November 21, 2023
FILM: THE KILLER
DIRECTED BY: DAVID FINCHER
STARRING: MICHAEL FASSBENDER, TILDA SWINTON, CHARLES PARNELL
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
This is a tough one. I had an increasingly perturbed reaction to The Killer while watching it last night. I also have a “slept on it” intellectual and aesthetic reaction that appreciates much (but not all) of what director David Fincher does here. It’s a question of whether I would watch it again for pleasure or cinematic technique. Considering the former, no. The ladder might prompt further viewings though as I can’t help examine just what Fincher accomplishes with the film for better or for worse.
After the dazzling opening credits, we meet Michael Fassbender as the title character (we never know his real name as he uses as series of aliases from Felix Unger to Sam Malone and George Jefferson…Long live pop culture!) spending many hours waiting inside an abandoned WeWork office staring through different lenses at the large and opulent Parisian building across the street. He’s got guns and is clearly planning some sort of assault on one of the rooms he watches. The Hitchcock fan in me loved the Rear Window of it all as a variety of people are engaged in seemingly innocuous activities. All the while we hear the incessant voice over featuring the character’s thoughts. He’s intently thinking about what he’s doing. He’s clearly methodical and analytical about his plan. Is he convincing himself that he knows what he’s doing or is he telling us how to plan an assassination? Both interpretations are valid. His cadence is a bit monotone and emotionless. Essentially he’s a nihilist who believes that the great beyond is nothing but a cold void. He’s a modern-day Travis Bickel who has become a hired hit man. He tries to persuade us that anything one does in his position basically arrives from the point of view of “what’s in it for me.” He waits. He does some amazing yoga moves until the big moment finally arrives. All of this sets up the tone of the film and character’s perspective. We spend the rest of the film inside his head as he continually and methodically plans his next actions.
I have to say this opening is pretty brilliant in its construction and establishment of what the film is and what it will be for the next one hundred minutes or so. Even the score, composed by Oscar winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, is slow and precise. It melds the world of sound and mood in perfect unison. The effect created is one of a constant hum and droning reflecting heartbeats and tension. As the film goes on, the Killer’s love of the 80s band The Smiths becomes front and center in many scenes perhaps further underscoring his love of darkness and an acceptance of an empty universe.
After about an hour or so, all of the above remained consistent to a point where I began to ask myself, why? What has prompted Fincher to put us here with this immoral character that doesn’t go through any outward changes? He continues on his quest to hunt down the people responsible for the aforementioned first scene. Things go wrong. One particular fight scene between the Killer and another hit man is particularly effective with crashes, blood, and plenty of potentially fatal moments for both characters. However, I began to really wonder why? Why is any of this needed? Why must we spend time with these characters in this world?
I also have to admit that I had a hard time following the narrative. While viewing, I was never quite sure why the Killer was going where he was going (all over the world) and who many of these targets were. Perhaps I was involved in my own mindset looking at the camera movements, other character reactions, and everything the Killer was doing. I may have missed too much of the plot in light of the technique. Did I fail in my viewing of the film? No. Here’s the thing: we experience and look for pleasure where we find value in it. Had I not done that I would have found this just an ordinary assassin caper without any redeeming qualities.
There is a pretty amazing scene near the end of the film when Fassbender meets up with a character played by Tilda Swinton. It is expertly and meticulously directed (I couldn’t help but imagine the number of Fincher takes required to shoot this scene.) It is a scene, by the way, while taking place somewhere in New York, that was actually shot about 15 minutes from my house in suburban Chicago. I’ve been in and around the Hotel Baker where it takes place many times in the last few decades. Why not just set it where it was shot? Because then there couldn’t be a scene where he flies to Chicago for his final conquest. (Driving into the city just wouldn’t be as interesting…)
Ultimately, this is a pretty fascinating film to study. Some may enjoy it more than others even if it might be embraced for simply being a David Fincher film. For the record, he’s not always been my favorite director. I appreciated what he did with Se7en and Fight Club. I was not a big fan of the critical favorites Zodiac and Mank or the lesser well-received Panic Room. I did like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (which isn’t a popular opinion), Gone Girl, and his best film, The Social Network. He also directed some great music videos including Madonna’s Express Yourself and George Michael’s Freedom! ’90. But most of his work feels more like style over substance. It’s visuals for visuals sake. I don’t think he’s made a true masterpiece yet. The Killer definitely isn’t it but at least he creates something different out of a genre film that has been done many times in the past. He’s definitely an original director and he surrounds himself with a lot of great talent.
The Killer is currently playing in theaters and on Netflix.
