Grade: (8.9/10)
A hitman must deal with the fallout of a botched job that lands his lover in the hospital. Along the way, he’s forced to reexamine the rules he lives by.
Plot (44/50)
The film follows The Killer, an unnamed assassin, on his path of revenge. After he fails to eliminate his target in Paris, he returns to his home in the Dominican Republic, only to find that his lover has been badly assaulted as a consequence of his failure. In response, he goes after everyone that was involved in the initial job. He acquires all his targets in a nationwide operation, but along the way, he breaks all his rules of discipline. By the end of the film, he seems like a changed man.
Hit Gone Wrong
The film opens with The Killer staking out a building in Paris from an abandoned WeWork property. He’s methodical and measured such that he does not draw unwanted attention or leave traces of his presence. He’s been at this for five days, and he’s starting to grow weary due to a lack of information. His handler assures him that the target will be there, they just don’t know when. The Killer is starting to lose his patience, but he agrees to stay another 24 hours. Sure enough, that night, the target does show up. The problem is that a mistress shows up with him.
The Killer maintains his focus and waits for an opening. When he finally gets his opening, he takes the shot. Unfortunately, the mistress got in the way at the last second, so she took the hit instead. The target’s security is able to cut off The Killer’s line of sight before he’s able to take another shot. This forces him to abandon the assignment and flee the country. His next destination is the Dominican Republic where he’s taken up residence.
The return goes smoothly, but once he arrives to his villa, he immediately notices signs of a break-in. His suspicions are confirmed once he enters the villa to find clear evidence of a struggle but no people. His next stop is the hospital. There, he finds his lover in bad, but stable, condition. Her brother informs him that two people carried out the assault. He describes them as a man and a woman. She managed to stab the man with a knife before escaping into the jungle. She then watched them drive away in a taxi. The Killer assures Magdala, his lover, and her brother that he will find and eliminate those responsible.
Revenge
The Killer’s first order of business is identifying those involved. The clue from Magdala’s brother about the green taxi proves useful. The Killer swiftly identifies the cab company which then allows him to identify the driver. The next day, he tracks the driver down and gets in for a ride during which The Killer holds the driver at gunpoint. The driver mentions that the man’s leg was bleeding. This proves to be a useful clue later on. Once the driver gives up all the information he has about the the two perpetrators, The Killer coldly ends his life.
Next up on the list is Hodges, The Lawyer, who is The Killer’s handler. The Killer arrives at his office disguised as a garbage recycle man. He bypasses Hodges’ security and confronts him about the attack on Magdala. Hodges confirms that he put out the hit but that he wasn’t expecting The Killer to go home nor was it personal. They’re all professionals, and this is part of the business. The Killer isn’t having it. He tries to torture the names of those involved out of Hodges, but he ends up accidentally killing him instead. Luckily for him, Dolores, Hodges’ secretary has the information he’s looking for. Once he has what he needs, he kills her too.
Next in line is The Brute, the man responsible for the assault on Magdala. The Killer identifies him by his leg injury and waits for nighttime to strike. In order to get to The Brute, he puts his pit bull to sleep using sleep medication. Unfortunately, The Killer is detected by The Brute anyways. The brawl that ensues ends with the death of The Brute, but The Killer underestimated the dosage for the sleep medication, so he’s barely able to escape the pit bull.
Deteriorating Discipline
The fight with The Brute left The Killer battered and bruised; nonetheless, he continues on his path of revenge. His next target is The Expert, the woman responsible for the cleanup. She pleads her case, claiming that what happened to Magdala was The Brute’s doing and that she was just doing her job. The Killer sits with her through her “last supper” as she contends with her impending death. The Killer isn’t his usual disciplined self, but he stays on guard. This proves decisive as he executes The Expert right as she was planning on fighting back. Only one target remains: The Client.
