The Killer

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Ensign9
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The Killer

Post by Ensign9 »

This was very good and well-executed but I couldn't help but feel the whole thing was lacking when it comes to what I'm accustomed to with Fincher's movies. Less of an "event" than I'd like. I have an intense disdain for how James Cameron is spending the remainder of his career with the Avatar movies when he's capable of so much better. Similarly, I'd like to see Fincher aim higher.
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tragabigzanda
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Re: The Killer

Post by tragabigzanda »

Steve Albini wrote:Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Sat January 10, 2026 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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The Argonaut
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Re: The Killer

Post by The Argonaut »

manifesto of a madman. And like most manifesto writers, the Killer is not quite as great as he would like to make himself out to be. He doesn't nearly have everything figured out the way he thinks he does, he's ready at any moment to disregard his own rules and strictures. It's a good movie, but I also felt it was lacking some special quality to set it apart. I did just watch the whole thing in one sitting, honestly rare for me, so that's saying somethings
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Re: The Killer

Post by Ello Sailor »

The score was the best part. Fassbender delivers -- no surprises there. It also has the best fight scene I've seen in years. But the story itself is fairly generic. Standard hitman-tying-up-loose-ends-after-a botched-job stuff.

Still worth a watch.
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Re: The Killer

Post by spike »

less talkie talkie and more aimie gunnie and maybe he doesn’t miss his shot
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Re: The Killer

Post by Simple Torture »

I wonder if Netflix pressured Fincher at all to make this a series—was literally split into 6 20-minute parts.
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Re: The Killer

Post by Jorge »

I was surprised at how generic and inconsequential it felt. It really has "low-effort content made for streaming platform" written all over it.
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Re: The Killer

Post by The Argonaut »

Simple Torture wrote:I wonder if Netflix pressured Fincher at all to make this a series—was literally split into 6 20-minute parts.
I would bet that this is in fact based on some analysis of the way people watch movies on Netflix. Give people clear pause points, sort of thing. I imagine the immediate jump into the TV-style theme song opening credit sequence is also based on the algorithm. Very short, highly stylized, jumped into immediately, struck me as odd.
It'd be kind of ironic if Fincher listening too much to Netflix about what people want to see is the thing that kind of held this movie back from being better.
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Re: The Killer

Post by psychobain »

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Re: The Killer

Post by epilogue »

Everyone not on RM: The Killers, David Fincher's new masterpiece

RM: Meh
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Re: The Killer

Post by Jorge »

Really? I see a lot of people kinda lukewarm on it. It even has a 68% audience score
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Re: The Killer

Post by epilogue »

I'm generalizing for comedic effect. But, yes, I've seen a ton of stuff about how great this movie is. I haven't seen it myself. But I am surprised how lukewarm RM's take on it is given the praise I've seen online and from various film podcasts.
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Re: The Killer

Post by epilogue »

Just one example that came up literally right after I posted above:

https://www.threads.net/@monaris_/post/CzhKCBARxyF
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epilogue
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Re: The Killer

Post by epilogue »

Also, The Big Picture pod's description of their The Killer conversation: ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More
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Re: The Killer

Post by E.H. Ruddock »

The narration in the first act was way too much. It settled down after that. This was fine but nothing spectacular
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Re: The Killer

Post by Jorge »

Yeah it's a perfectly passable movie. It does not feel like David Fincher, let alone top tier Fincher. And the kind of movie it feels like is one that there's a lot of
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Re: The Killer

Post by tragabigzanda »

Steve Albini wrote:Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Sat January 10, 2026 12:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Ello Sailor
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Re: The Killer

Post by Ello Sailor »

Jorge wrote:It does not feel like David Fincher, let alone top tier Fincher.
/thread
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Re: The Killer

Post by Simple Torture »

I’ve also heard praise like “best of the year” floated for this one, and, to be fair, I haven’t seen many movies this year (and not too many have come out over the past few months). I just don’t see it the same way, but I do think it was really good—and it’s ok for a movie to be just very good! I think it’s just automatically compared to the rest of Fincher’s catalogue, which includes some really haunting, impressive, and iconic films. I don’t think it gets to that level.
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epilogue
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Re: The Killer

Post by epilogue »

tragabigzanda wrote:
epilogue wrote:Also, The Big Picture pod's description of their The Killer conversation: ‘The Killer’ Is Cold-Blooded Genius. And Something More
Fincher is Sean Fennessey’s all-time favorite director, FWIW
Besides PT Anderson and Scorsese.
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