David Fincher has a habit of naming his movies very matter-of-factly. Fight Club was about well, a club where you could fight (at least on the surface), Gone Girl focuses on the disappearance of a girl (woman). No surprises for what his latest movie, The Killer, is about.
Only just released in cinemas, the Michael Fassbender-helmed thriller is coming to Netflix on the 10th of November, and with an 88% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, it looks like we're in for a treat. To have such a short lag time between release and streaming launch, Fincher has clearly forgiven Netflix for cancelling Mindhunter (even if we haven't).
The Killer follows Fassbender's zen-like hitman (unnamed), an ultra-professional sort who meticulously devotes himself to the art of assassination. If you were a pro hitman you'd probably try to get yourself pumped up before each job, but that's not the case here. Before a job, we see The Killer listening to The Smiths and doing yoga. We all have a work routine, it's just that his involves a sniper rifle too. When a job goes wrong, however, things have to be a little less preplanned as The Killer fights for his life. It's a much more introspective take on what has been traditionally portrayed as a very glamorous profession.
What follows is a unique take on a genre that has been covered to death (pun intended) that has critics' tongues wagging. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it five stars and described it as a "horribly addictive samurai procedural". I'm so on board it's ridiculous and if you do find yourself loving the movie and want more of The Killer you can check out the French graphic novel on which it is based.
I love an original action movie. There's a lot of generic dross around so when something like this pops up it has my attention immediately. Netflix also has the best action movie I've seen in years to watch and a brilliant Daniel Craig heist movie in case you need something to tide you over till November 10th. And of course, there's always Apple TV+'s similarly named Killers of the Flower Moon or Netflix's no.1 series.
