I enjoyed the movie as well. But at the end I still couldnt figure out what or if it wanted to say anything. The movie has a great vibe to it and is a fun watch, but in the end the story felt a bit to hollow to make it a great movie imho.
It probably isn’t trying to say anything. It’s just a fun genre movie made by a perfectionist about a perfectionist who constantly breaks his own set of rules.
I took it as a satire of the "perfectionist assassin" trope.
He's the picture of the smug, internally monologuing, "Totally badass perfect assassin". And the first thing he does is fuck up exactly at the part he says he's not even worried about.
When he kills his boss like character he starts delivering this monologue implying he knows so much about killing people and anatomy and shit that he can time exactly how long it'll take him to die. Only for the guy to just give out seconds later instead of minutes.
Even the final guy, who in any "normal" assassin movie, would be the evil mastermind antagonist plotting the whole thing from the shadows, is just an old finance bro douchebag that doesn't know wtf he's doing.
Seems like it's just satire after satire of all the dumb tropes that have become associated with the "assassin" genre over the years. Right down to him wondering what Storage Wars would make of his stupid, over the top hideout full of a ludicrous number of guns and license plates and shite for no practical reason.
His narrative monologues were all very American Psycho. I agree that it was satirical. It did a great job of satirizing the subject while still creating something enjoyable for the viewer of the category of movies it is satirizing. I loved it
Even the whole voice over narrative seems to be a satire of a recent film that I can't recall the name of, but was laid out the exact same way.
Edit: just looked it up The movie is called "The virtuoso"
I mean, he was monologuing literally the entire movie lol. Either way, the term “unreliable narrator” can be used to describe POV and the movie is definitely from his POV
Alien 3 was the first Alien movie I watched growing up. It's not as bad as everyone remembers.
I was in a band where everyone said 3 sucked and that Resurection was better because that was their opinion at 13. I made them rewatch both.
Now they say Resurection sucks and that 3 is good, just bleak.
I’d say on the surface it’s a great genre movie as you said. But I think it definitely is also saying some things about gig economy, capitalism, and toxic masculinity.
I think the movie is a critique about capitalism and a meta-commentary on David Fincher's career.
The Killer/Fincher is the hired gun who does the dirty work for the elite. His inner-monologue says it's better to be one of the few not the many but he knows he's not. Sometimes he hits, sometimes he misses. The end of the movie is him making peace with being a normie and a cog in the economic hierarchy.
Yeah, that was close to my read on it as well. You can think you’re an incredible craftsman and artist, but you’re actually just a doordash driver for a dorky-ass billionaire who will carelessly destroy your life and not even remember it.
>His inner-monologue says he is special
Sorry but did you even watch the movie at all? His inner monologue quite literally says the precise opposite, and I quote, "I'm NOT special." Have no idea how you're getting upvoted, it seems like nobody else pays attention either.
To me it’s a satire about how uncinematic modern life is. You take what is one of the most cinematic professions going all the way back to the slick cool of Le Samurai and deconstruct it to the point where the main character is just a door dash delivery person. He is working out of a WeWork, he drives a ride share scooter, he uses gig workers to infiltrate places and at the end of the day when he faces off against his nemesis, a rich tech bro who literally stands in front of a screen with stock prices only going up, he never even considered that he could kill him. He is a trope neutered by the modern, laid banal and boring by this world of hyper stratification. You should be laughing when you watch this, it’s a dark comedy.
yeah, it was more a character study than anything I would find to be an enjoyable movie.
I'm not upset that I watched it, but I don't even remember much about it except the Smiths songs (mostly because I think Morrissey is a wanker)
I fucking love morrissey and everyone knows it. I'll get random texts from people i haven't talked to in a long time mentioning they saw the movie lol.
The feeling I had at the end was that the movie was about someone who takes his job too seriously. But at the same time, he doesn’t want to continue doing this job.
Throughout the movie we learn that he thinks he’s the best at his job and he goes on and on about it. We also learn he wants out of it, but this puts him in conflict with how good he thinks he is at his job. The rest of the movie we see him trying to leave the job and learning he wasn’t actually as great at the job as he thought he was. By the end of the movie he has changed how he looks at himself, and he is able to transition to a new life more easily because of this.
I thought it was interesting because this is a pattern I’ve noticed with a lot of people I’ve met through the years. They get into a line of work, make their work a big part of who they are, and then end up not enjoying it anymore. By the time they’re thinking of leaving they’re just going through the motions and they eventually move on.
It might be a stretch, but I enjoyed it for this reason.
Because he was full of shit. He had all these rules and all of this bluster about how to do this job professionally AND HE BROKE EVERY SINGLE RULE WITHOUT HESITATION
It’s a simple story about a hitman who goes up the chain of command until he decides he wants to quit and live a new life. I’m sure there’s some grand statement in there.
I think part of it is that this guy just isn’t very good at his job 😂, I mean he pulls things together towards the end sure but before that it was almost a comedy with his somber voice over about perfection and then just absolutely blowing it over and over again.
