Kevin Fullam writesThe Fourth Wall: “The Killer”

Welcome to The Fourth Wall, CHIRP's e-conversation on cinema. This week's subject is the 2023 film The Killer.

This edition is written by CHIRP Radio volunteers Kevin Fullam and Clarence Ewing.

Kevin:

"Stick to your plan. Anticipate, don't improvise." -- the titular protagonist of The Killer

Are we sure that The Killer doesn't moonlight as a day trader? As someone who watches the markets, I find myself repeating similar mantras each morning. But never fear, Ye Reader -- the soul-crushing monotony that describes the life of an assassin here is pretty much a non-starter for yours truly. Waiting. Waiting. Always waiting.

David Fincher's new film, The Killer, seems like a bit of a stylistic salute to his 1999 magnum opus Fight Club. Both are adaptations of novels and feature plenty of internal monologues. And both feature leads who possess a certain implacability born of shattered psyches. In the latter, The Narrator (Edward Norton) develops his Thousand-Yard Stare along his descent, whereas the eponymous "hero" (Michael Fassbender) of The Killer displays a stony demeanor from the opening bell.

If The Killer is on your trail, somebody very, very rich has decided that you should no longer be breathing. As Jaqen H'ghar from Game of Thrones once put it: "A minute, an hour, a month. Death is certain. The time is not." Until the day comes when death isn't certain -- a bystander gets in the way of a bullet meant for a target. The Killer's mission is aborted. And his employers, per standard operating procedure, immediately decide to cover their tracks by eliminating all loose ends.

Thus kicks off the heart of the tale, as The Killer realizes that he'll never be safe until his tracks are indeed covered... but in the opposite direction. Predator vs. prey? No. Predator vs. other predators. It's his employers and their hired guns who have to disappear.

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