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It’s one of the few arch touches in what is otherwise a lean, mean throwback to the glory days of real pulp fiction. Because despite the A-list star, the A-plus soundtrack, and the ace supporting cast (notably Tilda Swinton, who does more in her late-act guest appearance than many performers do in decades’ worth of screen time), The Killer is really just a modern version of a vintage B movie. Mention this to Fincher and Walker, and both will agree that that’s exactly what they were going for. The director recalls going to Netflix before they began production and telling them, “I’m going to do it stripped-down. This is a Don Siegel movie. It’s a loving Michael Winner movie. It’s Charley Varrick, Get Carter, The Mechanic. This is meant to be ballistic.” Even the rapid-fire credits sequence that opens the film was meant to evoke the tough-guy procedurals of yesteryear. “The style can be described as: a Quinn-Martin production,” he says, bursting into laughter. “It’s Mannix chic.”