(2023) The Killer - An Action Thriller of a Professional Hitman With Rather Unconventional Story Telling

In the past two weeks I have been a bit behind on watching Netflix, but yesterday I noticed a new movie that was just released which I was quite interested. So I decided to watch this one last night as soon as I had the time after work. OK, I'll get into it now.

Brief Story Line

Story focused on a professional hitman, the Killer (Michael Fassbender - X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Alien: Covenant etc) who after an assignment by the coordinator, referred to as The Lawyer (Charles Parnell - Top Gun: Maverick etc), found that he became the target to tie-up loose ends.

So he decided to go across the world to retaliate and face other assassins tasked of killing him like The Brute (stuntman Sala Baker) and The Expert (Tilda Swinton - Doctor Strange, We Need to Talk About Kevin etc) while looking for the person behind it.

And so how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

At first I thought that this movie would be filled with lots of action, especially with such title. But apparently it was not exactly what I had hoped for. The early part where the Killer provided a narrative was too long and unfortunately became boring for me just like what he said in his monologue about how his job could be boring. Don't get me wrong though, showing the methodical ways of how the Killer works and thinks was very unique, but it would be nice if it was supported by more actions. 

The movie was actually pretty exciting when it involved the Killer looking for clues or preparing for his killing as long as it did not take too long or detail. For an action thriller, I thought it lacked the intensity and there was only one very suspenseful moment in chapter 4 (yes the story was divided into few chapters). I thought it was the best scene of the whole film. 

I read on the internet that the movie was based on French graphic novel of the same title by Alexis "Matz" Nolen and Luc Jacamon, although I did not catch it in the opening or closing scenes (perhaps I was not concentrating enough). There was no mid or end credit scene here. It was directed by David Fincher who had vast experience in directing psychological thrillers such as Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac and many more. And this time critics seemed to enjoy this film as well, which did not surprise me as I could see the appeal for those looking for unconventional story telling of such character and not just a senseless action movie. 

Personally to me, Michael Fassbender did a fantastic job here in portraying an expressionless, self motivating professional killer who had his own methods. As the lead cast, he truly excelled especially compared to other support cast (to be fair they might not have enough screen time to impress). Aside from the names mentioned above, there was also additional cast like Arliss Howard (The Time Traveler's Wife etc), Kerry O'Malley, Sophie Charlotte and few others. 

Overall this was not a movie that truly entertained me as it was not what I expected. Even though it was unique with story telling from perspective of a killer, but I was not really satisfied especially with the ending. However I think it would be enjoyable for audience searching for a critically acclaimed and quite stylish thriller movie where the action did not take center stage but rather the story of a Killer.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars