A FEW (MORE) WORDS ON THE KILLER

The Killer has become my comfort movie. It's what I throw on when I can't sleep or just need something to watch. I don’t think it’s a masterpiece or any great cinematic achievement. It’s just a fun slick hitman thriller (emphasis on “fun” as there’s quite a bit of underrated humor that flows all throughout the film). I shared my initial thoughts on it last year (click here to read), but now that I’ve watched it ten more times or so – I have a little more to say.

First of all – this post is absolutely an excuse to share my throwaway Hitchcock/Fincher comparisons that didn’t make it in to my initial review (my main twitter account is still shadow-banned so perhaps someone will actually see my movie comparisons here).

I think the best Hitchcock is when Hitch is peeping - David Fincher, HITCHCOK/TRUFFAUT

Vertigo/
The Killer

Vertigo /
The Killer

Rear Window /
The Killer

Rear Window /
Vertigo

Rear Window /
Vertigo

Throwaway comparisons aside, I finally know why I enjoy this movie so much. If you’ve followed this blog for the last 2-3 years then you know my most consistent complaint about modern cinema is that I personally think most modern films are made for film twitter, tiktok and letterboxd film-brained people. It’s as if today's writers, directors and producers comb twitter and letterboxd and craft their stories to cater to those specific lanes of film discussion. And no that is not a good thing. You know the type of people that talk in to the camera phone with a forced snarky standup comedian voice (tiktok), or the types of folks/”critics” that put representation first before anything else (film twitter). The kind of folks with no sense of film history that don’t like a movie because they didn’t see themselves represented in any way therefore it couldn’t possibly be good. The people that can only critique something by saying “it’s just a bunch of toxic white dudes doing white dude stuff”.

Think about it. From Barbie (which I did enjoy) to the large majority of A24 films and everything else in between - you can tell these movies were made to get all the cringey think-pieces flowing as opposed to any genuine film talk.

Now…The Killer certainly has a main character that is white and is quite “toxic”. But that honestly isn’t what the story is about. And, going back to the humor in the movie, there’s plenty of material in The Killer to make for the typical cringey comedic letterboxd review but that’s collateral. I truly don’t believe this stuff was on Fincher’s mind like it is with other modern filmmakers. It is my belief that he just wanted to make a simple, styleish, Hitchcock-influenced hitman thriller and he succeeded in doing so. There’s no obvious message or anything having to do with social justice, race, gender or sexuality unless someone reaches to find it.

More movies like this please!