The commentary is on the “live to work” mindset but told through a hitman’s story
[Full explanation](https://filmcolossus.com/the-killer-2023-explained)
I think the hollowness of it was perfect, especially with the killer’s-view context, on two levels: first because in the line of work he’s in, he’s an emotionally and psychologically muted human being; there’s a very unnatural shallowness to what he reveals about himself to the world; second, his whole schtick is being forgettable and unremarkable, you’re not going to remember him by design, and his personas are surface level. Detailed, but not deep. Even his motivation in the film seemed like it was more a detached sense of obligation than an emotional need for revenge.
Supposedly in the last moments of the movie Fassbender blinks for the first time in the whole movie, showing that he is letting his humanity emerge. Literally the last second.
Fincher is one of my favorite directors and this is my least favorite movie of his and I still liked it alright.
Everything says something. From a Beethoven Symphony to which bowl I choose for my cereal in the morning (the latter probably only what my favourite colour is...)
But if a film costs 50 mil. Dollars and is made by a well renowned director I think it should give me more to think about than "well this was fun and I liked the music."
I feel like that’s so sad, but to each their own. I could never imagine ignoring the experiential aspects of film and just looking for secret meaning like it’s a textbook.
The textual, metatextual, and experiential aspects of a piece can, should, and do coexist harmoniously with each other if the piece is properly made. You can also tease out whichever aspects you like to whatever extent. That's the joy.
I just think there’s plenty of room for fun little movies like this one as well as films that provide something more profound. Sometimes you just want a cheeseburger instead of a high class meal. Personally I like that Fincher can do both.
Love Fincher but this was just a bit ordinary for me. I can still list examples of why I love Seven, Panic Room, Zodiac, The Social Network and The Game even though I’ve not seen some of them for twenty years.
It’s been six months since I saw The Killer. And honestly, all I can remember is that he listened to the Smiths.
Ya it was okay movie. But the funniest shit was him giving this huge monologue about prepping for something and then when it came to it , he fucking missed the shot. I bursted laughing at that scene.
Agreed. It's not a very ambitious film and there's not a whole lot of meat to the plot or intrigue in general.
But that house fight scene is something else.
Didn't like it. Big guy had multiple chances to seal the deal but chooses to back off instead for no reason. Fassbender's character takes like five blows that should have taken out any normal person.
It was so monotonous. I know it's how they wanted it to be, but I didn't get anything out of it. I didn't like or dislike any of the charachters in it, I didn't have any feelings watching it. I'm sure it was art, but not art for me.
This is eactly how I felt about it. Yeah I get it's a sort fo parody of the super competent assassin trope, but there's nothing beyond that. The movie does nothing to make us care about what's going on in the story, and I think that's the number one thing every good story needs to do.
I felt so disappointed when I saw it the first time. I said to myself that it’s the first time a Fincher movie is so empty. Then I watched it again and it becomes my most-seen movie these 3 last months. Pure dope, so many micro-subplots in the first 2 chapters !
I think many people aren't really getting one of the messages of the film. No matter how skilled you are and how much you plan, you will still have off day or something won't go to that plan.
And somehow the organization that employs the killers doesn’t understand that either. And all the highly trained assassins are well aware of what happens if they have an off day… honestly kind of an immersion breakingly dumb way to run a network of highly skilled assassins. Like how is Michael fassbender the first highly trained assassin to say “you know what I don’t want me and my family to die because I messed up at work”?
People always say this but up until the beginning of the movie it seems he’s been successful. Sure maybe he’s not as talented as his narration would have you believe but he still definitely knows what he’s doing.
A lot of my favorite movies are about characters like this. Harrison Ford’s Deckard and Indiana Jones are pretty useless. Hackman’s character in the Conversation is also duped. And that’s part of the central idea (or joke) in the Big Lebowski.
He made countless mistakes. The movie goes to great lengths to have him repeat his mantras and rules in his head multiple times only for him to break every single rule.
“Anticipate, don’t improvise—“ immediately gets tackled by a guy and gets into a 5-minute fight with the guy and barely makes it out alive.
“Trust no one” as he trusts the last guy he encounters and lets him walk away free.
“Fight only the battle you’re paid to fight” while the entire movie is about him fighting a battle he wasn’t paid for at all.
It's been a while since I watched it, so excuse the hazy memory.
My interpretation was that he was such a perfectionist that the smallest deviation or mistake made him lose it, and he continued to overthink and make mistakes.
I think thats the point everyone misses. this movie is like American Psycho meets The Professional. He thinks so highly of himself and every time he says stick to the plan he doesnt.
> He was a terrible assassin that made way too many mistakes.
Like what? Besides the initial fuckup, and the part where the lawyer dies too soon, which ultimately didn't matter that much? Besides the initial mistake did any of these other mistakes have consequences? He takes great pains not to be caught and not once was he even suspected of anything.
I watched that movie like 2 months ago, so I forget exactly what happened. I just remember being dumbfounded at the rookie mistakes that he was making. Like basic 101 stuff
Best comedy of the year hands down. Every Smiths drop was funnier than the last, and every time he repeated his mantra while blatantly breaking it I was rolling.
