A promising yet scrappy exploration of the mind of The Killer

Have you ever pondered what goes on in the mind of a professional killer? Well, the mind that brought us Seven, Zodiac and Mindhunter certainly has. Making a comeback to the silver screen after a three-year hiatus, David Andrew Leo Fincher treats us to a contemplation on how the life of a professional hitman is in the consumerist hellscape that is the 21st century. And his leading man, Michael Fassbender, after a four year absence from the front of the camera, shows no signs of rust. 

While Michael Fassbender's performance as the titular Killer shines, the film's thin plot and repetitive mantras lose their substance over time, leaving it to rely heavily on Fincher's craftsmanship and a standout role by Tilda Swinton. 

Despite its shortcomings in sustaining the narrative built in the opening sequences, the film does offer a darkly humorous and thought-provoking exploration of the mind of a hitman. However, with an underwhelming screenplay, it falls short of its potential, leaving viewers wanting more depth and challenge.

Most of the supporting characters are rather underdeveloped. In fact, they essentially are archetypes rather than people, as they are not even given names in the movie. They were referred by their roles in the script  e.g. The Client, The Target, so on and so forth.

The movie opens in on an assassin whose name we will never learn in an unfinished office space of the now bankrupt WeWork, adjacent to a fancy Parisian hotel, on an 'Annie Oakley job' waiting for his target to show up to the hotel. The pesky little target sure takes his time showing up. This makes our protagonist bored to death (excuse my attempt at pun).

While waiting for the target for over a week, he eats, practices yoga, listens to The Smiths. The Killer narrates about these activities, stressing the mantra of his rules and the routine—even boring—nature of his job and how his cynicism and lack of empathy are beneficial for his chosen occupation.

All this is established in the opening sequence of the movie. The rest of the movie's nearly two hour runtime can be summarised in three lines : Things go wrong, there are consequences, leading him to scour the entire length and breadth of the US in search of revenge.

All this makes it sound like this is a straight up thriller, but it's not. Leading us back to the question I asked you at the beginning of this article. What goes on in the mind of a professional killer?

So even with all the trappings of a traditional thriller, we spend most of the film in the mind of the killer. Learning what makes him tick, his methods and his philosophy towards his work (there is only one fight sequence in the entire movie). A thinking man's thriller, a proverbial 'Bourne in Paris' you may call it.

If you only watch the movie's first 20 minutes, you will feel that the movie succeeds in what it sets out to do. But this is where the issues lie, the paper-thin plot crumbles under the weight of the rest of the movie.

As we move on from archetype to archetype of the proverbial hit list,'The Killer' keeps stressing his mantra, repeating his rules and waxes poetic about his 'killer' instincts, all the while being somewhat sloppy.

Things that originally appear as clever come off as trite when they are constantly repeated. His mantras like "Fight only the battle you're paid to fight," "Forbid empathy" chanted with all the gravitas in the world by the killer soon stop sounding like anything of substance, and more like fortune cookies sold at a sinister restaurant for professional hitmen.

The killer makes a big deal out of how he listens to The Smiths while offing his targets, so that he doesn't get bored. The songs he listens to essentially serve as the soundtrack for a large chunk of the movie. However, most of the songs feel out of place. The movie does have a dark sense of humour but the song choices don't blend well with that brand of humour.

While critiquing the workmanship of the killer, I must admire the workmanship of 'The Killer.' Everything from Fincher's camera placement and movement, the signature hues created by cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, and the razor-sharp editing of Fincher's long-time collaborator Kirk Baxter really pulls the viewers into the world of the movie.

Also, the fact that the characters have no names seems like a nuanced choice at first, seemingly an attempt at exploring the eerie world of the movie without getting bogged down by the mundane details. But it feels increasingly lazy afterwards as none of them is given much depth.

Another odd choice in this film is evident when The Killer spares certain characters but kills others; some backstory would have helped here as well.

Despite all this, Tlida Swinton shines in her brief role, which was a typical performance of the ever-elegant Swinton. Her exit from the screen all but kills the movie's momentum with some time still to go.

At times, the killer monologuing about his work feels like Fincher talking about his own line of work, "Stick to the plan." Alien 3 anyone? So I think Fincher could have taken heed of this mantra repeated throughout the movie "Always challenge yourself and attempt to exceed expectations."

Dear reader, give this movie a watch till completion for Fassbender's brilliant comeback performance and the dark world crafted by Fincher and co. Otherwise, if Netflix asks "are you still watching" after the first 20 minutes, say, "No."