The Killer (David Fincher, 2023)
David Fincher’s The Killer is a damn fine thriller about the illusion of security, and the lengths that the title character will go to, just to achieve that goal, however elusive it may turn out to be.
It’s also the serial killer version of a James Bond movie, with Michael Fassbender as an assassin on the run, after a botched job, hopping from one more or less exotic location to the next.
As the polar opposite of Hitchcock’s innocent man, The Killer is guilty as hell, and in an ultimate attempt to save his own skin (and that of his female friend) he has to kill everyone who stands between him and his way out of the life he has chosen for himself a long, long time ago.
The Killer is one of the best movies Fincher has made and it may well be both his most existential and quintessential one. It feels stripped down to the bone, thanx to a tight script by Seven-scribe Andrew Kevin Walker; a passion project - based on the graphic novel by Alexis Nolent - twenty years in the making that contains scenes that are so bleak that it will even give die hard Fincher-fans pause.
There is a genuine sense of dread that runs through the movie, even though at other times it’s also bitingly funny. It’s in the way Fassbender’s character grimly philosophizes about the meaningless of life, and in the way the songs of The Smiths form the soundtrack of his life - from This Charming Man to Shoplifters of the World to There’s a Light that Never Goes Out.
It’s also in the way he identifies with serial killers like John Wilkes Booth. And it’s in the way he uses expressions that seem to come straight out of an assassin’s self-help book to keep himself focused while he’s trying to take out a target.
The Killer may be a consummate professional, who knows everything there is to know about his job, but he’s not perfect.
He’s had a good run, but the moment the Paris job at the start of the movie goes south, he knows it’s over and he’s becomes just another Everyman trying to survive.
And that’s where I think the movie becomes kind of universal, cause even if we don’t all go around killing people, when survival is at stake, we are all capable of making morally reprehensible choices (don’t worry, I’m sure there are exceptions).
Tech credits are superb, as per usual with a Fincher film. Eric Messerschmidt’s moody camerawork, Kirk Baxter’s fluid editing and the atmospheric score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross make for an engrossing theatrical experience, even though most people will probably see this movie when it comes to Netflix next month.
Acting wise, this is Fassbender’s movie left, right and center. He not only plays the lead, but is also the movie’s narrator. Fassbender is magnificent, even though the movie’s best scene, which takes place in a restaurant, belongs to Tilda Swinton, who plays a supporting role, just like reliable character actors like Arliss Howard and Charles Parnell.
After a couple of movies like Gone Girl and Mank that I liked but didn’t really love as much as Seven or Zodiac, The Killer sees Fincher bringing his A-game to the table once again. I give it five stars.
Note: The Killer is released in cinemas in various countries across the globe, starting on October 26. It arrives on Netflix November 10.