The Killer is a 2023 action-thriller focusing on a contract killer who tries to stay one step ahead of his handlers when a mission goes awry.
“I’m not exceptional, I’m just a part” remarks “The Killer” (Michael Fassbender). The Killer is hired to eradicate yet another target, this time in Paris. Cool, calm, and collected, the hitman makes his work clockwork-like, driven by duty, not emotion.
The prism through how The Killer sees his work changes when he literally misses his target. Or perhaps his methodical mindset was always messier than he wanted to believe. Nevertheless, he’s on a mission now that’s become more personal than professional.
It is an event when one of the most prominent directors of our time in David Fincher releases a new film, whether theatrically or for immediate home consumption. Basically three full years since Mank, the auteur returns with the titular The Killer. It’s simultaneously straightforward—sometimes frustratingly so—as the title suggests while throwing in a curveball or two in its approach.
There are a lot of things one will get out of a Fincher feature, but the most prominent one tends to be first and foremost his signature precision and methodology when it comes to crafting a movie. This is seen immediately during the first chapter, where he puts the audience through a compelling exhibit into the mind of a contract killer before showtime, driven by the internal monologue narration of the title character. He sets an effective (and kind of tongue-in-cheek) mood using licensed music that makes up the soundtrack that drives The Killer’s psyche, and it all culminates in a gripping back-and-forth highlighting target and assassin.
Few, if any directors, can give the feeling of being both behind the sniper rifle and in front of the crosshairs like Fincher. Working from graphic novel source material, the director leans into this aspect with a few confrontations, particularly with a forceful fisticuffs scene in one of the chapters. If there were any technical complaints, longtime Fincher composer collaborators Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor lend their talents, but nothing sonically sadly sticks out.
The Killer surprisingly works as a pretty good dark-humored film. Adapting the graphic novel, writer Andrew Kevin Walter uses the systematic stylings Fincher is known for paired with the deliberate deadpan performance Fassbender gives to create intentional hilarity. Could The Killer character be a vessel for how the director sees himself in relation to filmmaking, or as a stand-in for how we’re all the heroes in our own stories when in actuality we’re no more different or talented than the rest, all carrying weaknesses that we try to convince ourselves we don’t have? Perhaps, and looking through those angles, it works!
As a procedural, revenge-heavy tale seen purely through the eyes of a cold-hearted killer, it’s, well…cold, even as there’s irony in the narration and how it is juxtaposed with what really happens. There’s a tinge of mystery as we follow along to discover who is after The Killer and why they’re after him, but it isn’t quite as propulsive and gripping in the anticipated way with Fincher at the helm, and certain script directions bring up character inconsistencies . Additionally, things kind of climax after chapter 5 of 6, making chapter 6 a weirdly flat epilogue before the official epilogue begins.
More android-like here than his turns in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, Fassbender is perfectly cast as the steady, remorseless killing entity that harbors a bit more emotion than the character would like to admit. It’s not the deepest or most dynamic lead role this awards season, but it is hard to imagine many others who can be believable physically and mentally. It’s his returning vehicle (pun intended), though he shares one off scenes with the talented and always enjoyable Tilda Swinton and Charles Parnell, even as they feel more like extended cameos and ideas compared to meaty characters.
Similar to its eponymous character and his honest analysis on his profession, The Killer can be dull in stretches. But while it isn’t top-tier Fincher, it does stoke the flame for more Fincher/Fassbender future fusions.