THE KILLER
USA, France 2023. Directed by David Fincher. With Michael Fassbender, Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Gabriel Polanco, Kerry O’Malley, Emiliano Pernía, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, Tilda Swinton. Runtime 113’ Distribution Netflix
“A brutal, stylish and bloody noir that follows a professional killer in a world that has lost its moral compass. The example of one man, armed to the teeth and slowly descending into madness,” with these words, David Fincher introduced The Killer, the thriller scripted by Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven) and based on the graphic novel Le tueur, written by Alexis Nolent (better known as Matz), drawn by Luc Jacamon and published in 12 volumes between 1998 and 2013. The film comes three years after Mank, the previous film effort by the author who has already collected three Oscar nominations for best director in his career, thanks to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Social Network (2010) and, indeed, Mank (2020).
David Fincher’s The Killer tells the story of a man (Michael Fassbender) with a lonely, evil, cold and meticulous character. He is seemingly the perfect killer because he knows how to wait silently in the shadows, carefully studying his next target. However, this constant waiting for the best time to strike plays tricks on his mind because in the long hours of waiting, although he manages never to lose his patience, he begins to go mad. His methodical coolness seems to wane to make way for a conscience, something that would bring a few problems to his profession as a hitman. Then, the professional assassin, who has hitherto lived in a world devoid of morals, finds himself alone, armed and with a psyche that begins to wave.
David Fincher made his directorial debut in 1992 with Alien 3, which was followed by Seven (1995), The Game (1997), Fight Club (premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1999), Panic Room (2002), Zodiac (2007), Millennium – Men who hate women (2011), and Gone Girl (2014). The director was also a producer of three television series for Netflix: House of Cards (2013 – 2018), Mindhunter (2017 – 2019), and Love, Death and Robots (2019 – 2022).
In The Killer, in addition to screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, David Fincher wanted to work again with many of his longtime professional partners, such as cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt (Mank) and Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and Atticus Ross, the couple of composers who handled the soundtracks of all his films since The Social Network.
