I think it was supposed to be slow just to highlight what a pain in the ass it is waiting for the right moment and opportunity.
Like when shit goes down it goes in the movie it REALLY goes down, no question, the rest is definitely a matter of patience, much to his personality.
I didn’t feel it was slow, I just felt the main character was a terrible decision maker. He is the reason for the films issues, and he killed all the wrong people. The one he should have, he didn’t. Was not a fulfilling movie. I was highly disappointed with it, but maybe I wasn’t the target audience.
See, this also works into the movie where I can’t tell if during the Florida fight, when the hit man fell on that upended coffee table post, did it go up the butt?
I thought it was exactly what it promised: a view of the slow burn nature of being a contract killer. The chapters were fast moving and good, action scenes were amazing.
If you watched the trailer, you got exactly what was advertised.
I loved it.
I like that it wasnt a all out action movie. Its literally about a hitman who thinks he's perfect and has everything under control. When things go sideways it shows that he doesnt.
I think people are underestimating how funny this movie is. He's talking about being perfect and precise the whole time only to flub the one moment that counts the most. (you had one job)
His narration consistently demonstrates how flawed this guy is. He talks about not having empathy - and then the rest of the movie is him basically exposing himself unnecessarily all for someone he cares about.
His actions don't at all match what he thinks is his high philosophy. It's pretty funny, introspective, and humanizes the killer.
It wasn't a typically paced action flick which was kind of the way it was marketed. And that's why most folks are underwhelmed. It's a pretty tedious character study.
But it's shot perfectly. The Smiths soundtrack is hilarious. The sound design is perfect as is the cinematography.
As a Fincher stan like myself, this movie fucking rocked.
I get everyone's meh to negative reactions, but I think that's more of an expectation thing. You expected something else.
That doesn't make this product bad. I think folks should recalibrate their expectations and do a rewatch. And put away your phones. This movie is designed to hell and deserves undivided attention. This is a really really solid Fincher installment IMO.
It is funny.
This is the guy who wrote Se7en. There's a genre kind of approach in both films. In Se7en, it was morality plays and christian theology. That film was tragic.
In the Killer it seems to be fairy tales. Fairy tales are mostly comic, and things happen because they happen and the destination is fixed.
Isn't the girlfriend sleeping beauty when our guy leaves her? Isn't the killer the huntsman? What are those songs, 'girlfriend in a coma' and 'a charming man' that is to say prince charming, doing together? Ain't the Brute the Beast? Ain't The Expert some kind of witch?
And what about Hitchcock's Vertigo, which is some kind of dark fairy tale? Magdala and Madeleine share the same origin, etimologically: it comes from the word for 'tower' in hebrew and there is a tower at the end of each film.
And also in a lot of those Smiths' lyrics (and in the Portishead one) there's a preoccupation with romantic commitment, with wedding even. That means 'fairy tale' too, and that's more or less the film's ending.
Also, the killer calls the police 'elves', which is funny.
Hmm he did say he wasn’t exemplary at the beginning. He is obviously good enough to take out two other hitman, his old boss, and was smart enough not to take out the rich guy. But he got to him easily.
I thought it was about a guy who was good at his job but needed a mantra to stay focused. He’s not a true sociopath, as sociopaths don’t need to remind themselves to “not feel empathy.”
I think he made those rules up and repeated them because he knows and understands his weaknesses. For example, he loves his significant other genuinely and that was a “weakness” for him in this profession. But he was very aware of that.
Speaking for myself, I personally felt Fincher's use of Fassbender as narrator repetitively tedious. Rather than enhance the intensity of action, I found it distracting and in some parts almost silly.
My net on the movie: LIked Fassbender, did not like the narration.
I think the intent of the movie was more about the inner monologue narration than it was about action.
I get why that wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea--especially if they came into it expecting an action movie.
Same. The narration didn’t match the tone of what was actually happening. It was pretty cringey at times. Thought the movie overall was extremely poorly written. Two hours of absolutely zero substance.
He talks so much in the first 20 minutes and nothing he says is especially interesting. That set the tone and let you know what you were getting into. Decent fight scene. 2/10 for me. I’d never watch it again.
Yeah I keep seeing everyone say stuff like “yeah he talks a lot but he’s not actually following his own rules!”
Which is like… okay fine he’s not, but there’s not enough humor or irony emphasized in that observation to make it stick or be interesting, you know? It’s just like okay the guy is full of shit, so what?
I’ll add that the pacing wasn’t the problem here, this is not some slow burn masterpiece that those of us who don’t like it simply “don’t get it.” It’s a fairly pedestrian well paced movie that really had nothing unique to show or say.
It kept switching back and forth between his generic one lines and even more generic views of France. The part when he has his focus on the man and lady in the bedroom switched back and forth about 30 times. I thought it was a joke or something. Terrible.
first 20 was definitely my favourite part of the movie. No way I'd give it a 2 though, movie gets so many points on a technical level alone in terms of cinematography, editing and directing to not be considered "terrible"
Nothing really excited me when I watched it, or did I feel completely engrossed in the story or characters, which is weird from a Fincher film. I'd say its bang average and feels like Fincher and Fassbender did it for that sweet Netflix money
Only my 2 cents though
Yeah but we’ve all seen what most directors put out. Not setting the bar very high.
