‘The Killer’ Review: Michael Fassbender Goes on a Revenge Path in David Fincher’s Latest
David Fincher‘s The Killer is all about setting a mood. From its smooth yet nail-biting opening scene to each of the six chapters and the epilogue that constitute this story, the film, just like its main character, never really stops while trying its best to keep the heartbeat under 60, despite occasional spikes.
There’s really no other person who could have directed this movie this successfully. Fincher just has that pulse, that sense of calmness and easiness while making you follow an unnamed character in an international manhunt that feels equally earned and unjustified. The character shows contradictions in his actions and his words, which allow Michael Fassbender to really shine. And that’s kind of the point for the audience as well, to test how much we’re willing to forgive this character as he achieves his goals.
The Killer, both the character and the movie, isn’t really interested in winning you over with a charismatic display or a rich and tragic backstory that will make you feel for him. The story begins when he makes a mistake during a job and, despite owning up to it, that carries massive consequences for him. But he’s not having any of it, which is why he embarks on a globe-trotting journey to try to find the people behind that retaliation. At first, it happens on an instinct, a reflex trying to protect the one thing he believes should have remained sacred. By the end, he realizes this is about much more than that. His own soul is poured into this, his own existence and core beliefs are being questioned by the nature of his acts.
The Killer. Michael Fassbender as an assassin in The Killer.. Cr. Netflix ©2023
This is Fassbender’s movie from beginning to end. He takes over the whole narrative during that opening scene, which is admittedly the highest point of the two-hour runtime, by having the optimal combination of narration and dialogue-less acting. That set the tone for the rest of the film. The narration is also a big part of the movie, and I can see Fassbender putting as much effort into getting those recordings right as he did when preparing the characters’ on-screen mannerisms and movements, all of which were meticulously crafted to make the character stand on his own yet also extremely forgettable, as part of his effort to blend in with the background.
Written by Andrew Kevin Walker, and based on a French graphic novel written by Alexis Nolent and illustrated by Luc Jacamon, The Killer doesn’t really hold a lot of narrative surprises, nor did it need them. It is able to hold the audience’s attention by trying to nail every single minor detail of its craft. We’re seeing someone who doesn’t leave any room for improvisation and who plans for every single detail of his mission, and that applies to both the main character and the director. The Killer’s motto begins with “Stick to the plan. Anticipate, don’t improvise.” I’m pretty sure Fincher has had those words tattooed on his body somewhere for a while as well.
The Killer. Michael Fassbender as an assassin in The Killer. Cr. Netflix ©2023.
If cinema is the art of escaping your own reality to immerse yourself in someone else’s for a couple of hours, The Killer is top-tier moviemaking. Aided by Oscar-winning cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt (Mank), Oscar-winning editor Kirk Baxter (The Social Network, aka Fincher’s masterpiece and one of the best-edited movies of all time), and Oscar-winning composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network, again), Fincher is able to set an atmosphere and a sense of abstraction from reality from the very first second. There are few other filmmakers capable of such an accomplishment, so if for no other reason, the film is worth checking out just for that. To keep you glued to the screen because every cut in the film feels like it was made by a surgeon, every note of the score is as unsettling as it seems completely fitting, and every shot looks like it was the only one possible to tell that specific story.
There is more to The Killer than just the crafts, though, even if it lacks an emotional story that would make it as memorable as some other films this year (which is ultimately why it might not make my Top 10 cut by the end). It’s a story about a man who has never really thought twice about what he’s doing (he argues that anyone who can afford him doesn’t have time to waste trying to win him over for some cause), but he will soon have to come to terms with it when the mission becomes personal and not about a dollar figure. It’s an existential threat for him, something we’ve sort of seen on the big screen before, but having Fincher and Fassbender put their own spin on it feels like something we should not miss.
The Killer is currently streaming on Netflix.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
