Sometimes, it’s good to see the Netflix trailer before you watch a movie to get a brief understanding of what to expect. Other times, it can be a little misleading. The trailer for The Killer, while accurate in that it used clips and scenes from the movie, was cut in a fast and frenetic way that you would expect the movie to be a high-octane, fast-paced adventure. That is simply not the case.

Pros

Well-acted
Every scene is tense
Thorough and thoughtful in its portrayal of a professional killer
Brutal moments

Cons

Longer than it needed to be and somewhat slow-paced
Some suspension of disbelief is required

Plot & Thoughts

The Killer (Michael Fassbender)—his name is not mentioned—is on an assignment in Paris. He goes through the various routines in his day, discussing his philosophy and actions through narration, as he waits for his target to finally arrive at the expected destination. It seems like a by-the-numbers assignment for him, but something goes wrong, and he has to make a quick escape. When he returns home, he finds out that the people who hired him wanted to tie up the loose ends and kill him, but they only found his lover at his home and proceeded to beat her to near death. Vengeful and determined, the Killer sets out to find the people responsible for his girlfriend’s injuries and to kill anyone who might want him dead.

Despite how the Netflix trailer portrays The Killer as a fast-paced, action-packed thriller directed by David Fincher, it’s a much more methodical and cerebral experience. The Killer barely ever speaks aloud throughout the whole film, though we hear his voice through the narration as he describes what he’s thinking. Apart from one scene that involves some brutal hand-to-hand combat, the action is very brief and subdued—it’s much less like John Wick and more like The American or Collateral.

I’m a fan of Fassbender and Fincher, so I may be a bit biased in my opinion, but I found The Killer to be rather engaging. It’s got a slow pace and meanders in some spots, but I was pulled in by watching the Killer go through the motions of his job with thorough efficiency. His actions are deliberate, and the movie lets you come to your own conclusions as to why he’s doing things a certain way. For example, in his escape from Paris, he disassembles his sniper rifle and disposes of its various parts all over the city as he races to escape the police. Later on, the film shows a set of innocuous items he’s purchasing from a grocery store to set up his next attack, and we can predict the purposes behind those items. Even still, some of his decisions managed to surprise me, such as the intended purpose of the nail gun that he gets in the middle of the film.

Even though it’s not a nonstop action movie, it still manages to be tense from scene to scene, due in no small part to its star. Michael Fassbender is great at playing cold and calculating sociopaths, having been one of the few good things about Prometheus. His charisma and performance make each scene tense because you get the impression that he’s always ready to kill anyone and everyone in the room with him if he feels that he needs to. Whenever he does eliminate someone, it’s always shown as a brief, unflinching motion without any hesitation from the Killer. This further highlights and emphasizes his intelligence and brutality when he kills the other targets who try to trick him or start a conversation in the middle of their conflict.

I cannot recommend The Killer to everyone, however. It’s still a very slow and methodical film that requires you to be interested in the story and engaged with what’s happening. You cannot watch this movie while doing something else and expect to have a positive experience, as you’re more likely to become bored by the slow pace and the repeated lines of narration. As for the other minor flaws, I’d say there are a few instances in which he seems to get away with some things a little too easily, especially when it comes to gaining access to specific areas. I also think there were several sections of the film that could have been trimmed down for not introducing anything significant or building the world more—I didn’t need to see him get his boarding pass with a different name on his credit card more than three times.

TL;DR

I found The Killer to be an intellectually stimulating story about a professional hitman that, while rather slow, managed to keep things interesting and tense up to its end. It does plenty of subtle world-building and doesn’t hand-hold its audience through the experience. I have other movies about freelance assassins that I would rather watch in my spare time, but that isn’t to say that I wouldn’t watch The Killer again or recommend it to those who are willing to enjoy a slow-burn film about a methodical assassin.

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