Violent, stylish hitman story is shallow but never boring.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
a lot
People are shot and killed; lots of blood spray. A character shot in chest three times with a nail gun dies slowly, making choking, gurgling sounds. A woman's neck is snapped; her body tumbles down stairs. A character slips on ice and falls and gets shot in head; a knife is in her hand. Brutal fight between two people includes punching, pounding, slamming, destruction of furniture and property, hitting with a fireplace poker, stabbing in leg, lots of blood. Lots and lots of guns. House set on fire with Molotov cocktail. Beaten woman in hospital with swollen face and eyes, stitches in forehead. She's said to have internal bleeding. Ransacked house with blood smears all over walls. Spoken story about a bear repeatedly sodomizing a hunter.
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Couple briefly seen having sex from a distance through a window; a naked bottom is seen as a man lies between a woman's legs. A sex worker wears a leather outfit and pulls out a club of some kind, preparing to go to work on her client, but is interrupted. Main character undresses; chest and buttocks briefly seen.
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Character buys and eats food from McDonald's, talks about the benefits of getting "protein" easily and cheaply. Starbucks coffee, Ensure nutrition drink. Character picks up an Amazon package from an Amazon drop-off station. Character rents a WeWork space. Mention of Google. FedEx truck shown. Hertz car rental facility and logo shown. Several vehicle brands shown, including Ford Transit, Kia, etc. Postmates mentioned.
Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
a little
Secondary character orders and gulps down several shots of expensive Scotch. Background characters drink whiskey. Character feeds sleeping pills to a dog. Character uses bottle of alcohol as a Molotov cocktail, setting a house on fire. Bodybuilders mention creatine.
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Virtually all of the movie's focus is on the White male main character. Several minor characters are seen in just one or two scenes each and are almost all victims. The killer's handler, a lawyer, is Black (Charles Parnell), and a female administrator (Kerry O'Malley) works with him. The killer's secret hideout is in the Dominican Republic, and his girlfriend is played by Sophie Charlotte, who has German and Brazilian parents. Her brother is played by Colombian actor Emiliano Pernía. Other characters of color in small or background roles.
No clear positive messages. The frequent narration is largely about the meaninglessness of life and people's lack of goodness, and the plot is mainly about revenge.
Positive Role Models
none
Aside from his skills and discipline as a murderer and criminal, the killer is completely lacking in admirable qualities. His main goal is vengeance, and he faces few consequences for his actions.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that The Killer is director David Fincher's crime thriller about a professional assassin (Michael Fassbender) who botches a job and must deal with the fallout. Violence is intense: Characters are shot and killed, blood spatters, a woman's neck is snapped, a house is set on fire, and there's a brutal fight with punching, bashing, slamming, bleeding wounds, and general destruction. Many guns are seen. A man's bare buttocks are visible as he lies between a woman's legs, and the main character is shown partly naked in another scene, his bare buttocks visible. A sex worker prepares to entertain a male customer. Sporadic language includes "f--k," "motherf----r," "s--t," exclamatory use of "Jesus Christ," and more. Many brands are shown and mentioned, including McDonald's, Amazon, Starbucks, etc. A character drinks several shots of whiskey, and a man feeds sleeping pills to a dog. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
The religious slur was unacceptable with a word " Jesus @#$% Christ " . Highly offensive and inappropriate. Hollywood writers think it is their prerogative to abuse no matter under the guise of artistic freedom. David Fincher a good film maker may not care a damn for this kind of language; but sadly you are offending Mr. Fincher. Do not brand me a religious radical. There is a thin line between making a good movie and extremely insulting a section of viewers. David Ayer and Antonie Fuqua are other good makers who do not hesitate to drop " f..." bombs at the drop of a hat. Perhaps Hollywood writers think they have all creative freedom in the world.
What's the Story?
In THE KILLER, the titular killer (Michael Fassbender) is an assassin for hire who's on his latest job in Paris. He narrates the minutiae of his work, his preferred mental state, his methods for avoiding evidence, etc. But after prepping and waiting for several days, he squeezes the trigger -- and misses his target. The fallout begins almost immediately. He returns to his hideout in the Dominican Republic and finds it ransacked and his companion (Sophie Charlotte) brutally injured. He begins an intricate plan of revenge, which means tracking down every single person involved, no matter how powerful or how well-protected they are. But can he stick to his regimented principles, or will passion take over?
This story of a lone contract killer is shallow, familiar, and based on pessimistic and narrow philosophies of life, but it's rich with craft and style. The Killer moves beautifully and is never boring. After a career spent exploring violence and hubris in twisty, complex ways, filmmaker David Fincher offers perhaps his simplest work yet in this stripped-down thriller. It's based on a French graphic novel by Alexis "Matz" Nolent and Luc Jacamon (whose work also provided the basis for Walter Hill's Bullet to the Head), and it borrows from movies like Grosse Pointe Blank,The American, and Gemini Man, stories of lone wolves and their meticulous methods.
The Killer is broken up into neat chapters that are set in various locations and peopled with characters that don't even have names. At some point, many viewers may find themselves wondering what it all means and coming up empty. But watching the title killer execute his intricate plans, an ace up his sleeve at every turn, is positively mesmerizing. Fincher's crisp editing and visual storytelling are as taut and lean and muscular as Fassbender himself. Ultimately, The Killer may not offer any lingering deep thoughts or solutions to the mysteries of life, but it certainly hits its target.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about The Killer's violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?
What is the nature of revenge? Can it be satisfying? Why? Can it ever truly solve a problem?
What is the killer character trying to teach viewers with his narration? What, if anything, does he learn in the end?
MPAA explanation:
strong violence, language and brief sexuality
Last updated:
January 12, 2024
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By Jeffrey M. Anderson
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