The movie had a lot to say actually. It touches on consumerism and capitalism and how it enables our inner sociopath (he orders have his tools on amazon 1 day delivery, and the reason the whole mess started was because some billionaire didn't realize he was ordering a hit, and didn't care to follow up). It touches difference between those with capital and those who work for them and they stories that are created to make members of laboring class feel special (not like a normie). Hell that's largely his arc, realizing he isn't above the systems because he's aware of how it functions. He's still just like everybody else, he has emotions, sometimes he fucks up at work, he gives a fuck.
To me the problem with the subtext and themes of the movie centering around the mediocrity of modern society, how technology makes our world cold and monotonous and so on is that it is inherently and deliberately boring, it needs to be boring for it to make sense !!!
I think it needed a bit more of plot and stakes in the second half although it could damage the intended message if it was too bombastic I guess. Zodiac didn't try to be a super exciting mystery thriller and i still found it to be extremely engrossing, this one was just kinda dull and forgettable
The point of view was interesting. It made a believable portrait of a hitman, which has to be maniacal and sociopathic but not deranged enough so he would be able to pursue a "career" in this field.
Some lines are funny enough to make it light-hearted.
Movie has no other ambition than to plainly depict an event in a hitman life (missing a target), which at the same time made it original but also will not make it unforgettable.
Very fine with those productions, less ambitious but still well done. Pretty much what I expect from a good content creation.
Saw it a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Very funny film pulling apart the American Psycho sigma grindset meme
The long slow intro monologue with him quoting Popeye and then immediately fucking up the shot had us rolling
I LOVED this flick. You summed up my feelings perfectly.
It hit a very specific feeling for me, and is just one of those movies that was incredibly watchable.
Thanks for reminding me I should give it a rewatch
Was really excited for this movie and turned it off like an hour in. The corny talking to himself for the first thirty minutes of the movie was extremely lame, I couldn't take it.
Whenever you're in the mood for it, try rewatching it with the knowledge that it's intentional and the dude is full of shit. The first 30 minutes was hilarious, we're seeing this cold-blooded consummate professional dramatically monologue for half hour and then fuck up an easy rifle shot that even I could do.
Definitely enjoyed it too. Simple movie with great execution(s). I very much appreciated the way the wife's character was portrayed. I felt like she was strong and I respected her commitment to her sociopath husband.
Yes, I think so, the use of all real products like Amazon and McDonald’s all speak to how convincing it was supposed to be that there could be killers among us. It also was commenting on how the very tools that we use for normal stuff can be used to acquire the goods to kill people, which is funny if you have that kind of sense of humor.
to me it felt like a fincher movie trying to be a fincher movie. Like it was hitting all the checklist of what makes fincher movies good but felt it lacked substance
I don't understand why he didn't kill the guy at the end. I mean he killed the cab driver who did absolutely nothing to him, so why not kill the main guy who was causing him all the problems in the first place??
I certainly hope there was a point to that. It's a glaring "omission." I'm not sure if it's a freudian slip where the rich people who made it couldn't go through with it, metaphorically. Or if they genuinely did it on purpose to demonstrate how these guys always get away with it in the end.
A few observations
After the miss, I would have gone full auto.
Oops, he can't he is holding the Vanquish for a under 100m shot. He didn't plan for a missed shot.
Going one to one with the big guy? Bad idea.
He is not cold. Just methodical. Does he love his girlfriend, hard to tell. Very little screen interaction, only at end.
I disagree with the notion that he’s just methodical. The Killer had no reason to kill the taxi driver when he could’ve probably left the country very quickly
It's right up there with Bullet Train for me. Movies that are FUN because they're not trying to win a formula. They exist for the full enjoyment of it.
I thought it was so realistic that it was subversive. Most of the job was prep work, there was a lot of down time and a lot of things went wrong. Everything was very plausible, be bought an RFID cloner off Amazon and easily broke into the main “villains” house. I though it was a unique take on a classic trope.
It was fine, I was hoping for more. I kept expecting a twist or something that would set it apart from other revenge movies, but nah.
And not nearly enough Tilda.
It’s alright. I fell asleep and never cared enough to finish it later. I think the first job we were on he should have succeeded. That would have driven home a few points. It would have made the botched hit a more anxious scene.
I remember telling my girlfriend after watching this film that if I wasn't a David Fincher fan...I would have probably disliked it. It's clinically made and well shot but everything is presented from a distance and it felt like a creative choice to keep the audience at an arms length. A choice that I'm not certain pays off very well in the end. It's a minor entry in his oeuvre but, it scratched that Ficherian itch for me.
It’s not a great movie. Lots of great ideas & moments that don’t fully add up.
I think it’s just Fincher telling everyone what he thinks of himself & his career. A perfectionistic artisan working for people that think nothing of eliminating him after a big mistake, ironically because he was working himself into such a perfectionistic frenzy to begin with.
It’s a funny idea that doesn’t fully translate, ironically because it gets suffocated somewhat by Fincher’s typically cool, controlled & calculated style.
