Sometimes, when you review a movie, you have to look at how it was made, not how original it is. They say there’s only seven or eight original story ideas that are constantly recycled or combined together. The late film critic Roger Ebert who won a Pulitzer for his work said he often recommended movies based on what the filmmakers were attempting to do. And that led to some questionable reviews among the critic circle on Cop and a Half and Stephen King’s Silver Bullet, two movies that got bad reviews from many people.
But anyone who’s ever had an English composition about a written work ripped apart by a professor who just wants you to say what others have said or someone who’s scoffed at a Jackson Pollack as if it looks like something that was painted in pre-school, it’s not about what others think, but what you think. I admit, I like some really poorly reviewed movies just because they entertained me. I will proudly admit that I saw House II: The Second Story in the theaters and it wasn’t a dollar cheap theater, but part of a major chain.
The Killer, directed by David Fincher and starring Michael Fassbender can be the Western Civilization’s answer to John Woo’s masterpiece The Killer, which starred Chow Yun-fat. Woo and other Hong Kong action directors were inspired by the Spaghetti Westerns who were inspired by the Samurai movies. So, it’s hard to point a finger and say, “You ripped them off.” A great comic can tell a bad joke and still make you laugh because of the delivery.
That being said, this is a very wonderfully shot movie that touches on the same plotline of many other movies. Yet, it still feels like Fincher didn’t give it his best. Fassbender plays the unnamed title character who spends the first act hiding out in a Parisian hotel with a sniper rifle to kill a target. For a while I thought the movie based on the French comic book of the same name might actually consist of the killer waiting. But I knew that would be a way too cerebral movie that even Fincher might not attempt at least as he is doing his damnedest to win an Oscar.
But the movie goes the usual route when the intended hit job doesn’t work out the way it should and the killer finds himself covering his tracks so he can get back to his hideout. And then, he goes on the run seeking answers and revenge. You’ve seen this movie before and you know what’s going to happen. But you watch Shakespeare plays to see how the actors handle the material. And there is tense scene between him and Tilda Swinton which is wonderfully played.
However, the character is still a killer. And because we don’t know what the intended target was, we really don’t know how to feel about him. That’s part of the problem. We’re supposed to sympathize with him but there’s so little we know about him, we don’t know how to feel as he continues his bloodshed. Fassbender does a great job and Fincher structures the movies very well up until the anti-climatic ending.
Yet, if Fincher working on a script by Andrew Kevin Walker had decided to go down a separate route, The Killer might have been a lot better. By following up Mank, it appears that Fincher wanted to do a separate more by-the-numbers thriller. It’s entertaining for the nearly two hour run time. Yet, I don’t want to turn around and watch it again the way I did some of Fincher’s previous works.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 