Let's Anticipate David Fincher's THE KILLER

"fun" isn't what I would associate with that movie, though it wasn't like...the abortion people said it was. wouldn't say I like it much though.

Those abortion people can be such harsh critics

lol

Saw this via Alamo MoviePass: slick, pretty much No-Moral Theater. (I know nothing about the comic it's based on? So who knows how much of this is really Fincher or just the source material.) The two things I was amused by:

* That's how to dispense with opening credits, just, quick, done. (Reminds me of the first and the McQuarrie Mission: Impossible films in that regard. But then again the whole Paris sequence in Fallout was rather more interesting than the one here.)

* All kinds of Gen X music in the film beyond a certain warbler's old band -- the Portishead drop at the house, the one dude at the end with the artfully distressed Sub Pop shirt -- and again not knowing whether it was in the original text I was amused in thinking about how either it meant our lead bro was either a nostalgist who chose to listen them 'before he went bad' or absolutely embraced his current assholery and indeed does not give a fuck. But if Fincher wanted to use 80s music on Sire let's see him rescore the whole thing with selections from Like a Prayer instead and have the botched effort at the start soundtracked to "Express Yourself" for the full self-referential LOLs.

Fantastic.

I don’t understand the Equalizer or John Wick comparisons. I prefer The Killer’s lack of “lore.” If anything, it reminded me of Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here.

Didn't like this at all. Found it totally inert. Arliss Howard and Kerry O'Malley (Dolores) played recognizable human beings; everyone else was a chess piece or scenery. When was the last time Tilda Swinton actually acted in a movie, instead of showing up spotlit like the director's nudging you in the ribs and shouting "Look! Tilda Swinton! Isn't her hair incredible?" As far as the actual direction, except for the masturbatory Hitchcock/De Palma stuff at the beginning, it felt like Fincher trying to make a Soderbergh movie and failing. Soderbergh's pulp movies (Haywire is an obvious antecedent, but Side Effects and Kimi too) leave this thing in the dust.

But her hair was incredible.

Max Read has a really excellent read of this in his newsletter, the first thing I've read that makes me want to see it (basically Fassbender as sigma male/'loser internet' avatar).

Didn’t like this - less John Wick and more like Dexter, right down to the self-righteous voiceover being constantly interrupted by the protagonist’s own fuckups

Fincher making fun of himself should be better than this

When was the last time Tilda Swinton actually acted in a movie,

Memoria

Which is way fucking better than this, obviously.

Which is way fucking better than this, obviously.

I’m confused. Has Tilda ever NOT acted in a movie?

in Last and First Men she's just a voice, but a magnificent voice

btw not going to watch this shite if you pay me to!

Jean Hitman, 23 Calle de la Playa, Santo Domingo

Cast some real Dominicans next time? Or at least ones that can act. Yeesh.

I’m preparing myself to hear that cutting-in-and-out trick they do with The Smiths on the soundtrack, everywhere for the next five years.

The Swint scenes were great* and yeah it looked absolutely fantastic. DF says Netflix had no qualms stumping up big cash for very expensive effects.

*SPOILER I didn’t notice she had a little dagger in her hand after he shot her, but I’ve read same.

(xpost) I found that incredibly annoying...not even a band I particularly care for.

Think I like Fincher more than most here, but this was pointless. Repetitive scenes, ponderous VO, and inferior to several similar movies y'all have named. Like clemenza, I found the music cutting in-and-out annoying and distracting, really hope that doesn't become a trend. I did like Swinton's scene, the movie needed more characters like her

Mank was also pointless but at least it felt like a stretch for Fincher. this feels like Fincher made by AI

To paraphrase Deep Throat in All the President's Men, Fincher got me feeling sorry for the Smiths--I didn't think that was possible.

I hate not to use my MUBI GO ticket but you guys are making me not feel so bad about this.

In this case, I meant to say.

I liked it but don't care enough to defend it

When was the last time Tilda Swinton actually acted in a movie

can't recommend the eternal daughter (2022) highly enough, and she plays 2 leads

yeah, unperson, you are WAY wrong about Swinton. She's been marvelous in Joanna Hogg's last several films.

I liked it but don't care enough to defend it

I liked it but don't care enough to defend it

^^^

So this was exactly like Dexter if Dexter took itself seriously and never did anything fun.
The deadpan voiceover, repeating the rules, until the "oh shit" record scratch. Kept thinking it was going to subvert the trope at some point but... nope.

