Kill List

Ben Wheatley’s film Kill List has been getting some rave reviews suggesting it’s one of the best British films of recent years. I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s definitely one to get you talking. Telling the story of contract killers Jay (Neil Maskell) and Gal (Michael Smiley), who after embarking on a number of jobs for a shady employer, start to find things aren’t all they seem. The re-emergence of ex-soldier Jay’s explosive violent temper gives them a further problem to cope with. The good stuff first. Wheatley does well in showing the slow grind that such an undertaking involves and the anonymous nature of the “job” in hand. To the next person Jay and Gal look just like two ordinary businessmen in bad suits having meetings in bland non-descript hotels. Of course, scratch under the surface though and things begin to smell. Though it can be dull to watch, it is the reality of such employment. Compare this to Anton Corbijn’s The American which had George Clooney laying low by walking around a foreign village wearing shades, bedding a prostitute and sticking out like a sore thumb. 1-0 to Wheatley on this front. The film takes an age to get going though. Wheatley is setting the mood, but it’s still a tough slog to get through. Eventually the story and characters begin to reveal themselves before the much-whispered rug pulling final third. There are a number of British horror influences prevalent throughout the picture ranging from The Wicker Man to Straw Dogs (Kill List even includes an unfortunate cat demise in a nod to that picture). Wheatley does well to capture a mood of uneasiness at all times and when things go bad, they go bad indeed. Be warned that this film contains some stomach churning violence which led to a number of walkouts in the screening I attended. It’s safe to say if you don’t like hammer on person action then this isn’t the place for you, though it has to be said the special effects used during the most gruesome scenes are highly impressive. Though it’s been my mantra for decades, when it comes to watching this, the less you know about the film beforehand the better. There is no doubt if you are aware of what happens at the end it’ll have less impact as the film really does go off on a wild tangent in the last 15 minutes. However, it’s not as much a shock as it should be though as it’s heavily hinted that something along such lines is coming due to one of the characters actions at the start of the film. Even then it’s still a talking point and that is actually the films main overall strength. What have you just seen?

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

You’ll need a strong stomach, but worth catching just for the numerous questions you’ll be asking yourself as the credits roll. Rating: 6/10.