As it turns out, The Client is a billionaire named Claybourne who’s based in Chicago. The Killer scouts Claybourne and his surroundings in search of an opening, as he always does. He’s easily able to get past Claybourne’s security measures. Once there, he confronts Claybourne about the hit. Claybourne explains that this was his first time ordering an assassination and that he was otherwise oblivious to the details. Once it becomes clear to The Killer that Claybourne is no threat, he leaves him with a stern warning instead of murdering him like he did the rest.
With the threat eliminated, The Killer returns to the Dominican Republic to be with Magdala, who’s checked out of the hospital and is in much better condition than she was after the assault.
Overall Thoughts
I’m a big fan of the art of subtraction, and this was a great entry into that category. Less dialogue meant that the little dialogue that was there stood out. Omitting character names put a greater focus on their actions. You’re not going to find much easier watches than this, which is a great change of pace from some of the denser films of late. It’s a simple revenge story that’s nuanced by The Killer’s narration and his spiral down from his rules of discipline. The suspense and drama of key moments enhanced the film and kept it intriguing. As an added bonus, the ending even leaves a lasting impression.
Character Development (13/15)
“Stick to your plan. Anticipate, don’t improvise. Trust no one. Never yield an advantage. Fight only the battle you’re paid to fight. Forbid empathy. Empathy is weakness. Weakness is vulnerability. Each and every step of the way ask yourself: what’s in it for me?”
These are the rules The Killer lives by, or so he claims. In truth, we watch him break every one of his rules in his pursuit of revenge. And because he narrates his thoughts, we know that he doesn’t make this recognition. He continues narrating the same rules even as he spirals down. He has enough discipline to complete his objective, but he comes out of the experience with an entirely different mindset that he had going into it.
Discipline
At the beginning of the film, The Killer describes himself as one of the few. His discipline sets him apart from the general population and gives him an edge. That level of discipline is necessary in his line of work. Furthermore, he has no loyalty to anything or anyone. He doesn’t care about who the client is or what the target’s done, he simply goes about his business. That business is obviously assassinating people, but that makes no difference to The Killer. He views his role as “purely logistical.” He further justifies his line of work by pointing out that his numbered assassinations have no impact on the human population.
A big part of why The Killer is such an interesting character is because of how nuanced his psyche is. He has incredible self-awareness, yet he lives in denial for the majority of the film. He makes a point to differentiate himself as skeptical, not cynical, but it doesn’t matter either way. To call his mindset nihilistic would be an understatement. What he’s saying, in so many words, is that he just doesn’t care. Actually, deep into the opening narration, he explicitly says as much. There’s that self-awareness again.
What’s clear from the opening sequence is that this man is bored out of his mind. He’s been watching the city of Paris wake up at an agonizingly slow pace for the past five days, and he can’t take it much longer. He tries to distract himself with music (The Smiths, ironically) as a way to keep “the inner voice from wandering,” but it’s clearly wandering. He recognizes that patience is critical in these moments of emptiness, but he’s growing increasingly impatient. It’s like he has all the pieces to the puzzle, but for whatever reason, he can’t put it together.
Unchartered Territory
The opening sequence established The Killer as an extremely skilled assassin, but when he misses, that’s put into question. As the film progresses, we learn that he is, in fact, skilled. He’s just nowhere near the level of perfection he claims. When his employers targeted his lover, they made things personal, yet The Killer continues telling himself that his desire for revenge isn’t. You could make an argument that he has to eliminate everyone involved because they know where he lives, but why not move? Anonymity is paramount to the safety of any assassin and his loved ones, maintaining a permanent residence is flat-out foolish.
Anyways, his revenge tour starts out well enough. He gets the information he needs from the taxi driver and coldheartedly murders him, but he momentarily flashes signs of empathy. When he gets to Hodges, there’s no such empathy, but he does make a gross miscalculation the prematurely ends Hodges’ life before he can get the information he needs. This forces him to break two of his rules. He can’t stick to his plan because it failed, so he’s forced to improvise. Luckily for him, Dolores has the information he needs. Once he has what he needs, he breaks another one of his rules. He shows her empathy by making her death seem natural as she requested.