FILM: THE KILLER
DIRECTED BY: DAVID FINCHER
STARRING: MICHAEL FASSBENDER, TILDA SWINTON, CHARLES PARNELL
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
This is a tough one. I had an increasingly perturbed reaction to The Killer while watching it last night. I also have a “slept on it” intellectual and aesthetic reaction that appreciates much (but not all) of what director David Fincher does here. It’s a question of whether I would watch it again for pleasure or cinematic technique. Considering the former, no. The ladder might prompt further viewings though as I can’t help examine just what Fincher accomplishes with the film for better or for worse.
After the dazzling opening credits, we meet Michael Fassbender as the title character (we never know his real name as he uses as series of aliases from Felix Unger to Sam Malone and George Jefferson…Long live pop culture!) spending many hours waiting inside an abandoned WeWork office staring through different lenses at the large and opulent Parisian building across the street. He’s got guns and is clearly planning some sort of assault on one of the rooms he watches. The Hitchcock fan in me loved the Rear Window of it all as a variety of people are engaged in seemingly innocuous activities. All the while we hear the incessant voice over featuring the character’s thoughts. He’s intently thinking about what he’s doing. He’s clearly methodical and analytical about his plan. Is he convincing himself that he knows what he’s doing or is he telling us how to plan an assassination? Both interpretations are valid. His cadence is a bit monotone and emotionless. Essentially he’s a nihilist who believes that the great beyond is nothing but a cold void. He’s a modern-day Travis Bickel who has become a hired hit man. He tries to persuade us that anything one does in his position basically arrives from the point of view of “what’s in it for me.” He waits. He does some amazing yoga moves until the big moment finally arrives. All of this sets up the tone of the film and character’s perspective. We spend the rest of the film inside his head as he continually and methodically plans his next actions.
I have to say this opening is pretty brilliant in its construction and establishment of what the film is and what it will be for the next one hundred minutes or so. Even the score, composed by Oscar winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, is slow and precise. It melds the world of sound and mood in perfect unison. The effect created is one of a constant hum and droning reflecting heartbeats and tension. As the film goes on, the Killer’s love of the 80s band The Smiths becomes front and center in many scenes perhaps further underscoring his love of darkness and an acceptance of an empty universe.
After about an hour or so, all of the above remained consistent to a point where I began to ask myself, why? What has prompted Fincher to put us here with this immoral character that doesn’t go through any outward changes? He continues on his quest to hunt down the people responsible for the aforementioned first scene. Things go wrong. One particular fight scene between the Killer and another hit man is particularly effective with crashes, blood, and plenty of potentially fatal moments for both characters. However, I began to really wonder why? Why is any of this needed? Why must we spend time with these characters in this world?
I also have to admit that I had a hard time following the narrative. While viewing, I was never quite sure why the Killer was going where he was going (all over the world) and who many of these targets were. Perhaps I was involved in my own mindset looking at the camera movements, other character reactions, and everything the Killer was doing. I may have missed too much of the plot in light of the technique. Did I fail in my viewing of the film? No. Here’s the thing: we experience and look for pleasure where we find value in it. Had I not done that I would have found this just an ordinary assassin caper without any redeeming qualities.
There is a pretty amazing scene near the end of the film when Fassbender meets up with a character played by Tilda Swinton. It is expertly and meticulously directed (I couldn’t help but imagine the number of Fincher takes required to shoot this scene.) It is a scene, by the way, while taking place somewhere in New York, that was actually shot about 15 minutes from my house in suburban Chicago. I’ve been in and around the Hotel Baker where it takes place many times in the last few decades. Why not just set it where it was shot? Because then there couldn’t be a scene where he flies to Chicago for his final conquest. (Driving into the city just wouldn’t be as interesting…)
Ultimately, this is a pretty fascinating film to study. Some may enjoy it more than others even if it might be embraced for simply being a David Fincher film. For the record, he’s not always been my favorite director. I appreciated what he did with Se7en and Fight Club. I was not a big fan of the critical favorites Zodiac and Mank or the lesser well-received Panic Room. I did like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (which isn’t a popular opinion), Gone Girl, and his best film, The Social Network. He also directed some great music videos including Madonna’s Express Yourself and George Michael’s Freedom! ’90. But most of his work feels more like style over substance. It’s visuals for visuals sake. I don’t think he’s made a true masterpiece yet. The Killer definitely isn’t it but at least he creates something different out of a genre film that has been done many times in the past. He’s definitely an original director and he surrounds himself with a lot of great talent.
The Killer is currently playing in theaters and on Netflix.