"Kill List" is available on demand through select cable providers. Check IFC On Demand for availability in your area.
by Kevin B. Lee
Few things bring out the worst tendencies of Hollywood than the genre mash-up, as evidenced by two of last year's worst films, "Cowboys vs. Aliens" and "Battle: Los Angeles" (aka "Independence Day" filmed as part Iraq War documentary, part video game). The "movie-x-meets-movie-y" mentality seems to inspire little more than z-level creativity in the land of big budgets and small minds. And yet, somehow the British have a better track record at bringing together disparate elements into a compelling whole. One of the best British crime movies, "The Lavender Hill Mob," is also one of their best comedies. Their most famous horror movie, "The Wicker Man," is actually a trifecta of horror, crime thriller and musical. And now there's Ben Wheatley's "Kill List," which takes seemingly familiar genre elements and offsets them in ways that can be confounding, but leave an unforgettable impact. And by impact, I'm not just talking about a scene involving a tied-up librarian and a hammer.
Before we delve into that moment, some set-up: Jay (Neil Maskell) and Shel (MyAnna Buring) are an ex-military couple trying to play house in the Yorkshire suburbs. Judging by their opening screaming match they're having a rough go of it: Jay's been out of work for eight months, their savings drying up. All they can do to vent their frustrations is hold swordfights on the lawn with their son and host a rollercoaster of a dinner party with Jay's war buddy-turned-hitman Gal (Michael Smiley), leading to smashed dishes in the dining room, plans for new contract killings discussed over beers in the basement, and Gal's mysterious date carving a hex into the back of the bathroom mirror.
Wheatley and co-screenwriter Amy Jump weave these threads of domestic drama, crime thriller and horror flick into an unholy tapestry, often in unsettling ways. The next morning Jay finds a dead rabbit on his lawn -- what does he do? He cooks it for his meal. Later he and Gal meet the man hiring them to do three hits for a handsome sum. How do they sign the contract? The man suddenly stabs Jay's hand and pours both their blood on the document. These moments seem implausible in retrospect, but the force of Wheatley's execution, buffeted by shock jump cuts, keeps you on your heels. A bit of cheeky humor helps as well: they wash Jay's bloody hand in the man's fancy bathroom and leave with toiletries in tow.
It gets weirder as they set about on their assignments. First up is a priest; they don't ask why he's supposed to die, they just follow orders. Stranger still is the beatific smile and "thank you" the priest utters as they knock him off. It's the same "thank you" that the librarian, the second target, murmurs repeatedly, even as Jay smashes his knees, hands and skull with a hammer. His brutality is triggered by a stash of horrific porn videos they find in the librarian's garage; Jay goes on to kill two men at the address he links to the porn ring (whether it actually is the place is never made clear).
These explosions of violence don't occur until halfway in, which may disappoint audiences wanting instant action and gore from a movie tagged as a horror-crime thriller. The rest of us can appreciate the unorthodox but assured strategy employed by the storytellers, foregrounding the violence in Jay's post-war malaise at home. It's as if "The Hurt Locker" had started near where it had ended, with Jeremy Renner's character stranded at home, feeling useless and desperately wanting to scratch his violent itch. Wheatley's use of hand-held cameras and surprising jump cuts establish a skittish, shell-shocked feeling to these suburban home scenes that prime you for the explicit violence to come, while also keying us into Jay's emotionally fractured state.
But Wheatley and company save the best for last, as Jay and Gal march grimly to their third assignment in a forest that has more than its share of surprises waiting for them. I won't dare trip on any spoilers, except to say that the action hinges on a crucial decision Jay makes, one that amounts to a desperate bid to retrieve his own humanity even as it seals his fate. By the end the triangle of home drama, crime thriller and horror collapses brilliantly into a shocking climax worthy of an Ambrose Bierce tale.
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Kevin B. Lee is a film critic and video essayist. Follow him on Twitter.
I think you're onto something about the British and genre mash. Your thesis dislodged a memory of a '90s UK film that I somehow didn't remember even when "Attack the Block" was out: "Urban Ghost Story." Paranormal stuff in a Ken Loach milieu: http://youtu.be/x27nMt4e9vc
Coiuldn't disagree more. This movie is poorly executed and is terrible in every aspect. Without considering the ridiculous ending the movie is still 2 steps below mediocre. Cowboys and Aliens worked much better than this garbage.