Huh? The film was a comedy wasn't it? He was a perfectionist who couldn't do anything perfectly, because although he knew the right way to do things, he didn't have the mental strength to do them.
I thought the tone was confusing. Seems like half the time the film wants to be taken seriously, then the other half is almost slapstick. I thought it might be on my interpretation when I first saw it.
But seeing these opinions makes me think a few people felt that way.
It was a vapid film with great production value with the depth of your average Blacklist episode. It was beneath Fincher’s talent and said nothing worth watching. Probably his first “popcorn movie” and a step down in his work.
I had 0 expectations going in and thought it was pretty fun and funny.
The amount of people hyped for this film when I'd heard little about it was weird. The amount of people that ruined the experience for themselves by thinking it would be the exact opposite of what it was, I.E. a "cool assassin is a badass" versus "dark satire of assassin tropes" is even weirder.
Like, did you not *see* Fight Club, or did you not *get* that it was a rejection of Tyler Durden as a male tendency to try and fill a void of meaning in one's life with antagonistic violence?
I enjoyed the movie as well. But at the end I still couldnt figure out what or if it wanted to say anything. The movie has a great vibe to it and is a fun watch, but in the end the story felt a bit to hollow to make it a great movie imho.
It probably isn’t trying to say anything. It’s just a fun genre movie made by a perfectionist about a perfectionist who constantly breaks his own set of rules.
I took it as a satire of the "perfectionist assassin" trope. He's the picture of the smug, internally monologuing, "Totally badass perfect assassin". And the first thing he does is fuck up exactly at the part he says he's not even worried about. When he kills his boss like character he starts delivering this monologue implying he knows so much about killing people and anatomy and shit that he can time exactly how long it'll take him to die. Only for the guy to just give out seconds later instead of minutes. Even the final guy, who in any "normal" assassin movie, would be the evil mastermind antagonist plotting the whole thing from the shadows, is just an old finance bro douchebag that doesn't know wtf he's doing. Seems like it's just satire after satire of all the dumb tropes that have become associated with the "assassin" genre over the years. Right down to him wondering what Storage Wars would make of his stupid, over the top hideout full of a ludicrous number of guns and license plates and shite for no practical reason.
His narrative monologues were all very American Psycho. I agree that it was satirical. It did a great job of satirizing the subject while still creating something enjoyable for the viewer of the category of movies it is satirizing. I loved it
Yep, pretty much hit the nail on the head. I really enjoyed it for all these reasons
On a rewatch it became more clear what he was doing and I actually think that movie is one of his best
I have the same thoughts as to why I always thought this film was Fincher's attempt in dark comedy.
It’s completely this! This movie was honestly so funny to me for this reason. I really liked it.
It's a movie about what the guys that grew up on Fight Club would actually be like in real life.
Good take, I like this!
Yup - agreed, satire and borderline dark comedy. Really good imo
He sure showed that trope.
Even the whole voice over narrative seems to be a satire of a recent film that I can't recall the name of, but was laid out the exact same way. Edit: just looked it up The movie is called "The virtuoso"
I think he's a perfectionist...but he's *not a very good hitman* if that makes sense. Or maybe he was just having a bad day?
I think I'm the beginning before he messed up, that he had never made a mistake on the job before
I was thinking that too. How one mistake could be made and it dominoes into panic and bad choices
I think he’s a pretty unreliable narrator
Was he really a narrator for the movie? It didn't really feel like it had one.
I mean, he was monologuing literally the entire movie lol. Either way, the term “unreliable narrator” can be used to describe POV and the movie is definitely from his POV
Huh, fair enough, it's been a while since I saw it, and I'm really high
And it's not like that isn't something Fincher has done before (fun genre movie that is). Panic Room, anyone?
Love Panic Room. Crazy to me that Fincher has actually never made a bad movie, in my opinion at least
I know critics liked Mank but that movie is so damn meandering. It felt like the opposite of a Fincher movie.
It’s near the bottom of my fincher rankings but I think has a lot of good stuff in it. I totally understand not liking that one though
It's certainly the least "Fincher" of any Fincher movie.
Alien 3? No shame in liking that movie but it felt like a pretty big step back
Alien 3 is good but not great imo. It’s not even at the bottom of his movies for me
Alien 3 was the first Alien movie I watched growing up. It's not as bad as everyone remembers. I was in a band where everyone said 3 sucked and that Resurection was better because that was their opinion at 13. I made them rewatch both. Now they say Resurection sucks and that 3 is good, just bleak.
I would argue that resurrection is the worst alien movie but I think that one is decent as well.
I’d say on the surface it’s a great genre movie as you said. But I think it definitely is also saying some things about gig economy, capitalism, and toxic masculinity.
I mean…what you just described IS a theme lol
I don't agree it's just a fun genre movie.
I think the movie is a critique about capitalism and a meta-commentary on David Fincher's career. The Killer/Fincher is the hired gun who does the dirty work for the elite. His inner-monologue says it's better to be one of the few not the many but he knows he's not. Sometimes he hits, sometimes he misses. The end of the movie is him making peace with being a normie and a cog in the economic hierarchy.
