The Killer (2023 film)

The Killer (2023 film)
The Killer is a 2023 American neo-noir psychological crime thriller directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker. It is based on the French graphic novel series of the same name written by Alexis "Matz" Nolent and illustrated by Luc Jacamon. The film stars Michael Fassbender in the title role, alongside Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Kerry O'Malley, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, and Tilda Swinton in supporting roles. Its plot follows the titular assassin who gets embroiled in an international manhunt after a hit goes wrong.
The Killer premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2023, and had a limited theatrical release on October 27, 2023; it is scheduled to begin streaming on November 10, by Netflix.
Plot
A mysterious killer, a skillful professional assassin, stakes out a Parisian hotel room. He prepares to kill an unnamed target who will check into the hotel room at an unspecified time with a sniper rifle. While waiting for the target, he practices yoga, eats, listens to The Smiths, and talks with his handler, an attorney named Hodges, on the phone. The killer narrates about most of these activities, stressing the routine, even boring, nature of his job, and about how his cynicism and lack of empathy benefits his job. The target eventually arrives in the company of a dominatrix. As the target watches the dominatrix from the couch, the killer takes aim and fires but misses his mark, accidentally shooting the dominatrix, despite his meticulous methodical preparations. Bodyguards spot the killer and he flees. He successfully evades the police and flies to the United States under one of his numerous fake identities. He attempts to contact Hodges, but without success.
The killer returns to one of his hideout homes in the Dominican Republic to find that it has been broken into and that his girlfriend Magdala has herself been attacked by assassins, dispatched by Hodges in order to tie up loose ends as a make-good to the client. He tracks down the taxi driver, Leo, who helped the assassins surveil his home. Leo identifies them as an extremely muscular young man and an older, white-haired woman. The killer then ruthlessly shoots Leo, leaving his body in his taxi.
Reasoning that Hodges arranged the hit, the killer travels to Hodges's office in New Orleans, Louisiana. He gains entry to the building disguised as a sanitation worker. He restrains Hodges' secretary Dolores, destroys Hodges' electronic records of their work together, and shoots Hodges with a nail gun in an attempt to torture the names of the hitmen out of him, but Hodges dies quickly. Dolores then offers to show the killer the assassins' identities in her personal paper files in her home, asking in return that the killer grant her a quick and non-suspicious death so her family can claim her estate, which he does.
The killer drives to rural Florida, where he breaks into the home of the brutish assassin. He attempts to ambush him late at night, but the assassin notices the killer and viciously attacks him. The killer is badly injured, but still manages to kill the assassin, burning his home down afterwards. He subsequently travels to Beacon, New York, where he confronts the older assassin in a gourmet restaurant. Appearing to accept her fate, the assassin tells the killer a story about a hunter who repeatedly fails to kill a bear, before the bear finally questions the hunter's actual motivations. When the killer murders her outside the restaurant, however, a small dagger falls from her palm, indicating that she planned to surprise him with a sudden stab.
The killer finally travels to Chicago, where the client, billionaire hedge fund manager Claybourne, lives in an upscale apartment. The killer observes his routine, using inexpensive tools purchased on Amazon to clone his home keycard and circumvent building security. He confronts Claybourne at gunpoint, asking him if he ordered the retaliatory hit out of personal grievance. Claybourne claims that, as a first-time client of a hitman, he was simply startled when the killer botched the hit, that Hodges suggested the idea of tie-ing up loose ends, but didn't know what that entailed, and that he has no problem with him. The killer leaves Claybourne alive, though he promises to kill him if he ever suspects that Claybourne tries another hit on him.
The killer returns to the Dominican Republic, where a recovering Magdala waits. He begins to acclimate to retirement.
Cast
Michael Fassbender as The Killer, a professional assassin
Arliss Howard as The Client - Claybourne, a billionaire businessman
Charles Parnell as The Lawyer - Hodges, the Killer's handler posing as a lawyer
Kerry O'Malley as Dolores, an office administrator working for Hodges
Sala Baker as The Brute, an assassin who lives in Florida
Sophie Charlotte as Magdala, the Killer's girlfriend
Tilda Swinton as The Expert, a fellow assassin living in New York
Emiliano Pernía as Marcus, Magdala's brother
Gabriel Polanco as Leo, a taxi driver
Endre Hules as The Target
Monique Ganderton as The Dominatrix
Jack Kesy as The Salesman
Production
Development
In November 2007, it was reported that David Fincher would be directing an adaptation of the Matz French comic book The Killer, with Allesandro Camon writing the script, Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment producing, and Paramount Pictures distributing. By February 2021, Fincher had taken the project to Netflix, where he had signed an overall deal, with Andrew Kevin Walker now writing the script and Michael Fassbender circling the lead role. By June, it was reported that Fincher was planning to begin filming in November 2021 in Paris, with cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt. Tilda Swinton joined the cast in October.
Filming
Principal photography began in November 2021 in Paris. Filming took place in St. Charles, Illinois, in March 2022 for ten days and wrapped later that month.
Music
In February 2023, it was reported that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were composing for the film. It was confirmed in September 2023 that the soundtrack will feature songs from English rock band The Smiths.
Release
The Killer premiered in-competition at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2023. It was picked up for a surprise screening at the 71st San Sebastián International Film Festival set for September 30, 2023. It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 'Icon' section and was screened on 6 October 2023.
It began a limited theatrical release on October 27, 2023 via Netflix, before streaming on the platform on November 10, 2023.
Reception
Critical response
Terming it a "horribly addictive samurai procedural," Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote that the film is "entertainingly absurd and yet the pure conviction and deadpan focus that Fassbender and Fincher bring to this ballet of anonymous professionalism makes it very enjoyable." IndieWire's Ryan Lattanzio found it "as unfeeling as any Fincher thriller, at once predictable in its simplicity but also strangely daring because of it".
Accolades
References
External links
2023 films
2023 action thriller films
2023 crime drama films
2023 psychological thriller films
2020s American films
2020s English-language films
American action thriller films
American crime drama films
American films about revenge
American psychological thriller films
English-language Netflix original films
Films about contract killing
Films based on French comics
Films directed by David Fincher
Films set in Chicago
Films set in the Dominican Republic
Films set in Florida
Films set in New Orleans
Films set in New York (state)
Films set in Paris
Films shot in the Dominican Republic
Films shot in Illinois
Films shot in Paris
Films with screenplays by Andrew Kevin Walker
Live-action films based on comics
Upcoming Netflix original films
Plan B Entertainment films
Boom! Studios titles