Netflix is not having the best week of the year in terms of content this week, but it can surprise us again with a film by none other than David Fincher. Fincher is someone who has a large following, partly due to his nose for tension, suspense and intrigue. He is an uncrowned thriller king and with The Killer he moves more towards the crime edge of the genre. Fincher therefore moves quite far away from his previous successes Se7en and Gone Girl, but partly due to the choice of leading actor Michael Fassbender, he manages to come up with a solid film. And that also immediately on Netflix.
The Killer on Netflix
It’s not the best work Fincher ever offered us, but one wonders if that’s even possible after a production like Se7en. Moreover, The Killer is still a wonderful film to enjoy on this extremely rainy autumn day. Or another day: Michael Fassbender plays like always, as always, and it is very nice to watch it. He’s a killer who’s always had it smooth sailing, until now.
You can see it coming from a mile away that it all goes completely wrong and that may not be something we are used to from Fincher, but the way it all unfolds is very nicely put together. This hitman makes one mistake and immediately gets his ‘colleagues’ on his roof. Reason for him to pay his fellow competitors a visit himself. You probably already feel it: that alone is an exciting fact. After all, you never know what will happen when several people who are capable of certain intense things are together in one room.
Fincher and Fassbender
What we really like about the film is its setting: Fassbender does not play a killer in the year 2023, but in the 1970s. And also in France. A nice, sometimes somewhat alien-feeling setting, because it was so long ago. But also: because our hitman is such a special type: a perfectionist, everything has to be arranged down to the last detail, and he is really that cold-blooded killer who keeps everything very businesslike. But you probably already sense that someone who wants to keep everything very clear and well-defined will be extra shocked if this is not possible due to unforeseen circumstances.
In The Killer you are taken into the moment when his life took a chaotic turn and you get to see how he dealt with it. And Fassbender shows that very well: and that deserves some extra credit, because this leading role was actually intended for Brad Pitt. It’s extra clever that he has adapted the role so much and practically becomes The Killer. Very convincing and definitely worth watching.
