September 3, 2023 (Venice)
October 27, 2023 (United States)
November 10, 2023 (Netflix)
The Killer is a 2023 American action thriller film directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker. It is based on the French graphic novel series The Killer written by Alexis "Matz" Nolent and illustrated by Luc Jacamon. The film stars Michael Fassbender in the main role alongside Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Kerry O'Malley, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, and Tilda Swinton in supporting roles. In the film, Fassbender plays an assassin who embarks on an international vendetta after a hit goes wrong.
Development on the graphic novel adaptation began in November 2007, when Fincher was reported to direct the film with Alessandro Camon writing the script, and Paramount Pictures and Plan B Entertainment, respectively, were hired to distribute and produce the film. By February 2021, Fincher moved the project over to Netflix with Walker replacing Camon as writer and Fassbender circling the lead role. Swinton joined the cast that October, with filming beginning the following month, and wrapped March 2022. Filming locations included Paris, Dominican Republic, and several places in the United States.
The Killer premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2023. The film received a limited theatrical release on October 27 before streaming on Netflix on November 10. The film received positive reviews from critics.
Storyline
A professional hitman known only as the Killer stakes out a Parisian hotel room. He prepares to use a sniper rifle to kill a target who will check into the hotel room at an unknown time. While waiting for the target, he eats, practices yoga, listens to music (exclusively the Smiths), and talks on the phone with his handler, Eddie Hodges, who is an attorney and his former university law professor. The target arrives with a dominatrix and the Killer shoots but misses, accidentally shooting the dominatrix. The Killer flees, evading the police and disposing of his equipment. He then flies to the United States.
The Killer returns to his hideout in the Dominican Republic to find it has been broken into and his girlfriend Magdala attacked. She is in the ICU of a hospital, with her brother Marcus watching over her. Marcus says that Magdala was interrogated and tortured by two assassins but managed to injure one of them and escape. The Killer tracks down Leo, the taxi driver who drove the assassins to the Killer's home. Leo identifies one of the assassins, a strong man with a limp leg, nicknamed "The Brute", and a woman who resembles a Q-Tip, known as "The Expert". The Killer shoots Leo dead and seeks to track down the assassins.
The Killer travels to Hodges' office in New Orleans and enters the building disguised as a maintenance person. After forcing Dolores, Hodges' secretary, to restrain her boss and herself, the Killer destroys their electronics. As Hodges attempts to get the Killer to leave, the Killer shoots him in the chest with a nail gun to torture the names of the hitmen out of him. However, Hodges doesn't reveal the information and dies more quickly than the Killer anticipated. Dolores offers to show the Killer the assassins' identities in her paper files in her home, asking in return that the Killer give her a non-suspicious death so her children can claim a life insurance payout. After receiving the names at her home, the Killer breaks his rule not to show empathy; he snaps her neck and shoves her down a flight of stairs, making her death look like an accident, as she had requested. He then disposes of Hodges' body.
The Killer drives to St. Petersburg, Florida, where he confronts the Brute, whom he identifies by his limp. At night, he breaks into The Brute's home to kill him, but he is blindsided and tackled. A fight ensues, during which the Brute realizes who the Killer is before the Killer fatally shoots him and sets his house on fire with a Molotov cocktail.
The Killer then travels to Beacon, New York, and confronts the Expert at a gourmet restaurant. Appearing to accept her fate, the Expert offers to share with him a "last supper" of whiskey, during which she questions the Killer's motivations. They leave the restaurant and go to a park. After The Expert appears to slip down a small flight of ice-covered stairs, she asks the Killer to help her up, but the Killer shoots her dead, revealing that she was concealing a knife.
The Killer travels to Chicago, to kill billionaire venture capitalist Henderson "Clay" Claybourne, the client from the botched assassination. The Killer reflects during his flight that police take more interest in the deaths of rich people. He uses tools bought on Amazon to enter Claybourne's penthouse. Confronting him, the Killer remains mostly silent. Claybourne says that he has no personal problem with the Killer and, as a first-time client of a hitman, agreed to pay Hodges for "the trail to be scrubbed", not knowing what that meant. The Killer spares Claybourne, but he promises him a slow death if Claybourne ever targets him again. The Killer returns to the Dominican Republic and sits next to a recovering Magdala.
Movie Trailer
- The Killer (2023) (Trailers)