The Killer (2023)

[aghst]

Fincher movie about an assassin (Michael Fassbinder) based on a French graphic novel.

We hear the Killer's constant thoughts through voiceover.  He says he has a lot of free time on jobs and that is one of his biggest challenges.

He's been waiting days for his target and is about to give up because the target isn't showing up so he muses on things like population rates, differences in cities, etc.

He likes to check his pulse on his smart watch a lot and listen to The Smiths.

Very meticulous,   he repeatedly sprays  his sink another other places where there might be traces of his DNA.

When the target finally shows up, he makes a mistake and shoots just as someone else steps in the path of the bullet.   The mistake leads to consequences and all the ensuing actions in the movie.

For me, I've watched Day of the Jackal series recently and it's interesting to compare and contrast.

Obviously the series has more scenes, more of an extended plot.

The Killer here says to himself, "don't improvise, anticipate" over and over again.  The Jackal  is him improvising all the time.

The Killer has one chase scene but he's not being chased by police, just leaving a crime scene and you know that he's planned out his route, knows when he's dumping a motor scooter and switching to a car.  You also see him dumping part of his gear at different places.  Then he goes and shaves and sprays down the sink.  On the plane he sees someone on board that makes him wary so he leaves the plane and will take the next flight.

The Jackal has a plan but he's having to improvise.  There are some big action-movie scenes of very kinetic chases.

That's the thing, nobody is chasing The Killer but The Jackal has a MI6 agent pursuing him in different countries.

When The Killer returns to his hideout in the Dominican Republic, his home, which he shares with a girlfriend, has been invaded and there's blood and signs of violence.  He finds her at a hospital, very cut up and he leaves because he's going to start taking revenge right away.

The Jackal is married with a young child.  His family never comes to harm but he's kept his trade a secret from his wife.

So both The Killer and The Day of the Jackal show these serial murderers who kill for profit have significant domestic lives.  Neither wants to give up their significant others, even though their work has put them at risk.  The Killer's girlfriend is disfigured somewhat but  he takes revenge and then goes back to her.

Really interesting the way it delves into details.  The Killer says there are 52,000 storage facilities in the US and he has storage units at 6 of them, full of  weapons and fake IDs, credit cards.

Fassbinder seems to have found a niche.  After this he did The Agency show about spies and he's also in a new movie, Black Bag, a new Soderberg movie in which he plays a spy again.

[DoctorAtomic]

I've had this in my queue for a while but hadn't really been ready to pull the trigger. I'm traveling this week so maybe I'll finally do it.