I caught Kill List at SxSW and was pretty disappointed.
There were a number of things I did like about it. The acting was all really strong, and the best moments came when the director just took a step back and let the actors perform. The director also did a great job building tension throughout.
The thing most people will be talking about is the crazy left turn the story takes in the 3rd Act. (Spoiler Alert!) After close to 2 hours of a straightforward hit man movie, it suddenly becomes a bizarre occult horror flick. It's a huge departure from everything that's come before it.
My issue with it isn't that this departure makes it feel like two completely different movies (which it does). My issue is that it doesn't do either of those movies very well. The hit man plot is as stale as it gets: Guys heading into 'one last job' before hanging it up for good. They even use the Tarantino-esque title cards between scenes, which I thought went out of style in '98. The only surprises come from how gory some of the violence gets.
I was completely bored and disengaged by about halfway through, so when these two stumble into a witchy sabbath I was actually pretty excited for the change of tone. Sadly, the horror part is a big letdown too. The filmmakers don't manage to build any real suspense, and the big SURPRISE at the end lacks any emotional resonance since we don't care about anyone involved anyway. They pulled off a similar twist in A Serbian Film with a much more powerful result.
There were a number of things I did like about it. The acting was all really strong, and the best moments came when the director just took a step back and let the actors perform. The director also did a great job building tension throughout.
The thing most people will be talking about is the crazy left turn the story takes in the 3rd Act. (Spoiler Alert!) After close to 2 hours of a straightforward hit man movie, it suddenly becomes a bizarre occult horror flick. It's a huge departure from everything that's come before it.
My issue with it isn't that this departure makes it feel like two completely different movies (which it does). My issue is that it doesn't do either of those movies very well. The hit man plot is as stale as it gets: Guys heading into 'one last job' before hanging it up for good. They even use the Tarantino-esque title cards between scenes, which I thought went out of style in '98. The only surprises come from how gory some of the violence gets.
I was completely bored and disengaged by about halfway through, so when these two stumble into a witchy sabbath I was actually pretty excited for the change of tone. Sadly, the horror part is a big letdown too. The filmmakers don't manage to build any real suspense, and the big SURPRISE at the end lacks any emotional resonance since we don't care about anyone involved anyway. They pulled off a similar twist in A Serbian Film with a much more powerful result.