|
Execution is everything Teaser (1m38s) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs1epO_zLG8 Trailer (2m15s) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S7FR_HCg9g Premiere Sep 3, 2023 - Venice International Film Festival Limited Theatrical Release Date Oct 27, 2023 Netflix Release Date Nov 10, 2023 Plot Summary (Wikipedia) The Killer is a 2023 American neo-noir crime thriller based on the French graphic novel series of the same name. Its plot follows the titular assassin who gets embroiled in an international manhunt after a hit goes wrong. Crew
Links
|
#
¿
Oct 28, 2023 22:23
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 14:00 |
|
|
saw this last night in LA and went in with super high expectations since Fincher is my favorite director. he has some big swing-and-miss movies for me, but when he hits, he tends to knock it out of the park. my expectations were, kinda sorta met but not really. basically, the movie works on a moment to moment cadence; each scene is gripping and i felt myself getting lost in the moment very often. but when the narrative takes a step back to remind you that there's an overarching point to it all, i'm reminded that there doesn't feel like there's a whole lot to grab onto when looked at from a wide angle. i have a lot to say about this and i don't want to do random spoiler blocks, so i'll just spoil the entire rest of the post. don't read it unless you don't care about ending details, nitpicks, and specific praise. the female romantic interest character is introduced but only barely. she's a plot device to provide the killer with motivation to go kill some "bad" people. we're never told why they're bad or why they are responsible for what happened. we're told by the killer that he has a strict set of rules he lives by in order to be the best at what he does, and part of that includes not taking anything personally and not trusting anyone. meanwhile the entire movie's plot hinges on him seeking out revenge for taking something personally bc he screwed up the job he's supposed to be so good at. it's disjointed thinking about it from an overview perspective. each time the chapter changes and the killer is in a new city hunting down a new person, i found myself wrapped up in his craft and commitment and eagerly waiting to see how he would carry out his work. but then in between chapters i'm left thinking "why is he doing this?" even though i know why he's doing it, but i just don't feel the draw narratively. the thing i keep bouncing around in my mind is something like: the killer is supposed to be meticulous and perfect, but we see him botch the mark in the beginning. then he goes out and gets revenge on all the people responsible for the attack on his love interest, and he proves that he's actually capable of doing the things he talked about. in the end, he spares the client. why? was all of this some ploy/excuse to get rid of the people in the organization that would come after him if he just wanted to quit regularly? was all of this some setup and part of his perfect plan all along? either that or he supposedly found empathy in the end? the latter feels less probably than the former, but the movie doesn't put any work into giving us a good idea of which (or neither) it might be. as for a filmmaking perspective, the sound design is good, but there's one part where the killer is in a car and scratches his chin. it's really just a trivial detail but the foley sound is so loud compared to the quiet of everything else going on it felt like huge overkill. mostly, it's very good otherwise. ever since trent and and ross worked with fincher on the social network, i've been waiting for them to raise the bar on that soundtrack, but here the music is subdued and not that noticeable. it definitely adds to the atmosphere, but it doesn't ever really amplify or take center stage like it did in TSN. i would love it if they experimented a bit more, but it's good/serviceable anyway. last thing i guess are the weird choices like showing a floating screen of the killer searching for key fob copiers in the last act, and showing a screen of google maps a bit earlier. these are used effectively but they seem out of place when only done these two times. it probably might have been overkill if they did it more often, but i feel like it should have been an all or nothing commitment. they could have done it with the gym check-in screen, maybe some of his logins with various aliases at hotels and car rentals, etc. if you're gonna use a gimmick, use it. the fight scene in florida is top notch, and i loved the single shot cuts that went from day to night and vice versa showing a single image but, like, 12 hours elapsed. that really sold the process.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 28, 2023 22:41
|
|
|
the fact that fincher was teaming up again with the writer of se7en got my expectations sky high. even if this wound up being better than it is, there's no way it could have been as good as i was hoping.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 30, 2023 23:50
|
|
|
there are a few things on netflix i feel like watching so i might resub for a month to check this out again and see a few other things before canceling again. it'll be interesting to watch it at home with a new lens and different expectations
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2023 00:50
|
|
|
it was tough for me to rewatch at home and wound up stopping about 30 min in. i liked it ok enough in the theater but maybe was hoping for something more to come out of it. on a rewatch at home, knowing what i know about the writing and overall end result of the plot, it's hard to sit through for just the vibes alone. at least with a movie like the game you can rewatch and look for little misdirection clues or something. here, there's not really anything you didn't get on the first viewing. for a thriller, that's not very compelling.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2023 17:08
|
|
|
anatomi posted:I think I would've liked this quite a bit without the inner monologue. The story is so straightforward and simple that you could easily do away with most of the dialogue as well, and it'd be better for it. this is something i noticed heavily on a rewatch. the first chunk depends entirely on it which feels lazy, especially considering he talks about his process so much but misses the first shot we see him take. random thought i had as a way to potentially enhance the narrative through visuals would be to lean into fincher's signature cgi slow motion stuff and show the first bullet flying through the air and make it a slower, more dramatic reveal that it misses its intended target. another thought i had that could have been cool (again, playing monday morning quarterback) is if we would have gotten a quick flashback cut right after the first shot trigger pull but before it hits. something to show us maybe the killer's first job, or some other memorable moment, maybe another time where he misses? it bothered me on my first watch and it killed me on a partial rewatch. WHY the gently caress does the movie go out of its way to play up his skill only to have the only contracted kill we actually witness be one where he screws up with basically zero explanation. and then the rest of the movie he pulls off all this cool slick poo poo to get revenge with basically no hiccups at all. it feels like there's absolutely no reason for the screw up in the beginning except to have a reason to hurt his nameless(?) girlfriend so he could go on a revenge mission. makes me feel crazy. anyway i feel like anyone posting here has already seen it so im not gonna cherry pick spoilers anymore for something that happens in the first 10 minutes and is basically given away in the plot synopsis but i just wanted to be cordial to anyone who hasn't seen it and doesn't want that reveal spoiled.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2023 01:26
|
|
|
Chris James 2 posted:I'd argue that's the point (and part of Fincher's meta-commentary) good post. what does it say about me that i also hyperfocused on it as a viewer?? probably that i'm too much of a fanboy which is not news to me but interesting to think about in this context.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2023 03:57
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 14, 2024 14:00 |
|
|
mindhunter season 1 was pretty cool, and i usually don't stick with shows at all. the finale was kinda cool too. season 2 lost me around midway, though
|
|
#
¿
Dec 4, 2023 23:06
|
|