The Killer
Came out; 2023
Time; 1 hr 58min
Watched: Netflix
Rated: R for strong violence, language and brief sexuality
IMDB Rating; 6.8/10
Caution; Spoiler Alert
Staring.
Michael Fassbender as The Killer
Tilda Swinton as The Expert
Charles Parnell as The Lawyer-Hodges
Arliss Howard as The Client-Claybourne
Kerry O'Malley as Dolores
Story Line.
A man solitary and cold, methodical and unencumbered by scruples or regrets, the killer waits in the shadows, watching for his next target. And yet the longer he waits, the more he thinks he's losing his mind, if not his cool. A brutal, bloody and stylish noir story of a professional assassin lost in a world without a moral compass, this is a case study of a man alone, armed to the teeth and slowly losing his mind.
Thoughts:
All the good parts of this movie as shown in the preview. This was very slow paced and just not great.
It's a monologue movie, so most of the movie you're getting the mind of The Killer, what he's thinking, what his plans are, what he's thinking.
The have Tilda in the credits as being in this movie but she's in the middle and for maybe 5 minutes.
CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert
Chapter 1
An unnamed professional assassin (credited as "The Killer") stakes out a Parisian hotel room. He prepares to use a sniper rifle to kill a target who will check into the hotel room at an unspecified time. While waiting for the target over a week, he eats, practices yoga, listens to the Smiths, and talks on the phone with his handler, an attorney and his former university law professor, Edward "Eddie" Hodges. The Killer narrates 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 while growing increasingly sleep-deprived. The target eventually arrives in the company of a dominatrix. The Killer misses his target, accidentally shooting the dominatrix. He flees on an e-scooter, successfully evading the police and disposing his rifle and gear. He then flies to the United States under one of numerous fake identities.
Chapter 2
The Killer returns to his lavish compound in the Dominican Republic to find it has been broken into and his romantic partner Magdala has been attacked. The Killer finds her in an intensive care unit of a hospital, with her brother Marcus watching over her. He learns Magdala was interrogated and tortured by two assassins but managed to injure one of them and escape. He tracks down the taxi driver, Leo, who drove the assassins to the Killer's home. Leo identifies a man with an injured leg, whom he called "The Brute", and a woman who "resembled a Q-Tip". The Killer shoots and kills Leo, leaving his body in his taxi, and, breaking his "Fight only the battle you're paid to fight" rule, seeks to track down the two assassins.
Chapter 3
The Killer travels to Hodges' office in New Orleans, Louisiana, and gains entry to the building disguised as a custodial worker. After forcing Dolores, Hodges' secretary and fellow handler, to restrain Hodges and then herself, he destroys the electronic records of their work together. As Hodges attempts to deescalate the situation, The Killer shoots him in the chest with a nail gun in an attempt to torture the names of the hitmen out of him, but Hodges denies revealing the names and dies quicker than The Killer anticipated, aspirating his own blood. Dolores offers to show The Killer the assassins' identities in her personal paper files in her home, asking in return that The Killer give her a quick and non-suspicious death so her children can claim the life insurance payout. After receiving the names at her home, The Killer breaks his rule not to show empathy and breaks her neck and she falls down a flight of stairs, making the fall look like an accident. Before traveling to the next destination, The Killer disposes Hodges' body.
Chapter 4
The Killer drives to St. Petersburg, Florida, identifying The Brute by his limp. After drugging his pit-bull, The Killer enters his house to kill him, only to be tackled and have to engage in a lengthy fight with the assassin, who recognizes The Killer, before The Killer shoots him and flees from his reawakened dog, burning down his home with a Molotov cocktail.
Chapter 5
The Killer travels to Beacon, New York, where he confronts The Expert "Q-Tip" assassin in a gourmet restaurant. Appearing to accept her fate, The Expert questions The Killer's motivations in continuing and lessening competency at his profession, as they partake in her "last supper" of whiskey. Proceeding outside to the park, The Expert appears to trip on the stairs and requests The Killer to give her a hand. The Killer, instead, shoots her dead and notices she had a concealed knife in her hand.
Chapter 6
The Killer finally travels to Chicago, where the client, billionaire venture capitalist Henderson "Clay" Claybourne, lives in an upscale penthouse. The Killer transfers the entirety of his finances to the Dominican Republic under the name Jefferson and observes Claybourne's routine. The Killer then uses inexpensive tools purchased on Amazon to clone Claybourne's keycard and gain access to his penthouse. The Killer confronts Claybourne at gunpoint in his penthouse, asking him if he ordered the retaliatory hit out of personal grievance. Claybourne claims that he has no personal problem with him and, as a first-time client of a hitman, agreed to pay Hodges for "the trail to be scrubbed". Noting his general indifference and having had no specific idea in mind as to why an assassin would come after him, The Killer spares Claybourne, though promising him a "slow death" if Claybourne ever comes for him.
Later, The Killer returns to the Dominican Republic and settles next to a recovering Magdala.
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