Pops Saw a Movie: THE KiLLER

I don’t really have too much to say about David Fincher’s new film, THE KILLER… it’s… fine. Not particularly memorable or groundbreaking, but I was entertained for two hours. It’s kind of like SLACKER meets JOHN WICK (with a much smaller body count). Michael Fassbender intensely underplays the part, mostly just staring through every scene, so I can’t say whether or not he’s good in the role of a hit man who messes up and has to deal with the ramifications of his rare missed shot. Again, if this kind of thing is your bag, by all means, stream away. 

But (slight spoiler alert) there’s one recurring thing in the film (aside from a soundtrack composed almost entirely of Smiths songs) that drove me insane every time: 

The (unnamed) titular killer goes to incredible lengths to preserve his anonymity and stay off the radar, with one huge glaring exception… the pseudonyms he uses are all old TV sitcom character names… he has fake IDs and credit cards under the names Reuben Kincaid, Archibald Bunker, Lou Grant, Felix Unger, Oscar Madison, Sam Malone, Robert Hartley, and George Jefferson. Now, I get it that most younger people can’t pin those appellations, but someone whose entire life is built on being invisible would never take the risk of using a pop culture name that surely someone would recognize and remember. It’s just one of those bits that the writer (and I never read the graphic novel on which this movie is based, so I don’t know if it came from the book or the screenwriter) surely thought was really clever, but took me out of the movie every single time. Details matter. Verisimilitude matters. 

Originally posted on social media, Nov. 16, 2023