Stylish but also curiously inert, the director's return to slick modern-day satire is terse to a fault.
, which premiered here at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday, is a modern sort of death machine. He uses Amazon, has a complicated relationship with Airbnb; he’s seen the show. He even takes advantage of contemporary industry collapse: when we first see him on a job, he’s staked out in an abandoned WeWork space. It’s all a joke, at least in the arch, dismayingly airless confines of Fincher’s film., another grim movie that took aim at the banal trappings of quotidian American life.
Or, well, sort of on the run. No one seems to be chasing him after the film’s opening salvo. Maybe that was an effort to keep the narrative lean, but it direly lowers the stakes. Because the killer failed, something like an insurance policy kicks in and an attempt is made on his life. But they get to his girlfriend instead, at the luxe home the killer keeps in the Dominican Republic.
Fincher’s film is episodic, broken up into chapters, each of them comprising one leg of the killer’s retribution tour. Fincher’s keen command of cinema physics—how things move toward the camera, or glide across the frame—is evident throughout. Still, the film is frustratingly understated, holding back just when we think that the movie is going to burst into action. One might call this admirable restraint, a seasoned master opting for finesse over flair.
Perhaps the movie’s anticlimax is deliberate, Fincher attempting to subvert our hit-man movie expectations, making us question our blood lust. Whatever its justifications, the film is terse to a fault, in a way that feels almost like an aggression toward the audience. Fincher knows that we know what he can do when he really gets going, but he denies us that pleasure—the cerebral kind and the more base.is an experiment in economy whose results are lesser than the effort put in.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The Killer: Release Date, Trailer & Everything We Know About The David Fincher Netflix MovieThe Se7en writer penned The Killer screenplay.
Read more »
David Fincher Talks Hollywood Strikes in Venice: “I Can Understand Both Sides”The dual strikes had the director touting his latest movie, Netflix’s ‘The Killer,' in Venice, but without his lead star Michael Fassbender at his side.
Read more »
David Fincher on Why 'The Killer' Assassin Shoots People to The SmithsAcclaimed filmmaker spoke about his new Michael Fassbender-starring picture The Killer at the Venice Film Festival
Read more »
‘The Killer’ Review: David Fincher’s Lean, Mean Hitman Drama Hits The TargetIn principle, using the rainy-day, kitchen-sink post-rock of Manchester band The Smiths so prominently in a film like The Killer seems incredibly perverse, given that it’s an exotic, globe-tr…
Read more »
David Fincher’s Noir Thriller ‘The Killer’ Gets Rousing Standing Ovation in VeniceFincher basked in seven minutes of applause and bravos inside Venice's Sala Grande cinema Sunday night as the audience hailed his dark, gritty thriller starring Michael Fassbender.
Read more »