Starring: Michael Fassbender, Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Kerry O’Malley, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, Tilda Swinton
OUR RATING: ★★★★☆
Story: Netflix psychological noir thriller directed by David Fincher. The Killer (2023) centers on an assassin (Michael Fassbender) who after a fateful near-miss, battles his employers and himself on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.
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'Stick to your plan. Anticipate. Don't improvise. Trust no one.' - The Killer Share on X
Chapter One – Paris/The Target
The Killer: It’s amazing how physically exhausting it can be to do nothing. If you are unable to endure boredom, this work is not for you.
The Killer: Paris awakens unlike any other city. Slowly. Without the diesel grind of Berlin or Damascus. Or the incessant hum of Tokyo.
The Killer: Popeye the Sailor probably said it best. “I am what I am.” I’m not exceptional. I’m just apart. Consider yourself lucky if our paths never cross. Except, luck isn’t real. Nor is karma. Or sadly, justice. As much as I’d like to pretend these concepts exist, they just don’t.
The Killer: One is born, lives their life. And eventually, one dies. In the meantime, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” To quote someone. Can’t remember who.
The Killer: A hundred and forty million human beings are born every year. Give or take. The worldwide population is approximately seven point eight billion. Every second, one point eight people die. While four point two are born into that very same second. Nothing I’ve ever done will make any dent in these metrics.
'Skepticism is often mistaken for cynicism. Most people refuse to believe that the great beyond is no more than a cold, infinite void. But I accept it, along with the freedom that comes from acknowledging that truth.' - The Killer Share on X
The Killer: I’ve come to realize that the moment when it’s time to act is not when risk is greatest. The real problems arise in the days, hours, and minutes leading up to the task, and the minutes, hours, and days after. It all comes down to preparation, attention to detail, redundancies, redundancies, and redundancies.
The Killer: And avoid being seen. Which is impossible in the 21st century. So, at least avoid being memorable. Keep calm. Keep moving.
The Killer: My camo is based on a German tourist I saw in London a while back. No one really wants to interact with a German tourist. Parisians avoid them like the rest of the world avoids street mimes.
The Killer: “It’s a dog-eat-dog world.” To reuse the apt cliche. “Every man for himself. Kill or be killed. Survival of the fittest.” Isn’t it all just human nature?
'Of those who like to put their faith in mankind's inherent goodness, I have to ask, based on what, exactly?' - The Killer Share on X
The Killer: Take comfort in the fact that seventy to eighty percent of wrongful convictions are the direct result of eyewitness testimony. Still, it only takes a few episodes of Dateline to know that there are countless ways to trip oneself up. If you can think of a dozen, you’re a genius. I’m no genius.
The Killer: From the beginning of history, the few have always exploited the many. This is the cornerstone of civilization. The blood in the mortar that binds all bricks. Whatever it takes, make sure you’re one of the few, not one of the many.
The Killer: It’s the idle hours that most often lead a man to ruin. That’s not Dylan Thomas, but it ought to be.
The Killer: Somehow, jobs that are designed to rattle a cage are always the most tedious. I’ve actually grown to appreciate “proximity work”. Staged accidents, gradual poisonings. Anything with a little creativity. When was my last nice, quiet drowning?
The Killer: Ted Williams batted .344 lifetime. I’d be batting a thousand, except I won’t take credit for watching some mob bookkeeper drop dead of a coronary. The only time nicotine, red meat, and marital stress did the hard part for me.
The Killer: Of the many lies told by the US military-industrial complex, my favorite is still their claim that sleep deprivation didn’t qualify as torture.
The Killer: Vigilance is essential. Even the most disciplined mind can become weary, impatient, hurried, sloppy.
The Killer: I find music a useful distraction. A focus tool. Keeps the inner voice from wandering.
The Killer: My process is purely logistical, narrowly focused by design. I’m not here to take sides. It’s not my place to formulate any opinion. No one who can afford me needs to waste time winning me to some cause. I serve no God or country. I fly no flag. If I’m effective, it’s because of one simple fact. I don’t give a f***.
The Killer: Stick to your plan. Anticipate. Don’t improvise. Trust no one. Never yield an advantage. Fight only the battle you’re paid to fight. Forbid empathy. Empathy is weakness. Weakness is vulnerability. Each and every step of the way, ask yourself, “What’s in it for me?” This is what it takes. What you must commit yourself to. If you want to succeed. Simple.
The Killer: [after he misses his mark] Nitro. Atomized nitro. Might as well scrub my eyes and shave my tongue.
The Killer: You’ve done what you can do. Calm. Breathe.
Chapter Two – Dominican Repulic/The Hideout
Magdala: I was so afraid. Afraid I might say something. But I didn’t. No matter what they said, no matter what he did, I didn’t tell them anything. Not about you. Nothing. You’d have been proud. I was strong.
Magdala: I told myself, “If I don’t make it, if I don’t survive, I’ll never see him again.” I couldn’t bear that. So, I made up my mind.
