The Killer follows one of the world’s top assassins — or so he would have you believe — as he attempts to clean up the mess created by a botched hit. This is not a new premise for a thriller, but in the hands of director David Fincher and screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, the film has more in common with existentialist European arthouse fare in the same vein as Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï. The Killer is more observation than suspense, offering a comic meditation on the type of person who preaches a unique set of values, only to break them over and over again.
Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of the film’s anonymous assassin is a cross between functionary and philosopher. Walker’s screenplay boasts significant voice-over of Fassbender describing the Killer’s approach as he waits for his opportunity to strike. The moments before and after the hit are the toughest parts of the Killer’s job, whereas the moment of the hit lasts only seconds. After the Killer shoots the wrong target in Paris, he covers his tracks and returns home to the Dominican Republic, only to find his home trashed and a woman badly beaten. The Killer’s relationship to this woman (Sophie Charlotte) is intentionally ambiguous (does he love her, or is he just seeking revenge?), but abiding by his own code of ethics, he begins to track down those responsible for the attack.
The Killer has an episodic structure similar to Walker’s last collaboration with Fincher, Se7en. It has several chapters, each depicting a hermetically sealed approach to the Killer’s methods. Sometimes the Killer’s canny instincts aide him in breaking into an office, and other times, he engages in a battle of wits to get the job done. Each chapter is a demonstration of Fincher’s fastidious attention to detail and technical mastery. There is an inexorability to Fincher’s work that helps to provide his films with strong foundations so that the details always build on and complement each other. Part of the appeal of The Killer is seeing how the hitman handles each challenge, and Fincher portrays his protagonist’s decisions with uncommon visual intelligence. Only Fincher can make the act of waiting so compelling to watch.
This is not to say that The Killer is stodgy. The movie has a body count, including a brutal fight scene that showcases Fincher’s capacity to direct action-packed sequences. In this scene, the Killer and his opponent fight in a dingy Florida home using anything within reach as a weapon. Fincher’s clinical distance in these shots means the outcome of the fight isn’t thrilling in a visceral way. Instead, it highlights the consequences of the Killer’s failure. The film’s most memorable tete-a-tete, though, happens between the Killer and his peer (Tilda Swinton), a fellow assassin who prefers to fight with words and misdirection. To Fincher, a conversation can be just as exciting as a fight.
Fassbender is the right choice for the role of the Killer. While other actors might turn the part into a shtick or make the character too remote, Fassbender channels his roles in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant to express how the Killer’s zeal to be more machine than human inadvertently reveals his flaws. The film’s voice-overs are also a source of amusement that often make the movie feel like a misguided intellectual exercise. The supporting cast enhances this idea when fighting or pleading with the Killer for their lives. The Killer has little interest in pity or forgiveness, though, but despite his demeanor, his likeability is a testament to Fassbender’s performance.
A film shoot is a lot like the staging ground for an assassination. Directors must bide their time, planning and waiting until that brief moment of action where everything must go right. In this way, The Killer feels personal to Fincher whose repetitive and stringent filmmaking techniques can be seen reflected in Fassbender’s character. That, along with a perverse sense of curiosity, is what keeps Fincher’s latest from becoming just another action thriller. A rare film where all the elements are firing on all cylinders and yield to a sum greater than its parts, The Killer is nowhere near the heights of Fincher’s career, but it still manages to be a minor masterpiece anyway.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
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