“Stick to your plan. Don’t improvise, anticipate. Trust no one. Forbid empathy.“
On Saturday night, I saw David Fincher’s 12th feature film, The Killer, at the Coolidge Corner theater in Brookline, Massachusetts. In the process, I felt like a warrior. I was battling a brutal sunburn that’s uncharacteristic for October, but I attained it in the process of filming my colleges football game in the afternoon. But seeing The Killer, eating a burrito from Anna’s Taqueria, and drinking a lot of water mended my headache that was induced from the sun.
When it comes to David Fincher, I take his films very seriously. He’s my all-time favorite director and is one that I’ll watch anything he’ll direct. That includes Alien 3. When I saw that The Killer was coming out, I was excited. Not only because it was a Fincher directed project, but because it was off the heels of Mank in 2020 which I didn’t particularly love. He was returning to the noir genre that he’s dominated for three decades and was pairing back up with screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, who wrote Se7en and doctored the scripts for The Game and Fight Club.
Along with teaming back up with Walker, Fincher enlisted Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor to compose the score. Fincher worked with them for the first time on The Social Network in 2010 and collaborated three more times prior to The Killer. As a fan of all four of those geniuses, I was thrilled.
The Good
I have so much that I want to hit that I loved in The Killer and don’t really know where to start. If you’re prepared for an Adam Curtis length description of what I loved, then strap in because I have a lot to say.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
In A Year Of Extensive Runtimes, Fincher Crafts A Concise Film Under Two Hours
If you look at some of the top films from this year, you’ll see that the runtimes all exceed two hours. Many of them being over two and a half hours long. Oppenheimer is three hours long. Killers of the Flower Moon is three hours and twenty six minutes long. John Wick Chapter Four is two hours and fifty minutes long. You get the point. While Fincher in the past has made films over two and a half hours, The Killer was his second shortest clocking in at one hour and fifty eight minutes long. And guess what? I wish it was WAY LONGER. Some of the films I listed above could’ve been shorter, but not The Killer. I personally would’ve accepted an extra hour of this masterpiece. Partially because it’s my favorite director, but mainly I didn’t want this story to end.
Usually when I say that a film leaves me wanting more it’s in a negative manner like May December, but with The Killer, the story satisfied me. I just selfishly wanted to get more and more and more from my favorite director.
Pacing wise, The Killer is an 11 ounce filet mignon. There isn’t a sliver of fat or filler to this film and it makes it fly by. At one point, I took a sip of my water and checked my watch out of the corner of my eye and saw that an hour and fifteen minutes had already passed. I felt like I had been sitting in the theater for 20 minutes. When a film flies at warp speed and makes you feel like no time has passed, you’re cooking with fire. I can’t wait to rewatch this when it hits Netflix on November 10th.
The Killer Is The Bizarro World Fight Club
If you love Fight Club and the message of raging against the machine, I’m not sure what your thoughts will be on The Killer. The reason I say this is because there are portions of this that feel like a cleverly crafted marketing campaign. Whether it’s The Killer narrating about his protein impact from McDonald’s breakfast or ordering key fabs from Amazon, we see a lot of branding. While that may not work in some films and feel cheap, it oddly didn’t here. It more felt like Fincher winking at the cult classic from the 90s that still splits audiences down the middle. Fincher goes from having Brad Pitt giving an empowered speech about the rat race to having his protagonist in The Killer utilizing Starbucks and Enterprise.
Going even past The Killer doing a 180 tonally from Fight Club, it’s stylistically very different. When you watch Fight Club, you feel dirty. You see a gaggle of menaces creating soap in a rundown house and fighting in a grimy basement — and while you relish in every second of it, you don’t feel clean. The Killer has a sterilized feeling to it like you’re walking into Patrick Bateman’s apartment. Tonally and stylistically, Fincher runs away from the idea of Fight Club with The Killer.
Character Imperfections Makes The Killer Near Perfect
Early in my viewing of The Killer, I drew parallels between Fassbender as The Killer and Daniel Craig as James Bond. Craig starred in five films as legendary spy James Bond, but his Bond was different than the classic Sean Connery. Neal Purvis and Robert Wade wrote Craig’s Bond with imperfections. He could be emotional at times which would lead him to be distracted on a mission. While The Killer didn’t have visible emotion and stayed stoic, he had flaws. From missing the shot that sends him on this journey, to letting emotions about Magdala control his decision making, he’s not perfect.
His blemishes made it easy for the audience to connect to him and penetrate his icy exterior. At times he feels like Anton Chigurh from No Country For Old Men. It’s like The Killer was dropped on Earth as a robot programmed to kill. You especially feel that seeing his regimented routine when he’s staking out a target. Like I mentioned prior is that we see the flaws make him a real person and relatable as the film progresses. While you or I aren’t highly trained killers, we have things we excel at. Sometimes our imperfections can stand in the way of showcasing that talent we have. For me, four Miller Lites and a brain lapse will hinder me naming every Best Picture winner since 1970. For The Killer, a dominatrix moving and assassins brutalizing his girlfriend made him vulnerable.
