KILL ME THREE TIMES

Australia, 2015, 90 minutes, Colour.
Simon Peggy, Sullivan Stapleton, Alice Braga, Teresa Palmer, Luke Hemsworth, Callum Mulvey, Bryan Brown, Steve Le Marquand.
Directed by Kriv Stenders.

Director Kriv Stenders gained a great reputation for his dog film, the extremely popular, Red Dog. He then went on to another dog film, Blue Dog.

In the meantime, he stayed in Western Australia, into the desert, into country towns, close to the coast and the sea. This is not a dog film. It is a murder story and quite a convoluted one at that as one thinks about the title and the various threads interconnecting the central characters.

Simon Pegg is a hitman reflecting on his life and that he is about to die – with ironic ending in seeing the way that he will die! We see him going into the desert, pursuing a victim, shooting him and then taking a call on his mobile phone before firing the final fatal shot. Then we see him stalking a couple, a dentist and his assistant, Sullivan Stapleton and Teresa Palmer, who are, in fact, husband-and-wife and are up to no good. He also takes photos.

Then there is the owner of a bar, Callum Mulvey, jealous about his wife, Alice Braga, suspecting her of having an affair with the storekeeper, Luke Hemsworth. Also in the picture is the local police officer, not above threatening people, not abovve financial corruption – played by Bryan Brown.

There are plans for killings, plans for car accidents and crashes over cliffs, plans for insurance money recovery… But it all gets tangled up when a car has a flat tire, when the car doesn’t quite go over the cliff as anticipated, when the hitman thinks that a victim is dead when she isn’t – and then there is a whole lot of shooting going on, not many survivors at all.

The film is really a black comedy, some serious undertones, but an ironic presentation of a crime thriller.

1. Australian thriller, twists and ironies?

2. The title, the caption for each of the killing events?

3. The work of the director – and filming in Western Australia?

4. The Western Australian locations, the desert, the coast, the town, homes and mansions, the club, the store, police? A feeling for the area? Musical score?

5. Introduction, Charlie Wolfe and his waiting to die, the flashback, the end and the irony of his being pierced through?

6. His killing, the pursuit of the victim, the desert, the hill, the machinery, the rifle shots, shooting at close-up, but answering his mobile phone?

7. Charlie, his watching the events with Nathan and Lucy, the revelation of his being employed, tracking Alice and Bill, the photos, going to Jack, being hired, the high payment? Alice and the car crash, his presumption? Confronting Nathan, killing him? The irony of his relationship with Lucy, hired by her, the affair? The confrontation with the police, shooting? His visit to the store and being seen as a tourist?

8. The screenplay keeping the twists hidden, gradually revealing the connections and twists?

9. Jack, married to Alice, running the bar, the cash in the safe, her affair with Bill, contact with Charlie Wolfe, spying on Alice, the photos, his seeing them? Anger, hiring Charlie Wolfe to kill Alice? Charlie’s return, assured that the job was done, the money stolen from the safe? Charlie threatening to return? Confrontation with Bill about his affair, Bill shooting him? The role of the police?

10. Lucy, Jack’s sister, working in the bar, married to Nathan, the dental surgery, her role as an assistant, making the booking for Alice, changing the dental records? Attacking Alice, the body in the car, the flat tire, Nathan and his distraction, the accident? In the store, buying the petrol? The different cars, the transferring of the body? Lucy confronting Alice? The car over the cliff, the explosion? Lucy and Nathan in the mansion? The issue of the insurance? Charlie’s arrival, the relationship with Lucy, the confrontation, Bill, the shootings?

11. Bill, the store, his affair with Alice, confronting Jack, shooting him? Confronting Lucy and Charlie – his being wounded, the accidental death of Lucy?

12. Alice, the affair, relationship with Jack, taking the money, going to the dentist, being attacked, in the boot, over the cliff, surviving, saving Bill – and a future?

13. The police officer, corrupt, stand-over tactics, his death?

14. The range of relationships, money issues, debts, insurance policy, murder?

15. And the final irony with Charlie Wolfe pierced through?