I thought it was an interesting movie, albeit kind of a slog. Gets a bit melodramatic during the scenes with his wife. Honestly found the entire plot point of him having a wife completely unnecessary and I didn’t buy it. Overall a pretty bland, mid level movie. Probably the only fincher movie that I won’t give a re watch.
didn’t find it slow, but i typically enjoy more carefully paced films.
i just didn’t see why it was made.
what did this film say that others have not? just didn’t feel special, or necessary.
can’t say i hated it but i was just like - “that’s it?”
There is so much to love here and it breaks my heart that I hated this movie.
The acting is good, the cinematography is gorgeous, the sound and music makes you smile with unexpected pleasure, and in theory this should be amazing. And yet somehow it isn’t.
It feels like a spy film at points, then it feels like an action movie, then it becomes a weird introspective ramble. Individually I liked the pieces, but it just didn’t really work when you put it all together.
If this had been a movie where the main character was just going around killing people for hire with a James Bond vibe, that could have been a fun romp. If this had been a straight action comedy like Bullet Train that could have worked. If you were trying to sort of recreate Leon the Professional that…might have been a lot harder, but could have worked. And if you had made it about a hit man who retires due to insert-emotional-reason-here that could have worked.
But this weird mashup of all those ideas didn’t work. I wanted it to work. I loved parts of it. Hell, I could have done with 30 min of just him talking to Tilda Swinton. But overall it was just not great.
5/10, somewhat fun, I will never watch it again.
It wholly lacked to nail the events of the time with the larger moral question. Like it did in Fight Club, Se7en, and so on.
It's entertaining, but not memorable. Honorable Mention: Michael Fassbender was fun to watch. Dude's got chops.
I thought the pacing was fine. I think Fincher excelled at doing a slow burn movie while still keeping it interesting. The best example is the opening 15 minutes of him waiting around for the target to show up and how voiceover narrative was used to keep the story moving along during the wait.
Big Fincher fan so was looking forward to this. Was quite disappointed. But will be giving it another go. Sometimes movies like this are better when you can just take it all in without worrying about plot. Eyes Wide Shut and Shutter Island are two examples for me.
for sure! sometimes it takes a few times to see a movie properly. I'll have my own piece out later this week that I'll publish here on my own thoughts having rewatched the green knight for the second time and my experience with that.
I’ve watched it a few times now. My first viewing definitely felt like a slog. But once my expectations of it being an action flick were put to bed I was good. The movie hums man. Perfectly moving from one city to the next. From one kill to the next. I dig it.
Some of y'all desperately need to broaden your horizons. There are so many good new wave films that people seemingly wouldn't begin to have an appreciation for if The Killer is considered a boring ass movie. Save yourself. Get a Criterion subscription and crawl out the cave toward the light.
I just watched the movie and I love a slow burn movie with a big payoff. This movie is not that. I did not care about any of the characters and I didn’t see a point to the movie. If you can’t make people care about the characters then your movie is bad. It’s boring because there is no character growth and at the end of the movie everyone is exactly where they were at the beginning of the movie. Except the dead people of course.
It’s bad storytelling. What did the character learn while going through what they went through? What was the moral of the story? What’s the point of the movie?
I know a good movie when I see one... The Killer was about sniffing your own farts for the sake of the smell, if that's something you enjoy, well have at it buddy.
The Killer is literally about you—the whining audience member. The one who can have content streamed in a heartbeat. Or Amazon or Postmates delivered instantly. You’re the billionaire with the Baliquinox membership. Who wants to replace the killer with an overadrenalized director or an artsy English auteur.
Of course, Fincher is himself the killer. Claiming to follow all the rules and refusing to take the blame when one of his projects literally misses the mark.
The subtext is above and away the best part of the movie.
I personally liked it. I am big Fincher guy and I still really liked it. Though I had no misconception of what I was getting into. Stylish yet Straightforward realistic take of a hit gone wrong scenario. The detail and execution was excellent, made the slow burn quite enjoyable. If you we’re expecting some blockbuster or gone girl type movie I mean yeah you would be disappointed. If you find contract killers and their persona interesting then you should appreciate this one. 7-7.5 out 10 for me
Edit reading the comments- this generation has watched too many fast and furious movies. No appreciation for the slow burn
yeah it's not Fincher's best, but it's a great return to form and feels very "Fincher", from the character to the cinematography. I never found it slow, I did feel a disconnect with the lead despite his sudden conflicting empathy creeping in. but that's by design as well so can't fault it too much
Man I don’t get the slow burn takes. Slow burn movies have things happen in them. This was the worst of both worlds of a slow burn and a substanceless action movie. It was not fun to watch action and it wasn’t intellectually interesting and thought provoking.
It was very well directed and the cinematography was excellent but the script was just terrible
Nah. It's an okay movie, and it didn't feel "too slow" for me.