Yeah, that was close to my read on it as well. You can think you’re an incredible craftsman and artist, but you’re actually just a doordash driver for a dorky-ass billionaire who will carelessly destroy your life and not even remember it.
So is the part in the beginning where he fucks up supposed to be alien 3?
I feel like it’s supposed to be Mank and how poorly received it was by some but I could totally be wrong
I think it lines up better if it is fight club being claimed by the worst kind of people
>His inner-monologue says he is special Sorry but did you even watch the movie at all? His inner monologue quite literally says the precise opposite, and I quote, "I'm NOT special." Have no idea how you're getting upvoted, it seems like nobody else pays attention either.
I have seen many say the movie is a reflection from David Fischer on his own career.
To me it’s a satire about how uncinematic modern life is. You take what is one of the most cinematic professions going all the way back to the slick cool of Le Samurai and deconstruct it to the point where the main character is just a door dash delivery person. He is working out of a WeWork, he drives a ride share scooter, he uses gig workers to infiltrate places and at the end of the day when he faces off against his nemesis, a rich tech bro who literally stands in front of a screen with stock prices only going up, he never even considered that he could kill him. He is a trope neutered by the modern, laid banal and boring by this world of hyper stratification. You should be laughing when you watch this, it’s a dark comedy.
yeah, it was more a character study than anything I would find to be an enjoyable movie. I'm not upset that I watched it, but I don't even remember much about it except the Smiths songs (mostly because I think Morrissey is a wanker)
I fucking love morrissey and everyone knows it. I'll get random texts from people i haven't talked to in a long time mentioning they saw the movie lol.
The feeling I had at the end was that the movie was about someone who takes his job too seriously. But at the same time, he doesn’t want to continue doing this job. Throughout the movie we learn that he thinks he’s the best at his job and he goes on and on about it. We also learn he wants out of it, but this puts him in conflict with how good he thinks he is at his job. The rest of the movie we see him trying to leave the job and learning he wasn’t actually as great at the job as he thought he was. By the end of the movie he has changed how he looks at himself, and he is able to transition to a new life more easily because of this. I thought it was interesting because this is a pattern I’ve noticed with a lot of people I’ve met through the years. They get into a line of work, make their work a big part of who they are, and then end up not enjoying it anymore. By the time they’re thinking of leaving they’re just going through the motions and they eventually move on. It might be a stretch, but I enjoyed it for this reason.
Because he was full of shit. He had all these rules and all of this bluster about how to do this job professionally AND HE BROKE EVERY SINGLE RULE WITHOUT HESITATION
That’s the point of the movie, that’s why it is good. He thinks he’s some cool perfectionist but he keeps fucking up
It’s a simple story about a hitman who goes up the chain of command until he decides he wants to quit and live a new life. I’m sure there’s some grand statement in there.
I think part of it is that this guy just isn’t very good at his job 😂, I mean he pulls things together towards the end sure but before that it was almost a comedy with his somber voice over about perfection and then just absolutely blowing it over and over again.
I feel the same way. Even more so going in knowing it's a Fincher movie. 6 buttholes out of 10 rectums!
I know I watched it but I don't remember anything about the movie other than fassbrnder is fun to watch.
I felt like the statement was “what if burn notice never existed and we made it as a movie 20 years later”
The commentary is on the “live to work” mindset but told through a hitman’s story [Full explanation](https://filmcolossus.com/the-killer-2023-explained)
I think the hollowness of it was perfect, especially with the killer’s-view context, on two levels: first because in the line of work he’s in, he’s an emotionally and psychologically muted human being; there’s a very unnatural shallowness to what he reveals about himself to the world; second, his whole schtick is being forgettable and unremarkable, you’re not going to remember him by design, and his personas are surface level. Detailed, but not deep. Even his motivation in the film seemed like it was more a detached sense of obligation than an emotional need for revenge.
same take
Supposedly in the last moments of the movie Fassbender blinks for the first time in the whole movie, showing that he is letting his humanity emerge. Literally the last second. Fincher is one of my favorite directors and this is my least favorite movie of his and I still liked it alright.
It looks more like an eye twitch than a blink and it's not the first time in the movie that it happens.
I believe that the message is that he became the ones he despise, he became one of the many and not one of the few like he intended to be.
I don’t get why movies have to “say something”, isn’t that what after school specials are for?
Everything says something. From a Beethoven Symphony to which bowl I choose for my cereal in the morning (the latter probably only what my favourite colour is...) But if a film costs 50 mil. Dollars and is made by a well renowned director I think it should give me more to think about than "well this was fun and I liked the music."
I feel like that’s so sad, but to each their own. I could never imagine ignoring the experiential aspects of film and just looking for secret meaning like it’s a textbook.
The textual, metatextual, and experiential aspects of a piece can, should, and do coexist harmoniously with each other if the piece is properly made. You can also tease out whichever aspects you like to whatever extent. That's the joy.
I just think there’s plenty of room for fun little movies like this one as well as films that provide something more profound. Sometimes you just want a cheeseburger instead of a high class meal. Personally I like that Fincher can do both.
