20130928: Thriller Review--Kill List

Kill List

1. Fundamentals
1. British live action feature length film, thriller, 2011, NR, 95 minutes, thriller.
2. IMDB: 6.2/10.0 from 15,593 users.  Estimated budget: 500,000 UK pounds.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 76% on the meter; 57% liked it from 7,482 audience ratings.
4. Directed by: Ben Wheatley; screenplay by Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump.
5. Starring: Neil Maskell as Jay, MyAnna Buring as Shel (Jay's wife), Michael Smiley as Gal (Jay's old comrade in the trade), Emma Fryer as Fiona, Harry Simpson as Sam, Struan Rodger as the Client, Mark Kemper as the Librarian,


2. Setup and Plot
1. Three parts
2. Suburban domestic discord.  He's out of work, they are running out of money.


3. Shel and the son want Jay to go to work again.


4. Gal stops by with Fiona (an HR professional) to offer a job.  Jay cringes from the idea, but the need for money changes things.  There is a lot of tension at the dinner party.


5. The job has a 'Kill List' of three, all in the UK, so locally.


6. Gal and Jay talk about Kiev (a botched job, 8 months previous, reason why Jay is not working) but are not very clear about it.


7. Fiona is not exactly what she claims to be.  At least that's what is indicated by her drawing a symbol in the cardboard backing of the bathroom's mirror.


8. The new job.


9. Gal and Jay meet the new client.  Jay gets his hand cut in an blood ceremony to seal the deal.


10. First target is a priest.  They break into his church, wait for his session to be complete, kill him in his offices.  They bag the body, then incinerate it.


11. Jay talks to Shel video over Internet.  Shel is ex-Swedish military; she seems to know what Jay does.  Jay confirms the first part was done; Shel asks whether it was clean.  Shel notes that Fiona stopped by and left a present for Gal.


12. Second target is the Librarian, who seems to make snuff films or something as bad. The Librarian asks Jay (while Gal is elsewhere) if Gal knows who Jay is.  He also thanks Jay.


13. Jay goes postal on the Librarian, and Gal tells Jay, 'you're cleaning that up.'  At this point, I hope the film will resolve that exchange.


14. Jay kills two more people; at least part of that was in the second assignment.  They find a good sized pile of cash in the process.  There is a lot of cleanup associated with it.  Then there was the bonfire for the bodies.


15. Third target is delayed.  Jay goes home, Gal coming with him.  Jay sees a shrink, Gal tells him to just drop the last part of the job.  Shel suggests they find alternates to finish the job.  Gal likes this as well, but the Client says no on all counts.


16. Third target is an MP, which bothers Gal less than the priest.  Gal and Jay fight in the early tension as they start the job.  Gal's still interested in Fiona, but does not seem to pursue her directly.


17. Seventy-one minutes in, twenty-four minutes to go.


18. They camp in the woods near the MP's estate.  The MP is supposedly alone in this huge house.
19. They approach at night, and spy a gathering of people with torches (fire, not electric).


20. Everyone is in a decorated white robe, each with a straw mask.


21. A woman hangs herself; from the great lei she was wearing, she was a designated sacrifice.  Jay kills one of the 'officials,' a guy in a white suit, then shoots several more.


22. Gal and Jay attempt escape via a tunnel.  The people of the gathering come at them, front and back.  Gal and Jay have plenty of ammunition, and the people of the gathering seem not to have guns.  They do kill Gal with knives, though, when he gets separated from Jay.


23. Jay survives, but is disturbed by Gal's passing, and by not knowing what the motives of the Client are.


24. The group from the MPs country estate follow Jay to the cottage where he meets Shel.


25. Jay tries to take them on; Shel shoots a few of them as they invade the cottage.


26. Jay is forced into a knife fight with some anonymous person who looks to be a hunchback; they are both in the stupid straw masks.


27. The masks come off.  Jay's killed his son (the hunch in the hunchback) and horrified Shel (the rest of the hunchback).  The Client and Fiona are there.


3. Conclusions
1. Avoid this one.
2. One sentence summary: First it's domestic angst, then it's last gig for tired assassins, then it's the ending from left field.
3. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 7/10 Starts out fine.  Good lighting, framing, focus, colour. The last segment is dark to the point where nothing is recognizable in many frames.


2. Sound: 6/10 Runs a bit low during the conversations.  The would be extra annoying if not for the subtitles on Netflix.


3. Acting: 8/10 Good.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 Part one, OK.  Part two, OK. That is, made sense, motivation seems on pace, quite willing to continue for the resolution.  Part three, what happened here?  What does this have to do with the rest of the film?  First, there was the clip of Fiona drawing the symbol on back of the mirror.  Second, the 'sign in blood' requirement when starting business with the Client.  Frankly, those seem rather tenuous to hold the film together.