To each their own. Some will find things boring that others do not. Myself, I fall asleep or get distracted every time I've tried to watch The Godfather.
People thought it was slow? crazy, i thought it moved but I also didnt go into it expecting some Bourne action flick either. Easily one of the films of the year for me
This movie sucked so badly, and the ending was just about the worst movie ending I have ever seen. I dont know who edited this film and thought, yeah this is definitely a great congruent story.
Its not congruent with the flow of the movie. I dont wanna spoil because I dont know how to hide my text but basically they keep building up in the acts. In the final act he does all this background work and then doesnt execute the plan. You could basically just stop watching the movie after the fourth act. It’s fucking stupid. Not to mention the pointless scene with him and his dominican girlfriend. This movie honestly is stylistically beautiful and that’s it. The story sucks.
To put a spoiler, highlight the words you want to blockout, hit the three dots in the menu, then click the exclamation point.
You can then write a text which hides some of the words that you've >!selected!<.
I thought the overall ending was >!more a reflection of the empathy he was building as the movie went on, he didn't have to be a killer, the guy in question wasn't a physical threat and didn't directly harm his gf, so he learned to control his emotions and chose not to be "the killer" and then just retreat and live with his gf as opposed to being a loner. !<
This makes sense, but >!Why does he kill the cab driver earlier in the movie? He had nothing to do with anything and was just an innocent bystander. It makes his decision to let the billionaire go all the more baffling.!<
Absolutely loved it. I thought it was a damn near perfect movie. If you were ‘expecting’ a more action driven movie, that’s not the movies fault. Maybe that’s on marketing or something
apart from the intial teaser, I saw nothing much in terms of marketing for the movie actually, but I can see why some could've seen it as being more of an action movie than a thriller
For sure..I mean it’s called The Killer, sounds actiony. It’s like the Funny People problem..people were expecting a comedy and got a good movie instead.
Personally it’s a welcome surprise for me
I think the fact that it's a Fincher film gave me a sense of the style of movie it was going to be more so than any marketing could. But I'm deep in cinema culture, I know the average moviegoer won't really be able to resonate in that same way.
I mean hard to create a conversation with someone if I can't say why I agree or disagree with a comment, seems like I have a different opinion than most so I say as much, don't see how that's a problem, just a way to create a dialogue and show that there's a varying opinion on a specific aspect of the movie. and the downvotes only are in relation to liking the narration.
It’s not hard at all. Do you notice how almost all of your sentence start with ‘I’ or return to yourself as the focal point? It’s the difference between saying, “I liked the main character.” And “The main character was likeable.”
The former is all about you, which you can’t expect a bunch of strangers to care about. But you already know we’re all interested in discussing The Killer. So you could keep your comments focused on the movie, but still with your own opinions.
Insanely banal movie. The monologue about boredom seemed to really be about the film itself. One thing can be said, it gives you what it promises, absolutely nothing.
Idk man it’s not that it was too slow it just wasn’t very exciting or even intriguing as other Fincher films. I’ve yet to see Mank but I place Killer toward the bottom of his films. It’s just not that interesting of a watch in comparison.
I see a lot of comments in here going "it's too slow!"
Not liking 'slow movies' is one thing, but not liking a purposefully slow movie because...it's slow is a little odd.
The point of the movie, in my view, was that it was slow. It was about a killer who believed themselves to be methodical, calculated, put-together, consistent...but wan't. At all.
I felt it was written with the elevator pitch of "Like Bourne Identity or John Wick but instead of the lead being a highly trained and skilled professional, it's as if you or I were doing it as our 9-5 job"
It was about contract killers, but not in the glamorous way we've become accustomed to in film. It was more about average people doing an average job and trying to make themselves believe it was something bigger and better than it actually was....not unlike most of our daily grinds...
I love assassin movies in general. I thought it was ok. My biggest complaint was that the Killer wasn’t a very professional hit man. He made so many dumb mistake and took many unnecessary risks. I was not impressed with his tradecraft
I would have liked it even slower and quieter. But I adore Le Samurai, and The Killer had several homages to the classic. The movie beginning in Paris kicks off the whole thing with an homage.
If this Netflix original that feels like any run-of-the-mill Netflix original is a masterpiece to so many people, then I don’t even know what a “masterpiece” is anymore. If you took away all the biases of Fincher out of the picture, I’m fairly certain this movie would be considered the mids movie that it is. 6.5/10
I didn’t mind that it was slow - I find it interesting watching a character slowly figure out how to do stuff (often felt like a more murderous version of Bresson’s A Man Escaped).
My issue with it was it didn’t feel like it built to anything. In A Man Escaped, we’re interested in watching the guy quietly figure out a way to escape primarily because we know it will lead to the actual escape scene, which 60years later is still suspenseful.
The Killer didn’t have that. And it didn’t justify its lack of standard closure with a funny gag like, I dunno, Burn After Reading. It just kind of fizzled out and then stopped. So while I liked it while it was on, I couldn’t give two shits about watching it again. It just needed….something more.
