The Killer

I will start by just trying to inform you of the situation between me and Mr David Fincher. You see, we are friends. Close, close friends who have known each other for a long time and regularly praise each other's work. Or no, that was wrong. Completely wrong. Mr Fincher doesn't really know who I am and has no idea of the nonsense I spread in text form on a daily basis, but I know him well. Or yes... No. That was wrong too. I obviously don't know David as a person but I am what many would call a Fincher fanboy. I love The Game. I love Seven. I love Fight Club. I love Gone Girl. I love Mindhunter. I love The Social Network and so it's no more difficult than that if you don't - you can trim off one or two rating sticks here. Because Fincher is my household god, plain and simple.

Based on the French comic book Le Tueur (Jacamon / Matz), The Killer is about a nameless assassin portrayed by Michael Fassbender who, in the opening scene, is awaiting the hotel check-in of a "target" who, for reasons that are never revealed, is to be murdered. The job goes wrong, things get really messy and the killer is forced to flee in a wild panic. Then his employer tries to cover up any traces by hiring two other assassins who are ordered to send our nameless assassin to the realm of the dead. It's never particularly violent (minus a real romp inside a house in Florida) but it's always fascinatingly interesting and gorgeous.

Fassbender's stone-cold killer is as calculating as he is intelligent, and as he describes himself, he lives by a few simple rules and approaches to the very demanding job of travelling around the country killing other people. Stick to the plan. Never deviate. Never improvise. Don't trust anyone. Don't do anything that you don't get paid for. Feel no empathy. Fincher builds an incredibly stylish noir world drenched in moonlight and the flickering light of fluorescent fixtures inside the half-finished office where the killer is hiding.

The film as a whole is told solely from the killer's perspective and it is an insight into a life without relationships beyond his employer and the victims he kills that we are allowed to enter. A lot of it is about blending in with the crowd. Using crowds and visual anonymity as a disguise. A lot of it is about waiting. Scouting. Waiting. Watching. When things heat up, it's often so cold, realistically undramatic, which of course is the exact opposite of what this type of thriller usually looks like. There are no 800 metre long sniper kills here, no car chases or jumping between rooftops. Forget karate kicks or bazookas, too. Fassbender's killer favours the silenced Glock because of its reliability and relatively light weight. He's systematic, ultra-accurate, careful and experienced in a way that makes me believe in the character without doubt or hesitation. Fassbender is very good here.

The cinematography by Erik Messerschmidt (Mank, Mindhunter) is perhaps the best part of this film. Every single frame could be framed and the way he (plus Fincher) utilises the natural light from streetlights, flashlights and headlights from passing cars - is nothing short of superb. But how good is it... Really? The Killer is not Fincher's finest moment. Far from it. The ending feels truncated and I would have liked to see more here, a deeper insight. However, it's an ice cold, super cool, ultra stylish thriller that entertains and fascinates.