The Killer ★★

David Fincher‘s The Killer, screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2023, marks his cinematic return following 2020’s Mank. Set for a November release on Netflix as part of a four-year deal between the acclaimed director and the streaming platform, The Killer is widely expected to be a strong return to a well-trodden genre for Fincher.

Michael Fassbender’s unnamed character, ‘The Killer’, feels like everything a Fincher character should be, quintessentially calculated and meticulous. Despite his best calculations, he experiences a fateful near miss. This incident sets off a spiral of events, underpinning the entire plot of the film. Firstly, his private life, which he thought well-hidden, is turned upside down as a consequence of the failed hit, secondly, he must uncover who his employer’s client actually is to ensure he can move on safely. When he begins chasing down the other assassins who upend his life and seek further to end it completely, The Killer must use all of his skills and cunning as vengeance and safety become the same goal.

The Killer teeters precariously between a slick Netflix production and a quintessential Fincher masterpiece. This dichotomy is immediately apparent in its opening credits—a realm where I believe Fincher is very skilled in, exemplified by the hauntingly evocative montage set to a Coil remix of Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Closer’ in Se7en. In contrast, The Killer, while boasting a sufficiently atmospheric drone and beat from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, encounters pitfalls in the pacing and composition of its opening montage, inadvertently evoking a video game through its overly stylized and embellished special effects. This not only diverges starkly from the gritty realism the film attempts to establish but also becomes emblematic of the film’s broader issues, namely, its descent into an over-stylized pastiche, overshadowing a watchable plot.

The Killer struggles with inconsistent pacing, presenting a conundrum that seems uncharacteristic for a Fincher film. The overt and frequent use of The Smiths on the soundtrack, along with Fassbender’s character explicitly signposting each song choice, disrupts the narrative flow, feeling starkly uncharacteristic of Fincher’s typically nuanced style. While the film does showcase sequences that are both intriguing and expertly crafted, they’re sporadically placed, failing to build a steady, cohesive momentum. As a fan who was hopeful for a triumphant return to form from Fincher, this inconsistency in execution is notably disappointing. 

Worldbuilding is often one of Fincher’s strong points. This is initially evident here, as the protagonist eloquently describes the atmospheric, designed world he inhabits and navigates, all delivered through mostly well-scripted and well-acted scenes. As he encounters Tilda Swinton’s ‘The Expert’ and Sala Baker’s ‘The Brute’, we are led to expect opposition, setback, and reality, but we see little beyond a brawl with Baker’s character. It is this lack of opposition that is representative of larger issues; a mistake juxtaposed by good dialogue, there are also some personal consequences, sets us up in a strong open, but then no further mistakes are made, nothing really goes wrong, and three quarters of the film merge into one flat turn of events where an expected sense of realism is seemingly taken away from audiences. 

Pre-screening comparisons to Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterwork, Le Samouraï, unintentionally set a lofty benchmark for The Killer, a standard it finds challenging to meet. While Le Samourai skillfully navigates through the comprehensive disruption of Delon’s entire existence, The Killer seems to hone in on technical precision, achieving only partial success in this arena. The inevitable question arises: what does such meticulousness avail when it is severed from the narratively rich scaffolding that once underscored Fincher’s work? Although not a disaster, this film does symbolize the potential discord that can emerge when an auteur like Fincher engages with a giant streaming entity like Netflix.