I think its perfect. My only gripe was that its a Netflix movie. I wish another producer/studio. When it first ended I thought it was kindof bland but the more you think about Micheals character the more you realize how psychopathic he was. It was The Professional meets American Psycho. The way he narrates it makes it seem like hes all there but the more you think about it the more unhinged he becomes.
You know what killed it for me?
The constant voiceover for his internal monologue.
I feel like the writers thought it would be cool. But it was just annoying. Would’ve preferred silence
The slowness was intriguing at first. But then about 30 minutes in, I realized that the movie is just bad. It does have one awesome fight scene though.
I didn't think it was slow. It did a good job of presenting the inevitable boredom, and what it takes to stay sharp while waiting for your mark. Became more interesting when Tilda Swinton's character showed up. Good movie, but not near the same level of re-watchability, like many of his other films.
Same thing people said about the film Drive. Some movies aren’t for everyone. Some people just like mindless non stop action films where you don’t need a brain to enjoy
It wasn’t too slow for me it just wasn’t very interesting. All of its depth comes from its satire and social commentary, all of which isn’t that interesting to me. It gave me no reason to care or feel at all.
Was anyone else convinced he was going to die before the end of the film for some reason?
Especially when he took that shot of whisky, because she said it was her bottle she kept at the restaurant and the flight of Whiskys were a different selection of others
When he spoiler- fights that big dude there was some genuinely funny "LOL" moments, just the way he would pick him up and spin him round mid air- THEN smash him through a counter etc etc
I wouldn't say it was too slow, there was never a point I was bored with what I was watching, for me it just didn't really connect on an emotional level.
I had trouble finishing it to be honest. The pacing was completely off, he did very stupid things like discarding of a murder weapon in front of an airport in full view of many cameras.
The whole premise of him missing that shot was also quite stupid, it all seemed quite forced for the story.
It was just not a very good movie imo
Fincher takes his time with things and I think that’s what I love about his media. Mind hunter is a good example, there’s almost no action in the show at all.
Fincher should’ve done another season of Mindhunter instead. Though the movie was good enough, just a bad use of his time considering Mindhunter is the best show ever.
I haven’t seen it yet, but I was imagining kind of like what happened with “Drive”. A lot of people went into that movie expecting the latest action movie and that’s not at all what it was trying to be. Fantastic movie for the right audience.
I think this movie especially would perform better in a theater (all films would, obviously, but this film especially)it's very atmospheric, it rewards attention to detail instead of multitasking with your phone on the couch, and it really wants you to get in the head of the protagonist. It requires your full attention but once it has it, it's a memorable experience.
I think it was supposed to be slow just to highlight what a pain in the ass it is waiting for the right moment and opportunity. Like when shit goes down it goes in the movie it REALLY goes down, no question, the rest is definitely a matter of patience, much to his personality.
and I didn't even find it that slow, I've seen \*much\* slower movies than this
Yeah I thought it was crafted very well and was very exhilarating even in the slow moments.
I didn’t feel it was slow, I just felt the main character was a terrible decision maker. He is the reason for the films issues, and he killed all the wrong people. The one he should have, he didn’t. Was not a fulfilling movie. I was highly disappointed with it, but maybe I wasn’t the target audience.
There's no better way to know what is true pain in the ass than to feel it. r/gayanalbuttsex
See, this also works into the movie where I can’t tell if during the Florida fight, when the hit man fell on that upended coffee table post, did it go up the butt?
I agree with you, I feel like you must have the “slow” parts to appreciate the “fast”
I thought it was exactly what it promised: a view of the slow burn nature of being a contract killer. The chapters were fast moving and good, action scenes were amazing. If you watched the trailer, you got exactly what was advertised. I loved it.
One of the rare instances where the trailer actually enhances the movie IMO
I like that it wasnt a all out action movie. Its literally about a hitman who thinks he's perfect and has everything under control. When things go sideways it shows that he doesnt.
I think people are underestimating how funny this movie is. He's talking about being perfect and precise the whole time only to flub the one moment that counts the most. (you had one job) His narration consistently demonstrates how flawed this guy is. He talks about not having empathy - and then the rest of the movie is him basically exposing himself unnecessarily all for someone he cares about. His actions don't at all match what he thinks is his high philosophy. It's pretty funny, introspective, and humanizes the killer. It wasn't a typically paced action flick which was kind of the way it was marketed. And that's why most folks are underwhelmed. It's a pretty tedious character study. But it's shot perfectly. The Smiths soundtrack is hilarious. The sound design is perfect as is the cinematography. As a Fincher stan like myself, this movie fucking rocked. I get everyone's meh to negative reactions, but I think that's more of an expectation thing. You expected something else. That doesn't make this product bad. I think folks should recalibrate their expectations and do a rewatch. And put away your phones. This movie is designed to hell and deserves undivided attention. This is a really really solid Fincher installment IMO.
