Starring: Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, and Michael Smiley
Director: Ben Wheatley
Rated: R
A year after a botched job in Kiev a hit man takes a new assignment for a quick pay day to get his family back above water. Soon he realizes he is in for far more than he signed up for.
Kill List is the sophomore film from writer/director Ben Wheatley. Although Wheatley delivers a film with a trim running time of 95 minutes, Kill List is far from a cohesive and straightforward film. Opening up we meet Jay (Neil Maskell) and Shel ( MyAnna Buring) two former veterans who are now married with a young son, Jay had a job in Kiev that went really bad, (thought No details are ever given as to what actually took place) Now unemployed, Jay’s hot tub isn’t working and his financial problems are the result of his phantom “Bad Back” which a working Hot tub would hopefully help, soon the tension between Jay and Shel reaches explosive heights during a dinner party. Jay soon teams up with an old military buddy Gal (Michael Smiley) to complete a series of hits, (At this point the film starts to become enjoyable and hits its stride) with each successive hit completed, Jay starts to lose it a little more and raises the violence factor. The chemistry between Jay and Gal is solid and provides some amusing dialogue. When the hits are completed the film takes a huge swerve into what most are referring to as Wicker Man territory
The third act is where people are either going to love or hate the film, the tone shifts and while Wheatley tries to craft a film that will stir controversy and dialogue amongst viewers. In hindsight, he created a lot of red herrings strictly to create dialogue without any real purpose or explanation. He was so concerned with trying to craft a movie that will get people talking, that he failed to concern himself with what they would be talking about. I don’t need every loose end tide up but to leave every possible motive up to the viewers imagination is sloppy at best.
Anyone, that hasn’t seen the highly entertaining and yet completely and utterly disturbing “A Serbian Film”
(easily the most messed up movie ever made) might find the ending a bit on the shocking side. For those that have, you will think Wheatley gave it a nice try, but still has a thing or two to learn about what shocking truly is.
Grade-81
Update: I think I had unrealistic expectations on the “shocking ending” due to word of mouth so I decided to give it another go. After a second viewing and expectations in check, I quite enjoyed it. The scene where Jay goes to work on the librarian with the business end of a hammer was awesome.
Updated Grade – 86