Spiraling Down
Where he seriously starts to spiral down is when he goes after The Brute. Once again, his terrible plan fails him, and now that he’s dealing with a more capable opponent, his poor planning puts him in serious danger. This forces him to break two rules he already broke with Hodges, but this time he adds another. He held two advantages against The Brute: the element of surprise and superior long distance shooting. He yields both advantages when he sneaks into The Brute’s home only to be discovered and forced into a physical brawl wherein he’s at a disadvantage.
Eventually, he overcomes The Brute, but he nearly gets caught by his pit bull because he hadn’t given him the proper dosage of sleeping medication. The whole sequence screams AMATUER. His gross miscalculations leaves him battered and bruised, but he soldiers on nonetheless. His next target is The Expert.
Once again, he yields the element of surprise and risks unwanted attention by confronting The Expert at a restaurant. As she points out, he could’ve easily chosen a more isolated setting, and she has a theory as to why he didn’t. She thinks he’s looking for a sort of validation that he’s still got it. He wants to know if he could still kill a target without hesitation. And for a moment, it seems as if he no longer has the confidence necessary. You could see empathy in his eyes, almost as if he doesn’t want to kill her. But when it matters, he pulls the trigger. “Trust no one” serves him well because she was planning on fighting back.
A Changed Man?
This brings us to the final target: The Client. The Killer patiently scouts Claybourne. He quickly formulates a plan and executes it to perfection, but after a brief session of questioning, he lets Claybourne off with a warning. His decision to let Claybourne live is particularly interesting because it sees him follow just about all of his rules. You can make an argument that he’s trusting Claybourne, but I don’t think that’s the case.
The Killer’s objective was to neutralize all threats to himself, and more importantly, his lover. The targets he eliminated all knew who he was and where to find him. When it becomes clear that Claybourne does not have access to that information, he’s not as big of a threat. To neutralize what little threat remains, The Killer warns Claybourne of an undetectable assassination that he wouldn’t see coming. The slim possibility of Claybourne coming after him is a risk worth taking to avoid the threat of an investigation seeing as how Claybourne is a high profile individual. Ironically, this is his most logical decision.
When The Killer returns to Magdala in their home in the Dominican Republic, he’s not the same man that missed his shot in Paris. Gone are the nihilistic tangents and the suffocating sense of discipline. Instead, The Killer now believes in fate and the need to feel secure. He recognizes that he’s actually not “one of the few.” He has enough money to retire with the woman he loves, and it seems like that’s what he’ll do. The twitch of the eye to close out the film indicates that he’s not fully at peace with this new lifestyle, but that’s to be expected. What matters is that he finally put the puzzle together.
Theme/Messages (5/5)
- “Skepticism is often mistaken for cynicism.”
- “From the beginning of history, the few have always exploited the many. This is the cornerstone of civilization.”
- “It’s the idle hours that most often lead a man to ruin.”
- “One man’s cruelty is another man’s pragmatism.”
- “The need to feel secure… it’s a slippery slope.”
- Very few people live their lives at the highest level of discipline whereby they can ignore their emotions and remain clam no matter the circumstance. The reason? It’s absolutely exhausting.
- Self-awareness is of little use if you can’t use it to validate your actions.
Acting (13/15)
Michael Fassbender (The Killer) needed to be excellent for this film to work, and he absolutely was! His facial expressions and tone of voice were flawless from start to finish. He managed to convey so much emotion with so little words. Tilda Swinton (The Expert) stood out in her limited role, as did Kerry O’Malley (Dolores). Both put in animated performances that brilliantly juxtaposed Fassbender’s subdued performance.
Cinematography (14/15)
There were so many great shots in this film. I’m not going to list them, but the film is worth watching if not only for the crisp cinematography.