David Fincher is in my all time top directors ranking – I mean when a man loves Benjamin Button and Mank as I so do, one can draw a handful of conclusions; are they blinded by love of other films or do they genuinely have an immense admiration and like for anything this director touches. Fincher is such a case where his technical craft and proficiency is of such a high standard and all the other aspects that go into making his films as stellar as they are lead me to always like his films and in most cases, indeed, love them. Many have discussed his most recent film The Killer with tones I feel of dismissal almost, as if just because this is a slick and at times minimalist series of sequences in a tight two hour package, without much of the grand narrative elements that his previous films have featured, makes it in anyway a slighter film in the oeuvre. For myself I feel the contrary with so many elements in its design and overall feeling making it some ways the ultimate Fincher film.
In respect to his nihilism this may very well be Fincher’s darkest film and simultaneously his funniest, whereas there are infinitely darker things we have seen in his previous films they have always been coded in a murder mystery fashion which often (although sometimes with another shoe waiting) offers some form of resolution. Here there is painfully so very little resolution and the whole thing builds to what I’m sure many see as an anti-climax rather than the natural conclusion of this worker and his job. The film is Fincher’s first true foray for me into pure black comedy and yet I don’t see anybody beyond its fans noting it as such, the IMDB (no great authority I know) describes it as Psychological Thriller, Suspense Mystery, Action, Adventure, Crime Drama. Although one can attempt to gleam psychological depth from our lead nameless killer, it almost feels like a fools errand, we get to know him in-fact through his humour, through his dryness, through his knowingness and at times his lack there of, so it has come as much a surprise for me that peoples mileages are varying on just how knowing any of this film actually is. Fincher works here with Andrew Kevin Walker once more, this time in a more official capacity that he has in some time and together they have moulded an arc of a story that begins with an extended prologue that is described best as the most elaborate rug-pull opening gag a major motion picture has ever opened with. Its humour is intrinsic and Fincher has the patience to quite literally spend twenty minutes of build up to a hilalrious reveal, only to then immediately ground the tension of the film once more with a solemn escape and a dread-filled following ten minutes before the revenge story proper kicks off. After this point I’m sure many could refer to this film as a sort of choose your favourite sequence and watch it later on YouTube instead of the whole film as a feature, but for me there is something to this impressive arc that begins and ends with the most skilfully deployed anti-climaxes.
The film boasts a series of wonderful ensemble turns, but is bolstered by Michael Fassbender after his racing sabbatical, back into the world of film acting that he of course is so brilliant in, when utilised to his strengths. Now Next Goal Wins was an overall very annoying film that did not land for me at all, but I did think that Fassbender was indeed a stand out with his comedic chops and genuine dramatic moments – here however Fincher uses him as the ultimate cipher, but on the other hand does not. Time after time our killer is the butt of cosmic jokes and we return often to the possibility that perhaps this perfect killing machine is hardly such a thing at all. Fassbender with his perfect dripping dry tone delivers the narration with skill and immensely funny delivery and allows the dark humour of this film that again for me is its strongest suit to really, truly land. Beyond him like I say are a series of great ensemble turns, in many ways each more entertaining than the last and deployed in sequences perfect for their talents, whether it be Tilda Swinton’s match for match of Fassbender’s wicked dryness with a touch of class, or Charles Parnell’s businessman manoeuvring to the very end, Arliss Howard as the ultimate in over their head almost Coen brothers-esque upper class figure. Or beyond the bigger names there is even Kerry O’Malley who with incredible capability for truthful feeling intense emotionality makes us understand the more standard pain that goes about these sorts of activities, or indeed Sala Baker who as The Brute offers with Fassbender by far the most brutal, effective and again darkly funny action scene of the year. Many have pointed toward this film being some sort of commentary from Fincher himself on the process of being a perfectionist and to be honest I find that sort of critical understanding of the film a little trite and simple, when the film we received itself has so much more on its mind than a mirroring project for a man I am certain has no such interest in such a thing at all. Not to speak for Mr Fincher with any authority at all of course.
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After three watches now, I think this is firmly 9/10, if not 10/10, in the same way that I have given films like Jackass the same rating before. Let me explain; yes, this is on no means the same scale as his grand epic masterpieces such as Zodiac or even my beloved Dragon Tattoo, however for what this film sets out to achieve it is in so many ways pitch perfect. Fassbender is the ultimate avatar for Fincher to fully construct some of his finest sequences of his career, not just once, but over and over and over again, back to back to back. The Kevin-Walker script overflows with the dark sardonic wit that punctuated much of Fincher’s earlier work and here is instead allowed to be the driving force. Fincher with his creative team has made the slickest film of the year and although it has a veneer of dread and misery, they have also made one of the absolute funniest if one can get on its level.
P.S. People keep talking about how the many different films that this film reminds them of and yet with all the fake names and aliases and the comedy that ran through the film for me, not to mention a sequence being chased by a dog; this for me is David Fincher’s take on Fletch.
- - Thomas Carruthers
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