Leo: [just before the killer shoots him] I don’t know who they are. Don’t want to know who you are either.
Chapter Three – New Orleans/The Lawyer
The Killer: There are more than fifty thousand storage facilities in the US. I have units in six. I like to imagine, once the automatic payments have dried up, the episode of Storage Wars where they cut the lock on one of mine and get a look inside.
'Last minutes spent knowing they're last minutes. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.' - The Expert (The Killer) Share on X
The Lawyer – Hodges: The consequences, when someone’s wide of the mark, are automatic. However regrettable, they’re an obligation to client and calling. I was forced to make amends to a very angry, very powerful man. Never in my wildest imagination did I think you’d actually go home. Not in a million years.
The Lawyer – Hodges: Who do you think you’re trying to intimidate? You’re not going to. There’s no upside. The only logical choice for you is to turn around right now, walk out that door, go embrace your next life. I wish you well.
[the killer shoots Hodges with his nail gun]
Dolores: I know what you’re capable of, how you can make things seem. I’ll give you those names, but promise me you won’t leave things looking the wrong way. Please. I can’t just disappear. My children need my life insur… I guess I am begging.
'Fate is a placebo. The only life path, the one behind you. If, in the brief time we're all given, you can't accept this, well, maybe you're not one of the few. Maybe you're just like me. One of the many.' - The Killer Share on X
Dolores: I’m not a bad person. I’m not.
The Killer: Cleanup, without fail, is labor-intensive. To say the least.
The Killer: If you don’t want a puzzle solved, remove a piece or two. Scatter the rest. What’s the expression? Measure twice, cut once.
The Killer: Even I have to remind myself, the only life path is the one behind you.
Chapter Four – Florida/The Brute
The Killer: So, here you are. Vigilant. Narrowly focused. How’s “I don’t give a f***” going?
Chapter Five – New York/The Expert
The Killer: Stone’s throw from the city that never sleeps. Barely off the beaten path. What are you doing? Living amongst the “normies”.
The Killer: [referring to the expert] Leo told me she looked like a Q-tip. He wasn’t far off.
The Expert: It’s nothing personal. We’ve all had to work through the occasional civilian who’s stood between eyes and the prize.
The Expert: When I started, I was surprised at what I was capable of. How easy it was. Shockingly. Yet, I assured myself there were some things I would never do. Money was motivation. Which, once there was enough, could be used to buy another life. Another lie we told ourselves.
The Expert: “One man’s cruelty is another man’s pragmatism.” That old chestnut.
The Expert: [as she tells her joke about a hunter and a bear] “You’re not really out here for the hunting, are you?”
The Expert: This could’ve been a hit-and-run, carjacking, me falling on the ice. And yet, here you are.
The Expert: If I screamed right now, I’d still end up dead. You would make it out. Most likely. But not clean, you wouldn’t. Why take this risk?
The Killer: Desperate for conversation.
The Expert: You’re here because you couldn’t help yourself. You expected to sit across from me and feel nothing but reassured. Like that recent day when you shouldered your weapon, and somehow missed.
The Expert: How is it possible? Having prepared myself for this moment for so long, I have failed to believe that it would ever arrive.
The Expert: Last minutes spent knowing they’re last minutes. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Who, come to think of it, at this moment, is you. You’ll remember our conversation. You will. When your time does arrive. It won’t be your life flashing before your eyes, it’ll be mine. I suppose it’ll be the closest I can hope to come to haunting you.
Chapter Six – Chicago/The Client
The Killer: The thing about real wealth, the more you’ve got, the harder it is to fade into the wallpaper. Of course, vanity plates don’t help.
The Client – Claybourne: That’s not insanity. What’s insane is driving ninety miles each way to work. Then going, “This is f***ed up. I hate this. I don’t want to do this anymore.” Then getting in the car the very next day, driving ninety miles each way to work.
The Killer: Who needs a Trojan horse when you’ve got Postmates? Because everything’s airtight till the billionaire wants densuke watermelon.
The Killer: I came to show you how easily one might get to you, Mr. Claybourne. And to ask, do you and I have a problem?
The Client – Claybourne: To answer your question, we have no problem. I harbor no ill will about anything that may have happened. Or not happened. Let me make that crystal clear. Right after the incident, I received a phone call. I was told that things had gone sideways. My response was, “Nobody’s perfect.”
The Client – Claybourne: What I’m trying to say here, and I can’t express this strongly enough, I have no issue with you. Zero. As far as I’m concerned, we’re good.
The Killer: I’m curious. I break into your home in the middle of the night with a silenced pistol, and you have no idea why I might be here?
Epilogue – Dominican Repulic
The Killer: [after he returns home to be with Magdala] The need to feel secure. It’s a slippery slope. Fate is a placebo. The only life path the one behind you. If, in the brief time we’re all given, you can’t accept this, well, maybe you’re not one of the few. Maybe you’re just like me. One of the many.