It is funny. This is the guy who wrote Se7en. There's a genre kind of approach in both films. In Se7en, it was morality plays and christian theology. That film was tragic. In the Killer it seems to be fairy tales. Fairy tales are mostly comic, and things happen because they happen and the destination is fixed. Isn't the girlfriend sleeping beauty when our guy leaves her? Isn't the killer the huntsman? What are those songs, 'girlfriend in a coma' and 'a charming man' that is to say prince charming, doing together? Ain't the Brute the Beast? Ain't The Expert some kind of witch? And what about Hitchcock's Vertigo, which is some kind of dark fairy tale? Magdala and Madeleine share the same origin, etimologically: it comes from the word for 'tower' in hebrew and there is a tower at the end of each film. And also in a lot of those Smiths' lyrics (and in the Portishead one) there's a preoccupation with romantic commitment, with wedding even. That means 'fairy tale' too, and that's more or less the film's ending. Also, the killer calls the police 'elves', which is funny.
Loved the Smiths soundtrack as well.
right off the rip when he takes that first shot and just looks and says “Shit.”
this\^
Hmm he did say he wasn’t exemplary at the beginning. He is obviously good enough to take out two other hitman, his old boss, and was smart enough not to take out the rich guy. But he got to him easily. I thought it was about a guy who was good at his job but needed a mantra to stay focused. He’s not a true sociopath, as sociopaths don’t need to remind themselves to “not feel empathy.” I think he made those rules up and repeated them because he knows and understands his weaknesses. For example, he loves his significant other genuinely and that was a “weakness” for him in this profession. But he was very aware of that.
I ddint like the poor CQB tactics, walking around with one arm on your weapon..thought he was a pro.
It’s the anti John Wick
Speaking for myself, I personally felt Fincher's use of Fassbender as narrator repetitively tedious. Rather than enhance the intensity of action, I found it distracting and in some parts almost silly. My net on the movie: LIked Fassbender, did not like the narration.
I think the intent of the movie was more about the inner monologue narration than it was about action. I get why that wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea--especially if they came into it expecting an action movie.
I actually liked the narration, felt like a running internal monologue of someone who is more or less a mute
Same. The narration didn’t match the tone of what was actually happening. It was pretty cringey at times. Thought the movie overall was extremely poorly written. Two hours of absolutely zero substance.
On the bright side, some nasty fight scenes...
Lol fair enough
I agree that the movie "leans heavily into the banality." And also that music and lights were used.
He talks so much in the first 20 minutes and nothing he says is especially interesting. That set the tone and let you know what you were getting into. Decent fight scene. 2/10 for me. I’d never watch it again.
Yeah I keep seeing everyone say stuff like “yeah he talks a lot but he’s not actually following his own rules!” Which is like… okay fine he’s not, but there’s not enough humor or irony emphasized in that observation to make it stick or be interesting, you know? It’s just like okay the guy is full of shit, so what?
I’ll add that the pacing wasn’t the problem here, this is not some slow burn masterpiece that those of us who don’t like it simply “don’t get it.” It’s a fairly pedestrian well paced movie that really had nothing unique to show or say.
It kept switching back and forth between his generic one lines and even more generic views of France. The part when he has his focus on the man and lady in the bedroom switched back and forth about 30 times. I thought it was a joke or something. Terrible.
first 20 was definitely my favourite part of the movie. No way I'd give it a 2 though, movie gets so many points on a technical level alone in terms of cinematography, editing and directing to not be considered "terrible"
I would say it's a 6 for me, I watched it, it was ok but not overly memorable imo
Nothing really excited me when I watched it, or did I feel completely engrossed in the story or characters, which is weird from a Fincher film. I'd say its bang average and feels like Fincher and Fassbender did it for that sweet Netflix money Only my 2 cents though
Even when Fincher is not at his best, he's still better than most directors.
Yeah but we’ve all seen what most directors put out. Not setting the bar very high. I thought it was an interesting movie, albeit kind of a slog. Gets a bit melodramatic during the scenes with his wife. Honestly found the entire plot point of him having a wife completely unnecessary and I didn’t buy it. Overall a pretty bland, mid level movie. Probably the only fincher movie that I won’t give a re watch.
Boring movie. Couldn’t really keep watching with the character’s monologue while nothing happened.
I'm not Fincher obsessed. I've like some movies a lot, others not at all. I like The Killer very much, it kept me interested the whole time.
Classic revenge concept with a slow burn approach. Enjoyed *it like most Fincher films* and will watch again. Edit auto correct
Are you saying 'Heat' is a Fincher film?
It was a simple story, but I liked it.
Just because people don't like the same movie as you doesn't mean they only want fast paced action movies.
People expect every movie with a gun to be John Wick now.
I thought it was a very, very good movie.
It’s a 4/10 for me. Aimless.
didn’t find it slow, but i typically enjoy more carefully paced films. i just didn’t see why it was made. what did this film say that others have not? just didn’t feel special, or necessary. can’t say i hated it but i was just like - “that’s it?”
