David Fincher, a filmmaker known for being a calculated perfectionist, has been praised throughout his career for his strong visual style and discerning eye behind the lens. Arguably, this reputation came back to bite him upon the release of his latest film, though, 2023’s The Killer. A movie with a minimalist narrative, The Killer was viewed as a minor effort by some, with detractors arguing that it lacked emotional depth and was a case of Fincher opting for style over substance. Though it would be unfair to say that the film, which holds an 85% critic score and 61% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, was outright rejected by critics, it was not received as warmly as some of Fincher’s previous efforts. And, like many of the director’s films, it was completely ignored by the Academy. This tepid reaction is a shame, because not only is The Killer an insightful critique of contemporary consumer culture, the gig economy, and our isolated society, but also a film in deep conversation with the rest of Fincher’s work.
‘The Killer’ Takes Aim at the Way Our Society is Set Up

The Killer stars Michael Fassbender as an emotionless, monotone assassin-for-hire. Utilizing a consistent voiceover narration, Fincher puts the audience inside this character’s head for the entirety of the film. Through this storytelling device, The Killer separates itself from other hitman movies. In the film’s opening moments, we are introduced to the amusing idea that the thoughts inside a professional killer’s head while he is on the job actually might not be as interesting as you would think. We quickly learn that Fassbender’s nameless character is fairly withdrawn and feels no emotional connection to the work he does or the people it affects. Not in the typical “cold-blooded killer” you’d expect to see in a hitman film, but in a way that feels more similar to the attitudes of the characters in monotonous workplace satires like Office Space. While it is at times invigorating, Fincher’s film is ultimately about the mundanity that comes with any job, even contract killing.

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Fassbender’s character goes about his job and life in a way that probably resembles the viewer’s own day-to-day activities. He works out of abandoned WeWork offices, orders products from Amazon with same-day shipping, and takes advantage of things like Postmates deliveries, curbside pickup, and contactless gym membership sign-ups. Clearly, Fincher was interested in exploring the actual ways someone in this line of work would make strategic use of modern conveniences, in order to construct the argument that things in our current capitalistic system—like the gig economy—exist supposedly to simplify our lives, but in reality, are dulling and isolating us. If you want to really go the extra mile, you could make the argument that Fincher believes our society is almost becoming suited for sociopaths. Through Fassbender’s character, Fincher examines how people today often find themselves in jobs that strip them of joy or self-worth. The question of why this character does the work he does looms over much of the film. This comes to a head in a brilliant and pivotal scene that places Fassbender opposite of another killer, played by Tilda Swinton. When he is talking to someone who has the same job as him, the audience is able to see how aimless and cut off this character truly is. Much like many people in the workforce today, he has a passionless but everlasting relationship with a profession that does not place an emphasis on communal experiences.
‘The Killer’ is in Conversation With Some of Fincher’s Best Films

It is fascinating to watch The Killer in the context of its director’s previous films. In some ways, it feels like a strange follow-up to Fight Club and The Social Network, specifically. With Fassbender’s character using so many contemporary services targeted at the modern consumer, the film ventures into some of the anti-consumerism territory that’s so prevalent in Fight Club. It touches on the idea of there potentially being no ethical consumption under capitalism. With regard to The Social Network, The Killer can be positioned as a response to the take that, in hindsight, Fincher and Aaron Sorkin were a little too charitable in their portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg. People who felt Fincher could have gone harder on the famed Facebook founder likely appreciated that he didn’t pull any punches in The Killer, especially when it comes to how he views some of the people that now inhabit the world Zuckerberg and others like him helped create. Centering his story on an assassin that attempts to forbid empathy tells you everything you need to know about how Fincher feels about this particular time in history. All the modern advancements that Fassbender uses in the film are things designed to help us satisfy our wants, needs, and desires at all times. But, Fincher wisely constructs his film in a way that points out that this ease of access comes at the expense of human connection. Is he claiming that our over-reliance on things like Amazon, food delivery apps, streaming services, and the internet at large is going to turn us all into sociopathic killers? Of course not. But The Killer can still be seen as a cautionary tale about how the entire human experience is being flattened. It’s worth noting that there is a great deal of self-reflection within The Killer. It was equally clever and hysterical for the director, known for doing dozens of takes on set, to make a film about what can go wrong when someone misses a shot and doesn’t have the opportunity to take a second one. You could certainly make the argument that the protagonist’s meticulous way of working is Fincher making fun of his obsessive filmmaking approach. Due to this, its relationship to his past work, and its prescient themes, The Killer is definitely worth revisiting or checking out for the first time if you’ve never seen it. The Killer is available to stream on Netflix.

The Killer

Release Date

November 10, 2023

Runtime

118 Minutes

Writers

Andrew Kevin Walker