Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Jan 7, 2012 0:28:43 GMT -5
Plot:Begins 8 months after a disastrous job in Kiev left him physically and mentally scarred, an ex-soldier turned contract killer -- Jay...is pressured by his partner Gal, into taking a tough new assignment. As they descend into the dark, disturbing world of the contract, Jay begins to unravel once again - his fear and paranoia sending him deep into the heart of darkness.
Cast:
Myanna Buring
Neil Maskell
Michael Smiley
My Thoughts:The "D" list.
Review:Normally, when genre fans rant and rave about a movie being awesome, good, can't miss...etc. You stand up and take notice. Unless you have major proof to prove the exact opposite. Or to disprove the current hype. But not much was known about Ben Wheatley's "The Kill List" before it arrived here stateside. The film had a clip or two released. Not a bunch of stills, just a few. And while there was much talk about the movie from those who had seen it. It wasn't exactly seen by many outside of the UK.
And even there it wasn't blown up to epic proportions. Ala a "Wolf Creek" in Australia or a "High Tension" in France. There was nowhere near that kind of buzz surrounding this one. The movie deals with a wounded ex-soldier turned contract killer. After a job in Kiev didn't exactly go "as planned"...he now has reservations about his latest job. Which is offered to him by a friend. He takes the job however, after being pressured by his wife. But he hates to leave his young son to go off and do this job. At any rate, he goes.
His meeting with the client is a bizarre one. But little does he know, things will soon get a lot stranger from here on out! This movie sets up nicely. But it fails epically at not being dry, boring, stale, and thin on story. It's all of those things. And more. Much, much more. Which is its ultimate downfall. "The Kill List" "kills" you alright. With two main characters who are about as interesting as a slice of bread. And as entertaining and deep as a thimble full of H20. Seems the writers of this movie felt character development wasn't necessary.
And were just hoping to ride things out until the shocking climax. (more on that later). The main characters first off come off as douchebags. Major douchebags. I'm thinking, usually in films like this, there's atleast a few attempts by the writer to make you feel empathy for one of the contract killers. He's the victim of a screwed up childhood. A marriage gone bad. Some sort of vengeful mobster who was double-crossed on a previous assignment.
But in this film, the tightly-wound Jay. The main guy, is just given a very loud and obnoxious wife. And a son who seems to be nothing like either of them. Not tightly wound nor obnoxious. In fact, you'd think this kid was adopted. He's probably the only person in the movie you'd not like to see die. Because he comes off as an actual human being. So what's the great mystery behind "The Kill List"? Well in one scene, Jay and his wife have another couple, Jay's friend/killing partner, and his "gal"...over for dinner. Jay and this guy "seem" to be friends.
But then again not really. You get the sense it's one of those phisad friendships. Where they know too much about one another's "activities" not to be friends. So they kind of are friends just to keep an "eye" on one another. I guess in this crazy world, you get friends wherever and however you can find em *shrugs*. Anyways, at some point during the visit, Jay's friends gal pal goes into the bathroom, and etches a strange symbol into the back of the bathroom mirror.
She then places the mirror back onto the wall. I really thought a set up like that would spawn one hell of a movie. Instead, it only spawned many yawns and groans from yours truly. The movie has tools to be good, intriguing, and interesting. Instead though, it seems moreso to just wanna go nowhere. And constantly tease that "something" is coming. We get a string of strange events. Clumped together. No real pay off, but that tease lingers. As if the director/writer is saying..."NO, NO Wait! Trust me! You'll wanna watch till the end because SOMETHING COOL, WILL happen! Trust me!"
It's kind of like when you're a kid, and your friend tells you his pet guinea pig can do this one "cool" trick. So he takes you to his house to show you. And then you stand staring at the tank waiting for "magic to happen". Only the guinea pig just kind of...blinks a lot. At which point you realize, ok...this is crap. I'm leaving. "The Kill List" as a viewing experience felt the EXACT same way. I'd love to be able to say in between the dinner that Jay and his wife have with his friend/partner and his "girl", and the movies ending...that something good comes out of this 90 minute movie.
But it doesn't. It's a total bore, from start to finish. Focusing on story is no problem. I wish more genre films would. But padding your story with no excitement or entertainment whatsoever? Is a recipe for cinematic disaster. As if things couldn't get any worse with this movie, the ENDING! The conclusion of this movie, which I won't spoil with any major details. Not only comes out of left field. But it also doubles as a cruel prank...on THE VIEWER! And it also doesn't make a lick of sense.
Oh and if you've seen movies like "Eyes Wide Shut", and "The Wickerman"...then you'll pretty much see a quasi-theft of both movies central plots, used and fused together to create the conclusion of "The Kill List". Overall, this movie is a waste of time. And a super disappointment to boot.
Positives:The one scene with the woman etching the cult-like symbol into the bathroom mirror. It really teased that this movie was about to delve into a dark, twisted story.
Negatives:Unfortunately, that one scene is about as interesting as this movie gets. It doesn't capitalize on that scene and take it a step up and or further. It just hangs out until the end. Which the writer or director thought was gonna be so cool, it would make up for such a bad movie. They were wrong! Oh, and did I mention the piss poor character development? And who're we pulling for here again? Two douchebags with equally unlikeable significant others? Riiiight.
Overall:One star out of four.