This is par for the course when you see Fincher directing a Walker script. In Se7en, Pitt’s character Detective Mills is a hot head that’s a great detective physically. Morgan Freeman’s character, Detective Somerset, is the epitome of a great detective. His vulnerability is his desire. He works himself too far and over invests himself in a case.
A Snobby Soundtrack Added Elegance
When I left the theater and walked to my car, I had many questions. Did The Killer just live out his days in the Dominican Republic peacefully? Why did Claybourne want the target dead? But the biggest question I asked was, “Did David Fincher make this movie just for me?” First, you cast one of my favorite actors in the lead. Second, you return to the noir genre that and I love when Fincher directs this style of films. To cap that off, the entirety of the films soundtrack consists of The Smiths — one of my all-time favorite bands.
While I do love The Smiths, I can acknowledge they’re a snobby band. They have a pretentious aura surrounding them. I think that turns some people away, but they make fantastic music. And I like snobby things at times whether it’s in film or music. Sometimes it’s fun to be like a wrestling heel and battle the common man when you’re defending a snobby film or album.
Nevertheless, Fincher’s usage of The Smiths was masterful. I say this because their songs have lyrics that are depressing, but feature a jovial guitar riff. Pairing depressing lyrics, a jolly guitar, and a ruthless assassin is like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with pickles. It shouldn’t work, but it does. When you hear This Charming Man play as he’s getting ready to dispose of a body, you develop mixed feelings, but overall grow a deeper fondness for the film. It was elegant in a unique way while still keeping its cold and emotionless edge to it.
Before you watch The Killer, familiarize yourself with some hits from The Smiths like Meat Is Murder or Accept Yourself. It’ll change the way you view this film.
The Bad
While I think there is not much bad in The Killer, no film is perfect. My only real knit to pick is the film’s final five minutes. It seems like The Killer breaks one of his mortal rules when he doesn’t forbid empathy. I understand the idea of this character having an arc and not killing another “innocent” person, but the way he doesn’t kill Claybourne in his apartment was something I didn’t love. I didn’t hate it, but the nub of The Killers journey of vengeance was because of Claybourne. However, The Killer leaves the door open to kill Claybourne, but he doesn’t do it.
Along with that, I felt that it was a bit of an abrupt ending where we see The Killer in the Dominican Republic with Magdala. I’m not entirely sure what I expected, but it wasn’t that ending if I’m being honest. Here I go playing Devils advocate against myself again, the abrupt ending was a reason I liked the film because there wasn’t any fluff. The Killer was a meticulous assassin who was concise in just about everything he did. All he wanted to do was get back to Magdala and that’s what he did.
I could sit here and write myself in circles for the next week, but I’ll leave The Bad section with this — while I didn’t love the ending, it worked. It’s the thing I’ll possibly look down on in future viewings, but it made sense that it ended the way it did.
Performance Report Card
Michael Fassbender: A
Michael Fassbender is SO BACK. It was absolutely incredible seeing Fassbender back on the big screen because, whether you like it or not, he’s a star. He could be portraying Steve Jobs, playing a ruthless slave owner in 12 Years A Slave or an animatronic human in Prometheus, he’s never not great. I think the issue with Fassbender is that he has a shitty agent who puts him in bad projects like The Snowman and Haywire. Nevertheless, it was great to see Fassbender back after a four year hiatus where his last project in 2019, Dark Phoenix, was also a monumental flop.
There’s a lot of reasons I think Fassbender was great in The Killer, but his stoicism prevails. His ability to render a blank face while staring death in the eyes was chilling to see and showed off his great poise as an actor. But when needed, we would see his panicked aura that adds a human element to this character that feels like he’s inhuman when he’s executing hits. That goes back to his imperfections making him perfect. On top of that, I give Fassbender so much credit because in a lot of his scenes, he’s acting alone. Remnant of Tom Hardy in Locke or Sam Rockwell in Moon, Fassbender eats up every second of screen time when he’s alone, but also dominates in his time with other actors or actresses.
Also, it feels hard to not love this character and performance when Fassbender is rocking such fly outfits. The beige jacket and pants combo with a floral shirt and a bucket hat is cold. I might throw that look into my rotation to breakup my usual outfits of Carhartt hoodies and Vineyard Vines golf shirts.
Arliss Howard: C+
Arliss Howard being billed second feels weird because we don’t see him until the third act. Then again, it’d be weird to have anyone billed second because this is a Michael Fassbender showcase. While we don’t see much of him, Howard plays a very significant role and fits it. He’s an out of touch billionaire that’s kind of goofy, a lot like Elon Musk. What really sticks with me from Howard’s performance is the look of fear that dances across his face when The Killer leaves his apartment. That looked like true fear of a monster in plain clothes standing in front of you.
