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This review was originally published in September out of the Venice Film Festival.
We are recirculating it now timed toThe Killers theatrical debut.
But mostly its about him explaining to us in voice-over, somewhat endlessly, his approach to life.
To the point of absurdity.
It could be a great comedy if Fincher and screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker would let it.
playfully promising exactly the kind of film werenotabout to get.
Its the funniest thing in the picture.)
But there, the focus on workaday process achieved a bleak sensuousness.
Here, with the protagonists endless blathering, things tip too often toward inadvertent silliness.
They should have brought back Leslie Nielsen from the dead for this one.
I suspect theres a bit of auto-critique here, however.
Its amazing how physically exhausting it can be to do nothing, he tells us.
If youre not able to endure boredom, this work is not for you.
Thats the kind of thing they say on film sets.
(Its the idle hours that most often lead a man to ruin.)
How telling then that the main character doesnt have a name, but everything else around him does.
(From the beginning of time, the few have exploited the many, the killer helpfully reminds us.
This is the cornerstone of civilization.)
But then he misses, kills the wrong person instead of his assigned target, and things go haywire.
(Well, this is new.
What would John Wilkes Booth do?)
So hes now part of a cleanup operation.
Florida: Maybe a 30-day waiting period for creatine is not a bad idea.
(Even I have to remind myself that the only life path is the one behind you.)
Am I supposed to know who you are?
one of them asks.
Look, we get it.
Boy, do we get it.
Stick to the plan.
Anticipate, dont improvise, our killer says to himself when getting ready for a hit.
He says early on that he uses music to keep his inner voice from wandering.
Its not really working, of course.
The film isnt unaware of what it is.
All of Finchers pictures are ultimately about questioning their heroes conceptions of the world, andThe Killeris no different.
Its ultimately a movie about its own pointlessness.
