The Killer (movie 2023) David Fincher's first dud

​“The Netflix Effect” strikes again. That’s right, people it happened. David Fincher has finally made a dud. Who’s think that was possible? The man has an impressive of a track record as they come. But either Netflix gave him enough movie to have a Fincher movie and he relaxed and dialed it in or it’s a genuine decline in quality. Only time will tell.
For now, what you have is a heavily-narrated tale of an assassin whose latest kill goes wrong. As he finds himself on the receiving end of his employer’s lethal reach, he fights back. Then audience gets to follow him from one killer to the next. Yep, they are all a bunch of killers here. Most more interesting than the protagonist, who is as beige of a lead as his outfits.
I mean, this isn’t a man you’d want to spent time with really and still you’re stuck for something like 120 minutes as he narrates every detail of what he’s doing, often repetitively. This is, though, he just isn’t that interesting. Or, frankly, that good at his job, hence the predicament he finds himself in in the first place.
The Killer has a talented, thoroughly wasted lead. Why get an actor that’s killed, only to watch his do a stoic, emotionless face is anybody’s guess. Presumably, it looks good on paper.
The movie looks great and has exactly two fun things about it: an epic, brutal fight scene and description of Tilda Swinton as a Q-tip. Because of course. The rest is time wasted waiting for the movie to get good or for Fincher to live up to his potential or something and there’s just ….
Unlike Netflix’s other recent “serious movie” duds, namely May December (also reviewed on this website), this one didn’t get particularly good reviewers anywhere and will likely not be winning awards any time soon.
Save yourself some time and skip this, forget it exists. Watch any other movie by the director instead. Or just some other movie. Something that doesn't go for style over substance quite so heavily.
The only thing this Killer slays is time and promise.