Fincher’s ‘The Killer’ Lacks Ambition, Still Entertains [Review]

It pains me to say this, but “The Killer” is not one of David Fincher’s best efforts. His magnum opus still remains “Zodiac.” The ambitions in this latest effort are kept in check and that’s what many will be complaining about.

Of course, “The Killer” is still a good movie — on a scene by scene basis, it has many moments worthy of Fincher’s talents. I just wish it had a little more substance to its frames — there’s an aura of cold, chilly emptiness to this film.

Michael Fassbender, appearing in every single one of the film’s 115 minutes, plays an unnamed and obsessively meticulous hitman who botches his latest assignment. His superiors, and we’ll soon find out who they are, suddenly call a hit on him, but, when they arrive at his residence, he’s not there so his girlfriend gets the brunt of it.

Revenge is a dish best served cold and for the rest of the film we see our protagonist globe-trotting, calculatedly finding each and every person responsible for this failed hit on him. Predictably, Fincher stages it all in technically suave fashion.

Based on Alexis “Matz” Nolent’s graphic novel of the same name, there’s something to be said about a Fincher that doesn’t really aspire for any sort of greatness and just wants to have some bloody fun with the audience. And yet, there’s always this awareness that what he’s making here is just a pleasurably stylized genre exercise, nothing more and nothing less.

So, yes, the bar is set lower than usual, but it’s clearly the film that Fincher set out to make and that’s why it works. A mostly silent Fassbender does the job needed to make us stick with his character. He’s intensely physical when the job requires him to be, and existentially brooding when he is not. It’s a magnetic performance.

A particular highlight has Fassbender’s assassin sneaking into a Florida condo where he gets into a gritty brawl with a hired goon (Sala Baker). As the pair pursue each other, with fists, kicks, and improvised weapons, the action doesn’t relent, it’s satisfyingly brutal — aided by DP Erik Messerschmidt‘s low-lighting and handheld camera, it’s the piece-de-resistance of the film.

These type of expertly composed moments, and there are a few of them, are all nail biters that disrupt and shock the otherwise contemplative nature of the film. Yes, “The Killer” has our hitman in an existential crisis — although narrating the film in soft-spoken voice, he consistently tells us about his lack of empathy, lack of faith and perfectionist approach.

Is it any surprise that the level of craft here, as expected from Fincher, is impeccably strong?Fincher must clearly see himself in this protagonist: the perfectionism, the obsession with logistics, the painstaking attention to detail, no matter how minimal. And yet, there’s always Fincher’s awareness that what he’s making here is somewhat lacking in complexities, comfort food, nothing more and nothing less. [B]