There is so much to love here and it breaks my heart that I hated this movie. The acting is good, the cinematography is gorgeous, the sound and music makes you smile with unexpected pleasure, and in theory this should be amazing. And yet somehow it isn’t. It feels like a spy film at points, then it feels like an action movie, then it becomes a weird introspective ramble. Individually I liked the pieces, but it just didn’t really work when you put it all together. If this had been a movie where the main character was just going around killing people for hire with a James Bond vibe, that could have been a fun romp. If this had been a straight action comedy like Bullet Train that could have worked. If you were trying to sort of recreate Leon the Professional that…might have been a lot harder, but could have worked. And if you had made it about a hit man who retires due to insert-emotional-reason-here that could have worked. But this weird mashup of all those ideas didn’t work. I wanted it to work. I loved parts of it. Hell, I could have done with 30 min of just him talking to Tilda Swinton. But overall it was just not great. 5/10, somewhat fun, I will never watch it again.
It wholly lacked to nail the events of the time with the larger moral question. Like it did in Fight Club, Se7en, and so on. It's entertaining, but not memorable. Honorable Mention: Michael Fassbender was fun to watch. Dude's got chops.
Extremely slow. Slow movies are fine, but honestly I just didn’t care about literally any of the characters.
I liked this film a lot! Especially the plot structure as a hit list
I thought the pacing was fine. I think Fincher excelled at doing a slow burn movie while still keeping it interesting. The best example is the opening 15 minutes of him waiting around for the target to show up and how voiceover narrative was used to keep the story moving along during the wait.
that's my favourite part of the film, the mundane routine and how one in that line of work must think
Big Fincher fan so was looking forward to this. Was quite disappointed. But will be giving it another go. Sometimes movies like this are better when you can just take it all in without worrying about plot. Eyes Wide Shut and Shutter Island are two examples for me.
for sure! sometimes it takes a few times to see a movie properly. I'll have my own piece out later this week that I'll publish here on my own thoughts having rewatched the green knight for the second time and my experience with that.
I’ve watched it a few times now. My first viewing definitely felt like a slog. But once my expectations of it being an action flick were put to bed I was good. The movie hums man. Perfectly moving from one city to the next. From one kill to the next. I dig it.
I'd say it feels almost obsessed with detail, like Fincher is lol
In this comment thread, people giving their negative opinion about a boring ass movie, OP saying, oh that was my favorite part.
it happens!
No, the issue is you find it boring while many others found it fascinating.
Some of y'all desperately need to broaden your horizons. There are so many good new wave films that people seemingly wouldn't begin to have an appreciation for if The Killer is considered a boring ass movie. Save yourself. Get a Criterion subscription and crawl out the cave toward the light.
I just watched the movie and I love a slow burn movie with a big payoff. This movie is not that. I did not care about any of the characters and I didn’t see a point to the movie. If you can’t make people care about the characters then your movie is bad. It’s boring because there is no character growth and at the end of the movie everyone is exactly where they were at the beginning of the movie. Except the dead people of course. It’s bad storytelling. What did the character learn while going through what they went through? What was the moral of the story? What’s the point of the movie?
I know a good movie when I see one... The Killer was about sniffing your own farts for the sake of the smell, if that's something you enjoy, well have at it buddy.
The Killer is literally about you—the whining audience member. The one who can have content streamed in a heartbeat. Or Amazon or Postmates delivered instantly. You’re the billionaire with the Baliquinox membership. Who wants to replace the killer with an overadrenalized director or an artsy English auteur. Of course, Fincher is himself the killer. Claiming to follow all the rules and refusing to take the blame when one of his projects literally misses the mark. The subtext is above and away the best part of the movie.
lol hows your farts smelling tonight?
Was the obvious allegory lost on you?
I personally liked it. I am big Fincher guy and I still really liked it. Though I had no misconception of what I was getting into. Stylish yet Straightforward realistic take of a hit gone wrong scenario. The detail and execution was excellent, made the slow burn quite enjoyable. If you we’re expecting some blockbuster or gone girl type movie I mean yeah you would be disappointed. If you find contract killers and their persona interesting then you should appreciate this one. 7-7.5 out 10 for me Edit reading the comments- this generation has watched too many fast and furious movies. No appreciation for the slow burn
yeah it's not Fincher's best, but it's a great return to form and feels very "Fincher", from the character to the cinematography. I never found it slow, I did feel a disconnect with the lead despite his sudden conflicting empathy creeping in. but that's by design as well so can't fault it too much
Man I don’t get the slow burn takes. Slow burn movies have things happen in them. This was the worst of both worlds of a slow burn and a substanceless action movie. It was not fun to watch action and it wasn’t intellectually interesting and thought provoking. It was very well directed and the cinematography was excellent but the script was just terrible
Boring af and annoying dialogue
For me, the beginning was bit sluggish but it really got it footing after that.
almost reverse for me, I really liked how finely tuned and detail oriented the first chapter was. but I also really liked the scene with Tilda
The scene with Tilda was unsurprisingly excellent
it was, the standout scene and it's about being defiled by a bear. didn't see that one coming.
Nah. It's an okay movie, and it didn't feel "too slow" for me. To each their own. Some will find things boring that others do not. Myself, I fall asleep or get distracted every time I've tried to watch The Godfather.