The best way to enjoy Kill List is to know as little about it as possible. As good a preview as this is, I think it gives away too much! I went into the film knowing nothing about it, apart from its critical praise and it is without doubt one of my top films of last year.
Go and see it, but read no more!!
While I thought that "Kill List" was well-made and well acted, I definitely didn't enjoy it. Everything about the movie seems designed to make it unlikable. This is especially true of the soundtrack (which consists of monotonous industrial sounds) and the characters, who are so repressed and violent that they always seem about to attack each other.
I agree that it's a hell of a lot better than the Hollywood "mash-ups," but it's not the kind of movie I'd recommend to anyone.
Kevin: Boone, where do you find this stuff???
Kevin: One thing I probably should have mentioned is that the two leads have thick Yorkshire accents that may take a while for American audiences to get used to.
Definitely not for all tastes. It takes familiar genre notes to play a strange kind of music that seems intended more to turn expectations on their heads and provoke more than to give "pleasure." For that reason it may be a more satisfying film to think about afterwards than to experience.
Kevin: One thing I probably should have mentioned is that the two leads have thick Yorkshire accents that may take a while for American audiences to get used to.
???
Emm. One of them has a London accent and the other one has an Irish accent.
Few things make me stop reading something more than baseless over exxageration. If "Cowboys and Aliens" is one of the year's worst then I don't care for the rest.
I like your review!
When I saw this last year at the Vancouver Film Festival it was the most confounding film I'd seen in a very long time. Since I see a lot of movies, I like to see stuff that challenges me. This is way at the top of the list. I didn't hate it, but I'm still not sure if I liked it, or not. The ending was so ... bizarre.
I like the connection with The Hurt Locker. I think Kill List has some commentary about the consequences of war, and what veterans experience, and using a crime-thriller/horror mash-up medium is maybe the most literate, obvious and at the same time subtle means of all. War and its after-math make no bloody sense at all. Why should a story about it be any different?
Your review is spot on. I saw this movie last year at the South by Southwest Film Festival, and hung out with and interviewed its very talented star Neil Maskell. The movie blew me and the packed midnight crowd at the Alamo Drafthouse totally away. It's a film that defies expectations while at the same time fulfilling them, and it hinges on the character work and relationship established between the two leads early on. Not an easy film - the violence is shocking, particular the librarian scene you mention above - and the issues of remorse and morality lend a queasy feel to the proceedngs (are these men unredeemable sociopaths, or are they just psychically damaged - but not irrepairable - like many who have been entrenched in the horrors of war?). Fans of genre, of thrillers, morality plays and horror will find one of the great surprises of the year in "Kill List".
Follow up - here's my interview with Maskell:
http://www.citysbest.com/austin/news/2011/03/20/sxsw-film-exclusive-kill-list-star-neil-maskell/
We just finished watching this piece of crap movie after reading your review. Clearly, you read more into it than we. It is slow. Plodding. Derivative. Ultimately frustrating in its execution and disappointing with its resolution (if you can call it that). What is the deal with movies where an unsuspecting outsider stumbles upon some bizarre rite in the woods? Honestly, what do these people get from their sacrifices? Their plots? Their secret little societies? Nobody seems interested in approaching the reasons why, including the late, great Kubrick with Eyes Wide Shut. What a waste of my time and money. Mr Ebert, if you're listening, you should probably screen these far flung reviews more carefully. Because I certainly feel like flinging something right now.. Monkey poo all over this review and movie.
I'm sorry, but, although I've only seen the first half or so of Battle of Los Angeles, and I haven't yet seen Cowboys and Aliens(the latter I want to see, the former I don't care to finish),Cowboys and Aliens, yes, is an excellent example for 'genre mashup'. But it's too big of a stretch, and also seems to stem from some weird half baked train of thought, to claim Battle of Los Angeles as a 'genre mashup'. It is all the same genre; what you're referring to, which you pretty much mention yourself, is a film that exists in one genre but employs more than one filmmaking style.
Really? You actually liked this movie? It was terrible. And I'm a big fan of both of the genres it mashes together. But this film was a trainwreck.