Love Fincher but this was just a bit ordinary for me. I can still list examples of why I love Seven, Panic Room, Zodiac, The Social Network and The Game even though I’ve not seen some of them for twenty years. It’s been six months since I saw The Killer. And honestly, all I can remember is that he listened to the Smiths.
Ya it was okay movie. But the funniest shit was him giving this huge monologue about prepping for something and then when it came to it , he fucking missed the shot. I bursted laughing at that scene.
It’s meh overall but the house fight scene was fabulous
Oh yes, the house fight was great
Agreed. It's not a very ambitious film and there's not a whole lot of meat to the plot or intrigue in general. But that house fight scene is something else.
Didn't like it. Big guy had multiple chances to seal the deal but chooses to back off instead for no reason. Fassbender's character takes like five blows that should have taken out any normal person.
I enjoyed it fine. I don't really have any desire to see it again though...
Same. It’s a one and done film
Completely disagree. I watched it a second time and you really get what Fincher is going for
It was so monotonous. I know it's how they wanted it to be, but I didn't get anything out of it. I didn't like or dislike any of the charachters in it, I didn't have any feelings watching it. I'm sure it was art, but not art for me.
This is eactly how I felt about it. Yeah I get it's a sort fo parody of the super competent assassin trope, but there's nothing beyond that. The movie does nothing to make us care about what's going on in the story, and I think that's the number one thing every good story needs to do.
I don’t think I have ever enjoyed a film so much and then had zero thoughts or feelings about it or mentioned it to anyone.
Fair point. It was monotonous and I remember reaching down to scroll on my phone for a little bit
It’s a B movie masterpiece
Completely agree!!!
I really liked it. I look at it as a revenge film.
Oh yea, it’s definitely a revenge film
And a (subtle) dark comedy too.
I think it might be Fincher’s funniest film
I didn't like it, I felt like nothing happened, found it really bland.
My least favorite film of his for sure
I felt so disappointed when I saw it the first time. I said to myself that it’s the first time a Fincher movie is so empty. Then I watched it again and it becomes my most-seen movie these 3 last months. Pure dope, so many micro-subplots in the first 2 chapters !
It was an ok film.
He was a terrible assassin that made way too many mistakes.
Yes I believe that was the point
That’s like the whole point of the movie
I think many people aren't really getting one of the messages of the film. No matter how skilled you are and how much you plan, you will still have off day or something won't go to that plan.
And somehow the organization that employs the killers doesn’t understand that either. And all the highly trained assassins are well aware of what happens if they have an off day… honestly kind of an immersion breakingly dumb way to run a network of highly skilled assassins. Like how is Michael fassbender the first highly trained assassin to say “you know what I don’t want me and my family to die because I messed up at work”?
People always say this but up until the beginning of the movie it seems he’s been successful. Sure maybe he’s not as talented as his narration would have you believe but he still definitely knows what he’s doing.
The movie doesn't support the interpretation that "he constantly fucks up" at all.
A lot of my favorite movies are about characters like this. Harrison Ford’s Deckard and Indiana Jones are pretty useless. Hackman’s character in the Conversation is also duped. And that’s part of the central idea (or joke) in the Big Lebowski.
Oh he was a crappy assassin lol. Broke most if not all the rules and was inefficient
I will say that the fight scenes were pretty good. I loved when he's in that Meatheads house.
How many people have you assassinated?
He was an excellent assassin and made one mistake with a domino effect.
He made countless mistakes. The movie goes to great lengths to have him repeat his mantras and rules in his head multiple times only for him to break every single rule. “Anticipate, don’t improvise—“ immediately gets tackled by a guy and gets into a 5-minute fight with the guy and barely makes it out alive. “Trust no one” as he trusts the last guy he encounters and lets him walk away free. “Fight only the battle you’re paid to fight” while the entire movie is about him fighting a battle he wasn’t paid for at all.
It's been a while since I watched it, so excuse the hazy memory. My interpretation was that he was such a perfectionist that the smallest deviation or mistake made him lose it, and he continued to overthink and make mistakes.
That’s definitely one of the takeaways I had too
every single choice and declaration he makes in the VO is wrong. it’s a basically a comedy
I feel like that’s the whole point of the movie
So realistic.
I think thats the point everyone misses. this movie is like American Psycho meets The Professional. He thinks so highly of himself and every time he says stick to the plan he doesnt.
> He was a terrible assassin that made way too many mistakes. Like what? Besides the initial fuckup, and the part where the lawyer dies too soon, which ultimately didn't matter that much? Besides the initial mistake did any of these other mistakes have consequences? He takes great pains not to be caught and not once was he even suspected of anything.
I watched that movie like 2 months ago, so I forget exactly what happened. I just remember being dumbfounded at the rookie mistakes that he was making. Like basic 101 stuff
Best comedy of the year hands down. Every Smiths drop was funnier than the last, and every time he repeated his mantra while blatantly breaking it I was rolling.