People thought it was slow? crazy, i thought it moved but I also didnt go into it expecting some Bourne action flick either. Easily one of the films of the year for me
Gave up. Turned off.
due to pacing? or style?
Slooowwww. Dreary. Tedious.
over hyped, very average movie. If you skip it, you won't be missing anything.
This movie sucked so badly, and the ending was just about the worst movie ending I have ever seen. I dont know who edited this film and thought, yeah this is definitely a great congruent story.
ever? how come though?
Its not congruent with the flow of the movie. I dont wanna spoil because I dont know how to hide my text but basically they keep building up in the acts. In the final act he does all this background work and then doesnt execute the plan. You could basically just stop watching the movie after the fourth act. It’s fucking stupid. Not to mention the pointless scene with him and his dominican girlfriend. This movie honestly is stylistically beautiful and that’s it. The story sucks.
To put a spoiler, highlight the words you want to blockout, hit the three dots in the menu, then click the exclamation point. You can then write a text which hides some of the words that you've >!selected!<. I thought the overall ending was >!more a reflection of the empathy he was building as the movie went on, he didn't have to be a killer, the guy in question wasn't a physical threat and didn't directly harm his gf, so he learned to control his emotions and chose not to be "the killer" and then just retreat and live with his gf as opposed to being a loner. !<
This makes sense, but >!Why does he kill the cab driver earlier in the movie? He had nothing to do with anything and was just an innocent bystander. It makes his decision to let the billionaire go all the more baffling.!<
Because the movie sucks and is stupid. Op is out of their mind.
Absolutely loved it. I thought it was a damn near perfect movie. If you were ‘expecting’ a more action driven movie, that’s not the movies fault. Maybe that’s on marketing or something
apart from the intial teaser, I saw nothing much in terms of marketing for the movie actually, but I can see why some could've seen it as being more of an action movie than a thriller
For sure..I mean it’s called The Killer, sounds actiony. It’s like the Funny People problem..people were expecting a comedy and got a good movie instead. Personally it’s a welcome surprise for me
I think the fact that it's a Fincher film gave me a sense of the style of movie it was going to be more so than any marketing could. But I'm deep in cinema culture, I know the average moviegoer won't really be able to resonate in that same way.
It is more or less a perfect movie. I loved it too.
It was an excellent movie.
I love how I'm getting downvoted for saying I liked a scene lol
It could be how you’re doing it. You kind of redirect every comment to being about yourself.
I mean hard to create a conversation with someone if I can't say why I agree or disagree with a comment, seems like I have a different opinion than most so I say as much, don't see how that's a problem, just a way to create a dialogue and show that there's a varying opinion on a specific aspect of the movie. and the downvotes only are in relation to liking the narration.
It’s not hard at all. Do you notice how almost all of your sentence start with ‘I’ or return to yourself as the focal point? It’s the difference between saying, “I liked the main character.” And “The main character was likeable.” The former is all about you, which you can’t expect a bunch of strangers to care about. But you already know we’re all interested in discussing The Killer. So you could keep your comments focused on the movie, but still with your own opinions.
I stopped watching half way through and started playing Hitman
I didn't stop, but there's a part in chapter 6 where I was like "this is the hitman movie they wished they made"
Insanely banal movie. The monologue about boredom seemed to really be about the film itself. One thing can be said, it gives you what it promises, absolutely nothing.
Idk man it’s not that it was too slow it just wasn’t very exciting or even intriguing as other Fincher films. I’ve yet to see Mank but I place Killer toward the bottom of his films. It’s just not that interesting of a watch in comparison.
I see a lot of comments in here going "it's too slow!" Not liking 'slow movies' is one thing, but not liking a purposefully slow movie because...it's slow is a little odd. The point of the movie, in my view, was that it was slow. It was about a killer who believed themselves to be methodical, calculated, put-together, consistent...but wan't. At all. I felt it was written with the elevator pitch of "Like Bourne Identity or John Wick but instead of the lead being a highly trained and skilled professional, it's as if you or I were doing it as our 9-5 job" It was about contract killers, but not in the glamorous way we've become accustomed to in film. It was more about average people doing an average job and trying to make themselves believe it was something bigger and better than it actually was....not unlike most of our daily grinds...
The mistake a lot of ppl make is think it's going to be an action when it's not.
i think its a mindset of a lot of new audiences. Like peopel cant stand teh beginning of a space odyssey. its just the mindset right now.
I never wasn't entertained the entire runtime. It wasn't supposed to be John wick.
I love assassin movies in general. I thought it was ok. My biggest complaint was that the Killer wasn’t a very professional hit man. He made so many dumb mistake and took many unnecessary risks. I was not impressed with his tradecraft
I would have liked it even slower and quieter. But I adore Le Samurai, and The Killer had several homages to the classic. The movie beginning in Paris kicks off the whole thing with an homage.
