Review by C.J. Bunce
It was a sleeper that arrived with little fanfare last year. Michael Fassbender as a ruthless assassin? One of many films under that title, this is last year’s David Fincher production of The Killer, streaming now on Netflix–not the John Woo remake that premieres next week on Peacock. Where the John Woo movie looks like the action spectacle you’d expect from that director, the Netflix movie is a slow-simmering character study, just as you’d expect from Fincher, who delivered his best work in the movie Zodiac, but also delivered less stellar movies like Mank and Alien3. This movie could knock some into sleep territory because of its pacing–it’s similar to the tempo of his work on The Game and Mank in that regard. But it has a few key features going for it, and if you buy into those things you may just love it.
First, it stars Michael Fassbender, who, although his agent doesn’t seem to find him many diverse roles, he’s pretty well-established as a master in this territory. Just look to his decade-long journey as Erik aka Magneto in the X-Men movies, his lead role as a cyborg-android blend in Alien: Covenant, and his dual role in Assassin’s Creed. As the unnamed title character killer, Fassbender gets to soak up 2 hours of screentime as an anti-hero, who is probably not as good as his job as he thinks he is. In being something less at his job, which typically requires some decisive skills, Fassbender shows us something new. The first reason to watch The Killer is easy. It’s a showcase of Fassbender.
The next feature that works for me may not be your cup of tea. My favorite version of Blade Runner is the original released cut with Harrison Ford’s voiceover narration. It is perfect noir, and set the stage for decades of tech noir stories that followed. But many prefer the re-worked version without the narration, which to me requires the viewer create their own reality for the hero. Fassbender allows the viewer inside the head of a hitman as narrator. The quirk is his narration is a hard American accent that barely sounds like Fassbender at all. So it is jarring at first if you’re familiar with the typical European voice of the actor. But the narration works, slow and steady, allowing Fincher to deliver what makes the character tick and something the character doesn’t even know: why he fails. If you like narrators in your movie fix, you’ll love this twist on the concept.
This is not an action-heavy movie, but Fincher is able to harness a multiple-writer story (yes, another graphic novel adaptation!) and Erik Messerschmidt’s often beautiful camera work to deliver something better than the sum of its parts, which after all is what a director is supposed to do. Those who pay close attention will notice that the movie consists almost entirely of monologues. Very little dialogue between characters can be found here, which in another film would be annoying. Here it’s a fun treat, and highlights why Fincher can deliver the goods from time to time. Fincher fans will not be disappointed here.
And you get Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, and Arliss Howard in supporting roles as a bonus.
The Killer is not excessively violent, it’s well-controlled, and interesting. It arrived late last year, but you can catch it streaming on Netflix. Don’t miss it.
