THE KILLER

US, 2023, 118 minutes, Colour.

Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Kerry O'Malley, Sophie Charlotte, Sala Baker.

Directed by David Fincher.

A David Fincher film, an alert to his many fans for almost 30 years. We remember Seven, Fight Club, Social Contract – and we anticipate some tough content and style. And that is what we get.

The screenplay is based on a graphic novel, with six chapters, focusing on the work of the central character, targets, experts, lawyers… The title is very plain, straightforward. Hitman would have been better but this has been taken already in a number of films. And The Killer has no personal name – but a plethora of passports with a range of false identities, enabling him to move from country to country with ease, tracking his targets, confronting his controller, seeking out personal vengeance.

But, for the audience, The Killer is very personal. Michael Fassbender is an actor whom the camera loves, always interesting, always fascinating, and here the audience goes along with him, sharing his experiences (though always with a sense of dread and some touches of feeling guilty complicity), but, particularly, The Killer with voice-over, confiding in the audience, explaining what he is doing, why he is doing it. And he repeats his mantra: " Stick to the plan. Anticipate, don't improvise. Trust no one. Yield no advantage. Forbid empathy."

The film opens in Paris, The Killer in a hotel room, preparing his weapon, surveillance of the apartment where his target will appear. And, despite a meticulous record, the assassination attempt fails. He is sighted, pursued, but with his extraordinary chameleon-like ability to blend in the crowd, change clothes for disguise, draw on his many passports with names from earlier television programs, is able to get back to his retreat in the Dominican Republic, only to find an attempt and vengeance on him, but brutalising his companion. He is merciless in pursuit, tracking down local taxi drivers and his companions brother to get further information, and shooting potential witnesses without qualm.

From then on, The Killer is on his own vengeance track, taking him to the corrupt lawyer who turned him from legal studies into a hitman (Charles Parnell), mercilessly getting information from his fearful assistant (Kerry O’Malley), then to Florida for the first step in vengeance on the attackers in Santo Domingo, trips to New York, to Chicago, and the completing of his merciless mission. And, at the end, there are excellent cameos from Arliss Howard and, particularly, from Tilda Swinton who is given significantly interesting dialogue reflecting on executions, targets, motivations, money, greed.

In the background are questions of values, meaning of life, The Killer living in the hell of his own, creating hells, only momentary signs of possible redemption in his relationship with his companion. Which means that we have experienced a thriller, a screenplay with wry and ironic dialogue, a story of emotionless and ruthless violence.

1. The title? Based on a graphic novel? The influence of French gangster films?
2. The locations, the city of Paris, the apartments, airports, the Dominican Republic, the countryside, the mansion, the taxi service headquarters, New Orleans, the lawyer’s office, Florida, the scenery and the assessment, New York, the restaurant and Riverside, Chicago and the business office? The dividing of the structure into chapters and titles?
3. The anonymity of the killer, his many passports and identities?
4. The voice-over, the Killer and his explaining his philosophy, a continued mantra, reciting it in action? The temptations to improvise, to stay with the plan, no empathy? Consequences of empathy?
5. Michael Fassbender as the Killer, performance, screen presence, attractive to the audience, yet alienating them? His regime, exercise, fitness, alert, contact with his minder in New Orleans? Surveillance, patients, seeing the target? His weapons, sites, aiming? The arrival of the dominatrix, the episode, his failure? The effect, being seen, the escape, disguises, the airport?
6. The situation in the Dominican Republic, the mansion, his companion, her being brutalised, hospital, her giving the information about the assailants? The interrogation of her brother, the taxi driver and his being shot?
7. The lawyer, in New Orleans, law professor, tempting the Killer away from his legal studies? Control? His assistant, her fears? The confrontation, shooting the lawyer? Taking the assistant, the files, the information, at home, killing her?
8. The information, going to Florida, stalking the assailant, the brutal fight, killing him?
9. Going to New York, the description of the partner, following her, the restaurant, the discussions with her, the waiter on the menu, her philosophising about her life, the inevitability of her death, issues of money and greed? The interactions between the two, his suddenly killing her?
10. The visit to Chicago, the identity of the employer, in his office, his ruthlessness, money, confrontation with the killer?
11. The end, his return to the Dominican Republic, his companion?
12. Morality, amoral attitudes, wilfully, creating hells for people, the killer creating a hell for himself? Any possibility for redemption?