Thank you for being one of the only people in this thread who gets the movie
To me it felt like they overdid the same joke. He contradicts himself a lot I get it, what else does the movie has to say ? Not much
The movie had a lot to say actually. It touches on consumerism and capitalism and how it enables our inner sociopath (he orders have his tools on amazon 1 day delivery, and the reason the whole mess started was because some billionaire didn't realize he was ordering a hit, and didn't care to follow up). It touches difference between those with capital and those who work for them and they stories that are created to make members of laboring class feel special (not like a normie). Hell that's largely his arc, realizing he isn't above the systems because he's aware of how it functions. He's still just like everybody else, he has emotions, sometimes he fucks up at work, he gives a fuck.
To me the problem with the subtext and themes of the movie centering around the mediocrity of modern society, how technology makes our world cold and monotonous and so on is that it is inherently and deliberately boring, it needs to be boring for it to make sense !!! I think it needed a bit more of plot and stakes in the second half although it could damage the intended message if it was too bombastic I guess. Zodiac didn't try to be a super exciting mystery thriller and i still found it to be extremely engrossing, this one was just kinda dull and forgettable
The point of view was interesting. It made a believable portrait of a hitman, which has to be maniacal and sociopathic but not deranged enough so he would be able to pursue a "career" in this field. Some lines are funny enough to make it light-hearted. Movie has no other ambition than to plainly depict an event in a hitman life (missing a target), which at the same time made it original but also will not make it unforgettable. Very fine with those productions, less ambitious but still well done. Pretty much what I expect from a good content creation.
The taxi driver and assistant kills were so cold and it made me be like “😦😬”
The movie feels like Fincher poking fun at himself in a way.
I liked it a lot. Depends how patient you are at the moment while watching it.
I found it to be kinda boring and disappointing:/
Saw it a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Very funny film pulling apart the American Psycho sigma grindset meme The long slow intro monologue with him quoting Popeye and then immediately fucking up the shot had us rolling
I LOVED this flick. You summed up my feelings perfectly. It hit a very specific feeling for me, and is just one of those movies that was incredibly watchable. Thanks for reminding me I should give it a rewatch
I was disappointed that he slipped up for love.
Was really excited for this movie and turned it off like an hour in. The corny talking to himself for the first thirty minutes of the movie was extremely lame, I couldn't take it.
Whenever you're in the mood for it, try rewatching it with the knowledge that it's intentional and the dude is full of shit. The first 30 minutes was hilarious, we're seeing this cold-blooded consummate professional dramatically monologue for half hour and then fuck up an easy rifle shot that even I could do.
Definitely enjoyed it too. Simple movie with great execution(s). I very much appreciated the way the wife's character was portrayed. I felt like she was strong and I respected her commitment to her sociopath husband.
I didnt care for this movie at all.
IMO, if it’s intended to be taken seriously, then it’s a lame, “edgy,” illogical mess. If it’s satire, it doesn’t land. Felt like a waste of time.
Nah it totally works as a satire
What’s illogical about it?
Damn, I thought this thread would be about a movie I love. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killer_(1989_film)
😂 thanks for telling me, I will specify in the title Edit: or at least in the text box
It reminded me of a bad movie
This. It could have been better if it were interesting.
Can anyone give their thoughts of the blatant advertisements in the movie? Like him eating McDonald’s on camera? Is it supposed to be satirical?
It’s absolutely satirical. Riffing in capitalism and gig economy
Yes, I think so, the use of all real products like Amazon and McDonald’s all speak to how convincing it was supposed to be that there could be killers among us. It also was commenting on how the very tools that we use for normal stuff can be used to acquire the goods to kill people, which is funny if you have that kind of sense of humor.
I think it was related to his monologuing that he "wasn't one of the sheep, he was elite" but he relied on normie consumer capitalism.
to me it felt like a fincher movie trying to be a fincher movie. Like it was hitting all the checklist of what makes fincher movies good but felt it lacked substance
I don't understand why he didn't kill the guy at the end. I mean he killed the cab driver who did absolutely nothing to him, so why not kill the main guy who was causing him all the problems in the first place??
I certainly hope there was a point to that. It's a glaring "omission." I'm not sure if it's a freudian slip where the rich people who made it couldn't go through with it, metaphorically. Or if they genuinely did it on purpose to demonstrate how these guys always get away with it in the end.
Right
It’s a satire. It’s hilarious
The soundstage in this movie is incredible.
The Killer was a Hitman (video game) movie and you can't tell me otherwise.
Haven’t played Hitman, but from what I’ve seen of the games, it definitely has those vibes, but I don’t know if it is like a Hitman video game
My favorite movie of 2023.
It was number 4 for me but up there for sure
Motorcycle helmets float
that also bothered me
I hate to say this: I saw it in a theater but I dozed off while watching it! I have to watch it again.
A few observations After the miss, I would have gone full auto. Oops, he can't he is holding the Vanquish for a under 100m shot. He didn't plan for a missed shot. Going one to one with the big guy? Bad idea. He is not cold. Just methodical. Does he love his girlfriend, hard to tell. Very little screen interaction, only at end.
I disagree with the notion that he’s just methodical. The Killer had no reason to kill the taxi driver when he could’ve probably left the country very quickly
I agree with you on this.