That said, I kinda liked watching it, esp the recycling bin bit, but will forget it in a week.

Didn’t like this - less John Wick and more like Dexter, right down to the self-righteous voiceover being constantly interrupted by the protagonist’s own fuckups
Fincher making fun of himself should be better than this

Fiona Bruce's voice at the start of the big fight was amusing

I didn’t hate it but … kinda don’t have anything to say about it.

Even the idea that this is a metaphor for the director’s career long journey doesn’t make this any more interesting

massive meh from me. I keep dozing off and am not sure I have the energy to go back and see the bits I missed near the end.

yeah, unperson, you are WAY wrong about Swinton. She's been marvelous in Joanna Hogg's last several films.

no shit, all three are some of my favorite movies in recent memory and she is exceptional in them

the cliched voice over is just...so fucking awful. i too thought there must be some hidden reason that this guy is just spewing cliche after cliche and I don't think there was. it's just bad writing.

every John Wick movie has better dialog. As far as revenge movies go, this pales next to Pig.

every John Wick movie has better dialog. As far as revenge movies go, this pales next to Pig.

every John Wick movie has better dialog. As far as revenge movies go, this pales next to Pig.

"The Killer" tears down the great, civilizing art of The Smiths. But he didn't have the wit to use "Meat is Murder." It would expose his lunacy. That makes David #Fincher the Hollywood equivalent of the Taliban. #TheKiller

You get one guess as to who wrote that.

can we stop linking to him? He qualifies as a hate group at this point.

"...the civilizing art..." ?? wtf kind of language is that

i liked this

the fight w the florida brute is the best fight scene since i dont even know when

i’m glad someone upthread mentioned how much his “tourist” costume looks like hunter s. thompson cause i noticed that right away lol. good job being inconspicuous, sir

I was thinking that - “dude, you could not be more obvious if you were holding a dozen red balloons”

i quite liked this. it's not deep but it's fun and has good actors and puts some interesting spins on the assassin genre. i particularly liked the "hitman as gig worker" angle, with fassbinder not working for a syndicate like john wick but essentially being a contract worker who is abandoned by his overseers as soon as he makes one mistake, plus camping out in an abandoned wework, ordering all his gear on amazon, using postmates to get access into buildings, etc. also really enjoyed arliss howard's aging hipster corporate maven asshole character a lot. it's a funny movie! if you're not laughing, you're watching it wrong.

i think this movie has been fucked by being a netflix release (ie not getting a real theatrical run) and it being more of a satire than an action movie

^^^ sums up my experience totally. I larfed a lot.

Have y’all read those Lawrence Block Keller stories?

xxp Yeah, I read a review that mentioned that aspect, meant to post it here: https://www.vulture.com/article/the-killer-ending-explained-why-doesnt-he-shoot.html - it's better than the URL/title

I asked David Fincher about a very specific costume choice in THE KILLER: Why is Arliss Howard wearing a t-shirt for Sub Pop, the label famous for signing the likes of Nirvana and Soundgarden? pic.twitter.com/tsUEjFs05w

— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) November 22, 2023

I liked this a lot, kind of surprised to see so many negative opinions in this thread. I laughed out loud several times. The way the narration is in contradiction with what is actually happening in the movie was a source of much amusement.

so i havent read the thread and i liked this but is the presumption that fincher just thinks that professional killer is a very silly job probably filled with deeply unserious people

i note immediately that people hated the voiceover but enjoyed swintons bowie impersonation

hm

i thought, re the voiceover, that every time he repeated it he fucked up/didnt follow one step earlier each time

also, he went home after a botched job but the damage we/he cared about was already done

but

our other two killers /also/ went home after their botched job and our lawyer/secretary went to work after their botched job and nobody even....changed routine even a little bit....?

admittedly ive no idea why bother visiting billionaire at the end and then not killing him tbh

but in a movie about a guy who constantly reiterates process and principle and les regles du jeu, i really doubt the guy who made zodiac has put all that out there for a face value ilx movie thread analysis to be "lord he just made a movie about a cool hitman"

lazy thread 4/10 would not read again

also

someone watched it and _missed Tilda's slip and dagger_

i mean tbh lads im not sure at all at all at all

and lastly

My own private challops, because I work in a field adjacent to this

this post promised a lot but it turns out the poster did not mean contract killing

We are perhaps simple creatures

Taking this opportunity to say darraghmac otm.

deems have you ever watched Dexter

nor will i