The Killer's Game

The hit man anti-hero. The wise old man. The damsel/dame. A murderers row of goons and henchman. “Rules,” i.e. self-imposed ethics relating to the world of assassins. It’s another one of this year’s “hitman’s greatest hits.” The tone of this is wildly inconsistent. At times, it's a serious, dramatic thriller where death is feared. At times it’s like a Stephen Chow kung-fu comedy, packed with nutty, colorful assassins, weird weapons, and over-the-top cartoony kills. It’s like the director wanted this to be his “directing reel.” “Look! I can do action, I can do funny action, I can do artsy, I can do drama.” But all at the expense of an interesting plot or heroic characters. The quest of the hero is just to survive the night. But there’s absolutely no heart or subtext here. When John Wick starts massacring baddies, we love it because we CARE. I think it’s a cautionary tale. Adopt a tone and a style and stick with it. Get the audience behind the hero. Efforts to create hilariously creative set pieces in this come off as disingenuous. All that being said, Dave Bautista is a likeable if funny-looking hero and can carry a movie – even a dumb one.