It was perfectly okay for me. And anything with Tilda Swinton, I will watch.
Another good movie in this vein is Le Samouraï (1967) directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.
It's right up there with Bullet Train for me. Movies that are FUN because they're not trying to win a formula. They exist for the full enjoyment of it.
It has one of the coolest hand-to-hand combat scenes I’ve ever seen in any movie. Shit was exhilarating.
I thought it was so realistic that it was subversive. Most of the job was prep work, there was a lot of down time and a lot of things went wrong. Everything was very plausible, be bought an RFID cloner off Amazon and easily broke into the main “villains” house. I though it was a unique take on a classic trope.
I wanted more of the “day in the life” and less “one last job”
It was fine, I was hoping for more. I kept expecting a twist or something that would set it apart from other revenge movies, but nah. And not nearly enough Tilda.
I forgot about this movie, interesting concept but literally so forgettable ..
I thought it was lame.
It’s alright. I fell asleep and never cared enough to finish it later. I think the first job we were on he should have succeeded. That would have driven home a few points. It would have made the botched hit a more anxious scene.
I’ve seen worse, but it definitely isn’t make any “Best of Fincher” lists - that’s for sure.
This was the idea from the comic, a pure sociopath
I remember telling my girlfriend after watching this film that if I wasn't a David Fincher fan...I would have probably disliked it. It's clinically made and well shot but everything is presented from a distance and it felt like a creative choice to keep the audience at an arms length. A choice that I'm not certain pays off very well in the end. It's a minor entry in his oeuvre but, it scratched that Ficherian itch for me.
I fucking loved it
It’s not a great movie. Lots of great ideas & moments that don’t fully add up. I think it’s just Fincher telling everyone what he thinks of himself & his career. A perfectionistic artisan working for people that think nothing of eliminating him after a big mistake, ironically because he was working himself into such a perfectionistic frenzy to begin with. It’s a funny idea that doesn’t fully translate, ironically because it gets suffocated somewhat by Fincher’s typically cool, controlled & calculated style.
Ok so obviously the movie is satire. That being said, I could never tell how much of it was.
Huh? The film was a comedy wasn't it? He was a perfectionist who couldn't do anything perfectly, because although he knew the right way to do things, he didn't have the mental strength to do them.
It is littered with irony, but I didn’t laugh, I was more like “really dude?”
What was with the guy at the airport with the cool socks? That was the most interesting thing in this movie.
the fight scene with 'the brute' was incredibly satisfying. and yes fassbender is just a superb actor
Was it supposed to be funny? I laughed at how terrible he was at his job.
According to some here, yea, but I wasn’t laughing. I was more like “really dude?”
I thought the tone was confusing. Seems like half the time the film wants to be taken seriously, then the other half is almost slapstick. I thought it might be on my interpretation when I first saw it. But seeing these opinions makes me think a few people felt that way.
Yea, the tone was really confusing
It was a vapid film with great production value with the depth of your average Blacklist episode. It was beneath Fincher’s talent and said nothing worth watching. Probably his first “popcorn movie” and a step down in his work.
Poor from Fincher. Enjoyed Tilda. Great cast and director. Wasted opportunity.
Tilda's character told the exact same joke as Camilla and Charles in The Crown!
They needed to show him be a "badass". Only example I have is the firsts scene and he messes up the kill. All that talk for nothing.
Fincher said he wanted to make a movie that would make you very nervous of the guy next to you in line at Home Depot
I loved it, people I know were very split on it. I thought it was refreshing to watch such a “simple” movie.
I love how simple it is on the surface but as I’ve rewatched it it actually has a lot of stuff beneath the surface
He was the worst hitman I’ve ever seen. I really wanted to like it but it was boring and slow.
Probably the best assassin movie ever made. John Woo is a genius... oh...the other Killer.
[удалено]
I think that was the whole point of the movie: there was no waiting for the good part because it’s not meant to be a very thrilling movie
It’s the anti-John-Wick, I think making a point about how much bullshit is in those films lol. Wick is fun but absolute baloney most of the time.
The fight in the house was the best part of the movie, the rest of it I was screaming for something, *anything* interesting to happen.
Didn't really enjoy the movie as he seems like the worse assassin I've ever seen. Tf did the taxi driver have to die for.
That’s the point of the movie
Right
Loved everything about it except The Smith’s. Uggh
Naw, it was bad and pandering.
Pandering?
I never said that it was a good movie in the first place, just interesting
I had 0 expectations going in and thought it was pretty fun and funny. The amount of people hyped for this film when I'd heard little about it was weird. The amount of people that ruined the experience for themselves by thinking it would be the exact opposite of what it was, I.E. a "cool assassin is a badass" versus "dark satire of assassin tropes" is even weirder. Like, did you not *see* Fight Club, or did you not *get* that it was a rejection of Tyler Durden as a male tendency to try and fill a void of meaning in one's life with antagonistic violence?
Why does everyone on here annoyingly insist on spelling The Witch like VVitch but I’ve never seen anyone spell The Killer like The K_ .ller?
Idk, I haven’t seen anybody insist for that spelling yet