It’s a big week for movie fans, no, not because “The Marvels” is now in theaters, but rather David Fincher’s “The Killer” has been made available to stream on Netflix.
I watched Fincher’s hitman movie a few weeks back. Fincher has called “The Killer” a “B-movie,” and he is correct in that assessment. It has no pretensions. It’s an expertly dressed-up, mostly-silent assassin drama. It’s also what you might call a “by the numbers” statement. Sharp, pulpy and not pretending to be anything other than what it purports to be.
A particular highlight has Fassbender’s hitman 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 and the best action scene I’ve seen all year.
“The Killer” is getting muted approval from audiences so far — it has a 7.0 rating on IMDB, based on 38k votes and sits at 65% viewer approval on Rotten Tomatoes. Now it’s your turn. What did you think of “The Killer”?
No official figure has been reported, but best guess is the budget landed somewhere in the $10M range. HBO pre-bought the streaming rights, but that was before David Ellison took over