Change Your Image
markschvetz
Reviews
The Killer (2023)
A total bore of a film - what happened David?
David Fincher is up there as one of my all time favourite auteur directors. He has such a meticulous attention to detail, his camera shots are at times beyond human capability, and his long standing working partnership with writer Andrew Kevin Walker has created some superbly crafted characters in modern cinema. So it makes the utter disappoint of The Killer even more pronounced.
I want to say firstly that I haven't read the graphic novel so I don't know how true to the source material is but the it is one of the most boring films I've seen in a long time. My god what a bore of a character Michael Fassbender's Killer is. There is always a problem with making someone a psychopath that you run the risk of making them completely void of any character. Leon avoided this by making him care for someone else so intensely that his empathy and humanity shine through. Although Fassbender's (endless and very tiresome) monologues hint at not empathising with others, it never feels real or that he actually could care for someone else, even his girlfriend who you barely see therefore also aren't able to care about. Sadly this meant I couldn't have cared less about him at any point in the film.
In terms of narrative, the entire film plods along without much tension at all. Action scenes seemed forced, and there were no stylistic gems like David Fincher is renowned for. It felt lazy and lacking in any drive to make the film more than a below average assassin thriller. Meta-monologues does not an interesting character make. Especially when it's monotone and without any exploitation of who he is as a person.
The 10 minutes of screen time for Tilda Swinton were the only riveting part of the film, as she's always superlative. I can't tell you how disappointed I was. I am always impressed by Fincher's work and I can only think he wasn't very invested in this production and wanted the money.
Inside No. 9: The Last Weekend (2023)
I wanted to like this episode more than I did
The structure of this episode plays out much more like a classic Inside No. 9 concept than most in the eighth series so I was intrigued. There was genuine humanity in the relationship between the two main characters which added depth to what could have been quite a trivial exploration of dealing with grief, but the twist just wasn't plausible enough for me. It's very difficult to buy into the idea that someone would wait 9 years to do what Joe had been planning. Why wait 9 years and have a murder set up as Saw-like as this? Very far fetched and was played for shock value instead of exploring the true rage a father would have felt towards Chas.
The Expanse: Azure Dragon (2021)
The best episode of The Expanse since season 4
This episode had all of the elements of what makes The Expanse a great series. Great writing, tension, pace, a range of plot threads balanced perfectly, and it brought the story forward hugely, unlike most of season 5! It was so good to see Bobby back as a central part of the narrative too. A fantastic character criminally underused in the previous season. More episodes like this please.