman seducing
his target across the street.
It's a moment of twisted comedy that completely flips the thematics
of the opening 15 minute buildup and it sets in line a subverted assasin film where Fassbender's
killer is critiqued on his lack of empathy.
It’s unlike anything I've seen from an assassin film in the past, and the fact that
Fincher was able to make this quite comical at times, speaks to how intriguing and entertaining
it really is.
It's from this very mistake in the opening sequence that the rest
of the movie builds on, as the director plays with the expectations of this character arc.
As he leaves Paris, he realises that his mistake has led to a personal attack in the
Dominican Republic, and he makes it his mission across the globe to hunt down the people who
tried to wrong him, which again, is a result of his own actions.
And in those very scenes that follow, the idea of a killer without empathy is explored
much deeper.
Classic Fincher is exactly what you get from The Killer.
Since those early days of Se7en and Fight Club, yes we've had great thriller movies
from the director, but this really brings us back to the stylish aesthetics and
interogations of his earlier work.
How the quick cut and paced editing adds to the idea of a killer who tries to get the
job done and has little emotion for those he kills.
How the frenetic music adds to the intensity of fight scenes later on and the derailing
nature of our lead character's intitial motives.
This music to begin with is much more orchestral and that plays well into the idea of someone
who is slowly losing the coldness they claimed they had.
The film is split into six chapters, with the majority of them seeing
the unnamed assassin try and eliminate someone who wronged him, which includes The Brute,
The Expert and The Lawyer.
While The Killer's opening makes you feel like there isn't any
threat that could derail his meticulous ways, once he makes his mistake and as the chapters
progress there becomes an icreasing sense that this hitman can't do this forever.
And that's definitely the case when you see the contradicting nature of the scenes around
the later targets, as he goes from having no
empathy into someone who spends 10 minutes talking to them before he does kill them off.
It essentially goes from a profession that isn't personal into one that is, and that
effects the complete idea of what he is actually doing.
It's a complete character study of empathy, that has all the style and bite of an ealier
fincher film, making you think about the true thematics behind it rather than just
the simplistic plot that keeps it all together.
While movies like the recent Mank were more sentimental and also triumphant technically,
The Killer gives us the synical nature of his earlier studies and returns us to the
mucky colour grades he used to display on the big screen.
Not just this, but we get a return of the famous monologues that portray the main
character's inner feeling of isolation, only to realise that this is partly his own doing.
It's a return to the stylistic thrillers that we are used to seeing from Fincher, ones that
build on the central themes visually and sonically.
And while it is more stripped back than his earlier work, like with Se7En and
Fight Club, there’s still more depth to it than The Killer’s intial personality
plays into.
When it comes to another strength of the film, I think Michael Fassbender's performance has
to be equally praised, as alongside it being an ideal one to really communicate the
interogattion of coldness, it also marks the actors first performance in many years.
And the fact that he's this good shows that there's no signs of him slowing down.
He expertly shifts between being intelligent, cool and
slightly worried, and his demeanor is a perfect fit for the idea of a detached assassin.
The moments in the film where just by his expressions you can see that he's battling
with his inner thoughts and then how his dialogue and narration changes, makes it all the more
effective.
It’s a great reminder of Fassbender’s acting skills and presence
onscreen and it really makes me interested in what roles he'll take on next.
While the actor does run the show, there is also a few good
smaller roles in the ensemble too, with Charles Parnell and Tilda Swinton delivering their
dialogue effectively in crucial twisty scenes.
The scene between Swinton and Fassbender in a posh restaurant was probabaly
one of my favourite moments in the film, and it was here where you believe that the opening
narration by Fassbender has now completely been contradicted.
Yes he still kills his target and doesn't trust anything she does, but we as an audience
have to question, why start your interogattion at the restaurant and
find out about her motives if you're only going to kill her immediately when you get
outside.
But that's exactly the point.
The Killer claimed he didn't give a crap about those he
killed and stuck to the plan, but here he wants to know why his victims did what they
did and by the time we reach his 4th target, he doesn't really stick to his plan at all.
Those small details make this an effective take on the assasin film and showcase the
exact twist in the main character's psychology as his globetrotting hunt progresses.
He might begin by thinking he's flawless, but it becomes
clear to us that those days are over.
I think as a whole, this film is a good character study because we get an idea of The Killer's
philosophies, without it being repeated to us over and over.
We understand it from the get-go and then those very principles that are narrated to
us are challenged and questioned in the many scenes that follow.
And when he does remind himself through narration to stick to the plan, the way Fassbender delivers
those lines, makes you feel just as unconvinced as he is.
David Fincher's The Killer isn't a perfect film though, and I think its tight structure
is one that was always going to bring flaws.
Even though the formulaic aspects of it as an
assassin film do help in it's central interogattion, it does also become too obvious as it progresses,
and the feeling I have after watching it, is that in the moment, its engaging, but
but afterwards it doesn't linger as much as the director's earlier films might have.
It's a tight project that looks and says exactly what it needs to, but it isn't as detailed
nor provoking as say Se7en, Fight Club or Zodiac.
Again though, that's not the worst thing in the world, because like I mentioned it's a
film that still does and says what it intends and needs to.
While it goes deep but doesn't go deep enough, I'd still rank it high on the middle tier
of Fincher's fimography and the absolute style of the piece gets me even more
excited to see what he'll approach next.
If anything it feels like a pilot to a tv show, with Fincher getting back to his stylish
thriller roots so that he can go even crazier on
the next outing.
While it was flawed as a complete experience I still think that fans of the director's
work will enjoy this as much as I did and there's plenty to love about it
stylistically and thematically too.
It doesn’t have the resonance to reach masterpieces like The Social Network, Se7en or Fight Club,
but The Killer is an engrossing and interogatting action thriller, that for the
most part, successfully subverts the assassin film.
But that was my review for David Fincher's The Killer.
The filmmaker's latest film makes for a tense watch at times, but in other moments, it feels
like a comical interrogation of empathy vs no-empathy.
I think he could have gone further with some of these thematics, and while The Killer mainly
feels like a first step back towards his roots, I can't
deny that it was a stylish and entertaining entry, that worked in more ways than it didn't.
It makes me want to revisit those early classics by the filmmaker and in the future, see
much more from him when it comes to the thriller genre.
With a great leaading performance, stylish filmmaking and cold-blooded intensity, The
Killer has a lot going for it, and that's mainly due to the precision and direction
of David Fincher.
I'm giving The Killer on Netflix a rating of 8.5 out of 10.
But to those who have already seen the film what do
you think of David Fincher's The Killer movie, and do you agree that it's a great return
to the stylish thrillers that we used to see from him.
Again, it's all subjective and I appreciate a range of reactions and reviews,
so let me know down below in the comments section what you thought towards it.
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