Film Review: Kill List (US Screening)
by Marc Patterson
At this juncture, providing a review for Kill List on these pages is a little pointless. Both Ben and Nia have covered it separately, and done so quite well. In fact, I don’t think I could possibly utter a single word about director Ben Wheatley’s latest effort that would differ from their basic opinions, though there is a reason for this article and I do find one particular point of commonality to their reviews striking in that I fundamentally disagree. If you haven’t read their reviews then you should at least take a moment and read Ben’s review. Nia dips into some spoilers in her review, though with much warning given. As a disclaimer, I’m going to tread through some of that same spoiler-filled terrain here, though without divulging any more than absolutely necessary.
One thing should be noted before I continue. Even though I bear the title of “Deaditor-in-Chief”, it does not mean I read every last line published on this site. In fact, I heavily rely on a couple of people to ensure that what we’re printing is up to snuff. This way I can save myself from reading a review prior to seeing a film, if that is my choosing. With Kill List I didn’t want any pre-formulated opinions. There’s been a lot of hype around the film and I wanted to go into it whole and come out having formed my own opinions in the most pure way possible. Apologies to Ben and Nia, but up until a few moments ago I hadn’t read your reviews. It’s with this in mind I find it interesting that it’s on this one significant point that all of our opinions collide.
For the sake of formality, Kill List is a story about a hit man down on his luck who takes a job hoping it will get him and his family out of a slump. The job goes from bad to worse and leads to an explosive and shocking twist ending, well, shocking unless we’ve all seen a certain unnamed “other film”.
It is this “other film” which draws such a conclusive and striking comparison, one that can hardly be missed, one that so heavily plagued the opinions of Ben and Nia. I’m going to take an alternate route though. I think in the case of Ben Wheatley he got beaten by a rather large and noisy punch, and undeservedly so. I’ll quit beating around the bush and pull the mask off the beast and start naming names, because it’s the only way we can deal with this ridiculously over-sized elephant in the room.
The film that begs such heavy comparison is… get ready for the spoiler… A Serbian Film. Now you all know I’ve been fairly outspoken about how much I dislike A Serbian Film. Even though I made a point to avoid watching it initially, I did eventually succumb and frankly I despise A Serbian Film on a lot of levels, again – all of which have been outlined on these pages before. (read my tirade against it here, and my Blu-ray review here. Here’s where my opinion starts to diverge from that of Ben and Nia. Ben Wheatley, undoubtedly with no knowledge there was this other film out there in the world, successfully told the same story, and exactly so, in the way it deserved to be told. I’m not going to say he turned shit into gold, because that would insinuate he had that heaping pile of shit called A Serbian Film to work with and I’m quite positive that when he started, he was only working off the thoughts inside his head, but by comparison, Kill List shines like a golden nugget.
The fact is, yes, Kill List mimics the story arc of A Serbian Film from the opening to closing frame, but it deserves much greater attention for the way Wheatley approaches the material. First, the characters in Wheatley’s film have real depth and complexity. Jay (Neil Maskell) is a ticking time bomb. He’s not some pathetic unemployed alcoholic sitting around his house watching snuff videos from prior kills, lamenting his shitty existence. Sure, there are some brief moments of self-loathing, but for the most part he’s a caged animal who needs to get released so he can kill something before he completely snaps. Further, his wife (MyAnna Buring) understands this, and to the degree that she turns into a target for Jay’s frustrations, is willing to support him in this tough time. No question, there’s a distinct strain on this marital relationship. And then there’s the young boy. Jay loves his son completely, and in fact he loves his wife quite deeply as well, but I feel like he could break his wife’s neck at any moment. His friend and working partner Gal (Michael Smiley) sees and understands his pain and when they get the opportunity to work again, it’s something born of a deeper friendship than “that other film” ever had the ability to show. Further, the accomplished level of acting ability on display here surpasses A Serbian Film by miles. I can believe in these characters and empathize with them in even the most extreme moments of the film.
Once back to work we see Jay as a firecracker and a hair trigger who goes off at the drop of a hat. This only serves to augment the intensity of the film, making this a real experience. You don’t ever know quite what he’s going to do. The mystery of their aristocratic employer looms over the film like a dark cloud ready to swallow Jay and Gal whole.
Now I know that neither Ben, nor Nia, were dismissive of the skill employed by Wheatley. Both acknowledged this to be a stunning film, and impeccably directed, even if those weren’t their exact words. And to that end I agree. While I’m not ready to jump on the bandwagon toting Wheatley as the best filmmaker to have come out of Britain in (name your number of years), I will say that this is quite an accomplished crime thriller, and one that I would be happy to have sitting upon my shelf, unlike that other film. Did it deliver to the level of hype that others have bestowed upon it? No, not for me. But that’s fairly insignificant. Kill List was still wholly enjoyable.
Further, and this is where it gets a little controversial for horror fans, I don’t think the comparison to A Serbian Film is completely justified. Yes, it’s obvious. It’s there, and I’m frankly shocked that it hasn’t been mentioned by nearly anyone else in larger circles of horror cinema buffs, but Kill List is very much its own film and because it doesn’t come with the same controversy-filled baggage of A Serbian Film, it has been enabled to garner a much larger audience. For hardcore horrorphiles, we might not be able to get past the similarities, but to the average film viewer looking for a taut and tension filled thriller Kill List is going to exude a striking bit of originality.
Here’s what our American readers need to know – Yes, I’m undoubtedly spending far too much time extolling this whole compare/contrast bit. But the fact that three of us, from this site, pulled out the same reaction, quite blind from each other, should say something. It’s not just a minor sidebar squabble. I think that for our readers this is going to be a point you’ll have to deal with. But, if you approach it free of expectations I’m confident you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Kill List is a smartly written film that deserves to be seen, and is even sure to garner a second viewing from this critic.