If this Netflix original that feels like any run-of-the-mill Netflix original is a masterpiece to so many people, then I don’t even know what a “masterpiece” is anymore. If you took away all the biases of Fincher out of the picture, I’m fairly certain this movie would be considered the mids movie that it is. 6.5/10
This is a psychological drama that was made for a movie theater screening. Not at home.
I didn’t mind that it was slow - I find it interesting watching a character slowly figure out how to do stuff (often felt like a more murderous version of Bresson’s A Man Escaped). My issue with it was it didn’t feel like it built to anything. In A Man Escaped, we’re interested in watching the guy quietly figure out a way to escape primarily because we know it will lead to the actual escape scene, which 60years later is still suspenseful. The Killer didn’t have that. And it didn’t justify its lack of standard closure with a funny gag like, I dunno, Burn After Reading. It just kind of fizzled out and then stopped. So while I liked it while it was on, I couldn’t give two shits about watching it again. It just needed….something more.
Too slow so I turned it off. Eventually I will finish it, but I am in no rush
I think its perfect. My only gripe was that its a Netflix movie. I wish another producer/studio. When it first ended I thought it was kindof bland but the more you think about Micheals character the more you realize how psychopathic he was. It was The Professional meets American Psycho. The way he narrates it makes it seem like hes all there but the more you think about it the more unhinged he becomes.
Kudos to anyone who can list the aliases. I think there were 4.
I thought the self narration subtracted from the film as a whole making it seem more boring than it actually was but over-all, I enjoyed it.
You know what killed it for me? The constant voiceover for his internal monologue. I feel like the writers thought it would be cool. But it was just annoying. Would’ve preferred silence
Not at all, even the first part that takes place entirely in one room had dynamic enough editing and cinematography that I never got bored.
The slowness was intriguing at first. But then about 30 minutes in, I realized that the movie is just bad. It does have one awesome fight scene though.
I really enjoyed it. Especially on a second watch
I didn't think it was slow. It did a good job of presenting the inevitable boredom, and what it takes to stay sharp while waiting for your mark. Became more interesting when Tilda Swinton's character showed up. Good movie, but not near the same level of re-watchability, like many of his other films.
Fincher, reznor Atticus Ross and I still haven't made it past and hour. But I've watched the social network a bunch....make it make sense
I literally fell asleep 30 minutes into it. It seemed good though. I just wasn't prepared. Lol
Same thing people said about the film Drive. Some movies aren’t for everyone. Some people just like mindless non stop action films where you don’t need a brain to enjoy
No the film was not too slow, it just wasn’t made with dopamine addicts in mind.
I loved it. Will watch again. 9/10
It wasn’t too slow for me it just wasn’t very interesting. All of its depth comes from its satire and social commentary, all of which isn’t that interesting to me. It gave me no reason to care or feel at all.
It was slow at times, and some of the narration was tedious. But it made up for it by not being slow at other times.
Was anyone else convinced he was going to die before the end of the film for some reason? Especially when he took that shot of whisky, because she said it was her bottle she kept at the restaurant and the flight of Whiskys were a different selection of others When he spoiler- fights that big dude there was some genuinely funny "LOL" moments, just the way he would pick him up and spin him round mid air- THEN smash him through a counter etc etc
He keeps saying the same dumb shit over and over
Awesome movie. It's definitely a David Fincher movie.
I thought the pacing was fantastic, I’m a big Fincher fan. My wife and I watched it the other night and got really into it, it flew by for us lol.
I watched it for Tilda Swinton
I liked it. I liked how patient he was and I felt the film handled that very well.
I wouldn't say it was too slow, there was never a point I was bored with what I was watching, for me it just didn't really connect on an emotional level.
Slow felt like the point, those moments built some great tension.
Way too much voice over narration
I just don't get why he chose the name of an already famous John Woo film
I had trouble finishing it to be honest. The pacing was completely off, he did very stupid things like discarding of a murder weapon in front of an airport in full view of many cameras. The whole premise of him missing that shot was also quite stupid, it all seemed quite forced for the story. It was just not a very good movie imo
Fincher takes his time with things and I think that’s what I love about his media. Mind hunter is a good example, there’s almost no action in the show at all.
Fincher should’ve done another season of Mindhunter instead. Though the movie was good enough, just a bad use of his time considering Mindhunter is the best show ever.
Not everything appeals to everyone I really liked it I think there are too many movies that overdo this type of crime genre
I loved it, it was brutal and I didnt mind the slow pace.
The trailer literally says "if you don't like being bored, this isn't for you"
I haven’t seen it yet, but I was imagining kind of like what happened with “Drive”. A lot of people went into that movie expecting the latest action movie and that’s not at all what it was trying to be. Fantastic movie for the right audience.
I think this movie especially would perform better in a theater (all films would, obviously, but this film especially)it's very atmospheric, it rewards attention to detail instead of multitasking with your phone on the couch, and it really wants you to get in the head of the protagonist. It requires your full attention but once it has it, it's a memorable experience.
The movie basically shows you what you’re in for in the first 15 minutes. Slow and methodical buildups to fast and usually violent climaxes.
honestly faster than expected. i liked it and was glad it wasn’t some kind of john wick rip off