REVIEW #326 The Killer (2023)

A solitary, cold and methodical killer waits in the shadows for his next target but when the assassin makes a costly mistake it has deadly consequences.

The Killer marks the return of David Fincher and it has plenty of his director trademarks stamped on the film. The entire tone and aesthetic fits perfectly into his filmography and creates a beautifully shot film with excellent cinematography by Erik Messerschmidt. The movie opens up with a twenty minute narration of Michael Fassbender setting up his next target and some may find this a rather slow start but I thought it was a perfect introduction to the character, understanding what makes him what he is and what makes him tick. It also illustrates a perfect set up, with is a clear contrast of how things actually turn out, which allows the audience to feel that surprise right along side the assassin himself, which I thought was a nice touch. Fassbender was probably the perfect casting here too, he delivers a fantastic performance where his body language and facial expressions have to do most of the work whilst the narration continues in the background throughout, which he also executed very well. 

I think the plot was ultimately the weakest part of the film, the character work was great don’t get me wrong, but the overarching plot was pretty basic. Sort of John Wick esque, the thing a man loves gets hurt, so man takes down those responsible. Except this killer worked in the shadows and everything was carried out discretely! So I was kind of let down by that aspect, considering David Finchers storylines are often filled with riveting twists and captivating plot points. There is still plenty to enjoy though, the cinematography as I mentioned earlier is something to enjoy in itself. To conclude the review, this won’t be my favourite film from the directors filmography, nor my second, but when that portfolio is as impressive as Finchers, that’s hard to do anyway. But it’s still a film I really liked and I’d certainly watch again in the future. 

Overall (8/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan