The Killer (2023)

Dir. David Fincher

David Fincher is back with another signature crime thriller — but it might not be exactly what you’d expect. Michael Fassbender’s Smiths-loving contract killer is far from a slick, flawless James Bond-type, but that’s not what he thinks. 

We learn at the beginning that Fassbender’s character has no empathy — and that’s all we need. Sometimes a movie doesn’t need to be any more complicated than being about a killer who kills because he “doesn’t give a fuck.” The script makes that point very frank in the first 20 minutes and I respect its straightforwardness. Especially in a movie about a man who’s constantly trying to keep himself under the radar, simplicity works best. 

The killer himself, who Fassbender knows not to do too much with, is prone to screw-ups. He’s almost like a professionally trained amateur who seems to have convinced himself that he’s untouchable. He narrates his own life as if he’s making an audiobook and constantly tries to impress with his one-liners that no one outside his head is hearing. He adds a soundtrack to his life because not even the movie we’re watching will do him the courtesy. He thinks he’s pulling off a convincing look with his undercover garbage man outfit (why would he need a pocket protector of pens?) coupled with his lousy printout taped on a trash bin. He can’t even figure out how long it takes someone to die after taking a nail gun to the heart and probably makes sound effects with his mouth as he puts his sniper rifle together. 

Without seeing the movie, this description makes this guy out to be a dunce, but he’s still fairly good at his job. (To his credit, his DIY, Sharpied-on recycling symbol added enough flair to let him do his dirty work unnoticed.) It’s just that the film’s self-awareness in that respect threw me off — it almost feels like a parody of a Fincher film at times — but don’t let all that fool you: this is still an extremely gripping thriller.

The film’s grounded approach rejects making the killer’s work look overly cinematic. In particular, the highlight action scene in a home guarded by a vicious pitbull, which the killer has broken into, is hard to make out in the best way possible. The stabilized shaky cam adds a visual flair that’s subtle and does a lot in the long run of making the scene feel realistically terrifying in a unique way. The aforementioned traits of Fassbender’s killer play into scenes like this, in which the viewer is genuinely concerned whether he’ll make it out alive — not for the character’s sake, mind you, but for that of the movie. Let’s be honest: in those opening minutes, you just wanted him to kill someone already. We all did. And he even botches that — a bad first impression to the audience to say the least. (“Fuck.”) It’s not that we necessarily care about the killer himself but we’re still invested in the movie so we can stay entertained for however many minutes are left. 

The central killer himself is far more interesting than the story itself, which is still fine in its own right. The plot is basic in that the killer is seeking revenge, and even that feels like a bit of an exaggeration; he’s not exactly giving us a John Wick-level performance. Rather than a typical story of working one’s way up to killing the ringleader of an operation that’s personally affected him or a loved one, he makes his way through the motions without making much of a statement on a grander level. He’s left satisfied at the end but not in the way an audience is used to. The killer hasn’t been detected during his evading of several countries but to what avail? He hasn’t exactly completed a hero’s journey of any kind but, hey, it was at least fun for us to watch. If he was able to break the fourth wall, I’m sure he’d be more than happy, especially after that embarrassing final encounter he had.

11/10/23