The Killer is an ice cold treat

Any new film from David Fincher is an event; the director has redefined the cinematic landscape more than any living filmmaker.

With The Killer, Fincher has proven once again why he is one of the greatest directors working today.

In Michael Fassbender, Fincher has found an analogue for his exacting, precise and almost sniper-like focus persona, and when viewed through those lens, The Killer is a jet-black treat.

The Kerryman stars in the titular role, a mysterious assassin we know very little about, and we are guided through how he prepares to pull off a hit.

The Killer sees Fincher reunited with screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, who helped bring Se7en to the world back in the 1990s, and the pair work beautifully in sync.

Fassbender’s musings and monologues about sticking to the plan, the mind being a temple, the world is your weapon and all these little maxims are delivered with a pitch-black and almost detached sense of irony.

The opening of the film sees Fassbender talk us through how he plans to pull off a hit, and we are given an intricate and detailed walkthrough of how he gets in the zone, such as his penchant for listening to The Smiths, relaxing his heart rate, and cutting all distractions out.

When the hit goes wrong, Fassbender’s character suddenly finds his entire worldview and structure thrown into chaos, and the film steps up a level.

What follows is nearly a video game-like structure where our main character jets around the world and offs targets.

Michael Fassbender is perfectly cast in the lead role, with his piercing eyes and bucket hat helping create the idea that this is not a man to be trifled with.

The dark comedy that runs through this film can be traced to the film being based on a French comic book, and the sardonic French humour from the source material matches fantastically well with Fincher’s worldview.

Of course, Fincher also happens to be one of the greatest filmmakers in terms of knowing where to place a camera and how a scene should flow, and one standout sequence sees Fassbender go toe-to-toe with a literal man mountain.

Fincher understands better than anyone that the camera should be a participant in the action and not a mere bystander, and it puts the viewer in the thick of it.

Every single shot hit and punch lands with the precision of a prized boxer, and in the moments when we get a little less conversation and a little more action, the film elevates a tier.

The Killer can be read as the cousin to the John Wick films; we are introduced to a world of intrigue and suspense while we watch a highly skilled assassin go to work while he speaks in riddles.

Where The Killer differentiates is in style, with The Smiths soundtracking a decent chunk of the film, our hero flies economy class, and detests the fact that people play Wordle as a means to escape the world we live in.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who are just as essential to the filmography of David Fincher as Robert DeNiro is to Martin Scorsese, also produce another masterclass with a tense and broody score that is sure to be the soundtrack of study and focus playlists for years to come.

If you approach The Killer with the right mindset, it will suck you in like nothing else, and to that end, it is a shame this film is being rather unceremonially released to Netflix with little fanfare.

The Killer is shot, scored, and edited in such a way that it needs to be seen on a big cinema screen, and if you get the chance, seek it out in your local cinema if it happens to be playing it.

Fincher films have an uncanny ability to place you in the shoes of the character, and that is rather hard to pull off if you are watching the film on a laptop or on your phone at home.

The film may end up as an Oscar contender, or it might flame out, but one might suspect the cast and crew of the film would rather keep it as a cult treat for the cynics of the world.

The Killer doesn’t need accolades or a good box office performance to justify itself, and couldn’t care less what box you place it in.

That, perhaps, is the greatest triumph of all.