Charles Parnell: B-
The common pattern of everyone other than Michael Fassbender is that they’re not in The Killer for very long. Of all the supporting cast, Charles Parnell makes the second biggest impact. What I love that he does is he speaks in a polished manner when trying to talk The Killer down, but the second The Killer starts to take action, he switches from professionalism to panic and it’s great to see his demeanor shift in the blink of an eye.
Kerry O’Malley: C+
Boy does Kerry O’Malleys character meet an unfortunate ending. Probably the saddest because we see The Killer nearly let empathy into his heart, but he doesn’t. Forbid empathy. Her graveling was brutal to witness because you obviously knew her fate, but as a human, you reserved a thought that she might live. All in all, I thought she gave a solid performance for what it was.
Sala Baker: C
When the crux of your performance is to beat the shit out of Michael Fassbender and then get killed, it’s difficult to leave an impression on an audience, but when I left the theater, I thought about Sala Baker. His job was to be a juiced up maniac that wants to kill. He did just that. His fight scene with The Killer was awesome from the standpoint that we don’t see a lot of hand-to-hand combat outside of this scene. So when Fincher gives it to us, it’s exhilarating and Baker is a reason for that.
Sophie Charlotte: C
In similar fashion to Sala Baker, I can’t justify giving Sophie Charlotte a higher grade than a C because she’s just in the film for a short time, but is pivotal. There’s not much more to add other than that she was the reason Fassbender as The Killer did what he did. I’ll thank her for that, but everyone that came in the way of The Killer probably isn’t a fan.
Tilda Swinton: A-
Reading early reviews, many critics noted that they felt like having Tilda Swinton in the role she was in was a waste. I feel exactly opposite of that notion. Having Tilda Swinton in this role was superb. She’s an actress that exudes confidence bad-assery and the character that she plays is supposed to be an expert assassin. Having her star presence made you the viewer feel like the stakes were at their highest in the short tete-à-tete that her and Fassbenders character had in the restaurant. From making jokes about bears sodomizing people to grappling with the fact that she was going to die, she gave it her all in this performance.
Critical Reception
When The Killer debuted at the Venice Film Festival in September, it was met with mixed reviews, a good deal being somewhat negative. This caused the Letterboxd rating of the film to be 3.3 out of 5 stars. But since its limited theatrical release, its Letteroxd rating has spiked to 3.7 out of 5 stars. It’s not often I say this, but it seems like the masses were right because this film absolutely bangs. On IMDB, The Killer has a 7.4 out of 10 rating. On Rotten Tomatoes, Fincher’s 12th feature has an 89% Tomato Meter rating, but does not currently have an audience score.
For myself personally, I have The Killer ranked fifth in all of Finchers filmography. It’s sandwiched between his 1999 cult classic, Fight Club, which is at four and his 2011 thriller, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I’ll definitely need to rewatch it before settling The Killer in fifth, but I feel extremely confident that it’s going to be in the top five.
In addition the The Killer being my fifth favorite Fincher of all time, I have it as my favorite film of 2023. It has surpassed Oppenheimer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Killers of the Flower Moon. With what’s remaining for releases this year, I’m not sure what will be able to take the number one spot from The Killer. Maybe Napoleon, but I doubt it. Could American Fiction or Ferrari blow me away and steal the top spot? I doubt it.
Oscar Potential
When it comes to this years Oscars, it’s going to be a cut-throat and loaded field of films, actors and actresses, directors, etc. What’s unfortunate is the Academy doesn’t think like me. They’ll view The Killer as an exhilarating and sleek thriller, but nothing more than that, and that’s unfortunate. For that reason, I’m sure they have a near zero chance of winning an award, but could garner some nominations. To be more precise, I’ve calculated some percentages of The Killer‘s nominations (just kind of taking a shot in the dark).
The Nitty Gritty Numbers
Best Picture: It’s great that this year has been a historic one in film, but unfortunately for Fincher and company, it means they’ll probably be shutout of the Best Picture category. Do I think it could slide into the ninth or tenth slot? For sure. Do I think it will happen? Probably not. 15%
Best Actor: You can count in DiCaprio for Killers of the Flower Moon and Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer, but outside of that its murky waters in this category. Fassbender is fantastic in this film and everyone loves a comeback story. Just look at Brendan Fraser last year. I believe Fassbender could grab the third or fourth nomination, but won’t come close to winning. 60%
Best Director: Much like Best Picture, Best Director is loaded. What hinders Fincher is the fact that only five directors get nominated while ten films get nominated. There’s a chance Fincher dies without an Oscar and is in the same conversation as Hitchcock and Lumet as the best directors to never win an Oscar. Damn shame. It’s not a nonzero chance he gets nominated, but it’s low. 10%
Best Original Score: Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times yes. No one does an original score better than Reznor and Ross and no one else has made what I believe to be a comparable score to the one we hear in The Killer. It’ll definitely get nominated and should win. 100%
Best Adapted Screenplay: 2023 has been a big year for adapted screenplays with Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon and Barbie. What works in favor of The Killer is that the last four winners have had a runtime under two hours. The Academy proves they value concise scripts with limited fat to them and The Killer hits those categories. 80%
