The Killer's Game

Let's play America's new favorite game show, The Killer's Game! With your host, Jethro....

......................................

And there's nobody in the studio.

Oh well, let me tell you what this movie is all about.

Based on 1997 novel by Jay Bonansinga (several novels for The Walking Dead), this film spent decades in development hell, cycling in numerous directors and stars before J.J. Perry and Dave Bautista signed up. As a reminder of how old it is, one of its screenwriters is Rand Ravich, the director and writer of The Astronaut's Wife, and this is his first theatrical film since it bombed in 1999. Now for the main event.

Joe Flood (Bautista) is one of the world's best hitmen. He and his handler, Zvi (Ben Kingsley), take great pride in the fact that they kill only bad guys, such as some nobody during a modern dance performance. When another hitman shows up, there's a panic in the dance hall, and Joe ends up saving the lead dancer, Maize (Sofia Boutella), from a stampede. They quickly fall for each other, but Joe's chronic migraines get in the way.

Joe is soon diagnosed with the neurodegenerative Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease and is given a prognosis of three months at best. Joe decides to get it over with by putting a hit out on himself. He consults with another handler, Marianna Antoinette (Pom Klementieff), for the unusual task. Antoinette, whose father was killed by Joe, is all too happy to put her assassins to work. As he awaits his end, Joe learns that he was misdiagnosed due to a clerical error, and that he's perfectly fine. Since Antoinette refuses to cancel the contract, Joe decides to prolong his life by taking on the murderer's row coming his way. He also has to protect Maize from becoming collateral damage. Easy, right?

Joe may have been misdiagnosed, but the film suffers a case of mood confusion. It can't seem to decide if it's a grounded romantic dramedy, or an over-the-top action comedy. For example, Joe breaks up with Maize, just before he learns of the misdiagnosis, and later composes a final voice message for her, in an overly melodramatic sequence amped up with Roque Banos's score. When Joe learns the "good news," just before the first hired guns show up, the mood becomes farcical. The hired guns are all outrageous stereotypes which include two sets of brothers, the first of whom fight with their motorcycles and the other being rowdy Scotsmen, and a flamenco dancer, who only show up just to fight Joe and get brutally killed. The confusion keeps on going up to the final battle.

The only hired gun with any development is Lovedahl (Terry Crews), the last man who takes up the job. That's only because he's kept on the sidelines throughout the film. He initially turns down the contract because the pay was too low for him. But once he gets going, he and his obnoxious assistant, Money (George Sommer), nab Maize and drive up to find Joe. He would have been a better rival for Joe if he showed up earlier and often. He's the only surviving hired gun, so there was some potential. As for Money, his best scenes were of him being a punching bag.

Bautista is as likable as a romantic lead as he is a cool hitman. He and Maize have a pretty likable relationship, even during the mood swings, and that likability doesn't diminish with each of his kills. The contrast between Joe's personal and professional lives is highlighted in an amusing montage. We're all for Joe when Maize is threatened late into the film. Maize finishing off the last hired gun somewhat makes up for her lack of screentime for much of the film. Amongst their supporting cast, Antoinette doesn't do much but gloat evilly; Zvi and his wife Sharon (Alex Kingston) are good mentor figures; the priest Father O'Brien (Dylan Moran) is actually quite funny.

The film's visual flair is pretty interesting. The hired guns get over-the-top intro scenes, while multiple scene transitions incorporate objects from the next scene. The CGI blood can be either jarringly out of place or perfectly in sync with the outrageousness. All the fake blood doesn't diminish how brutal the violence can get (such as a knockout punch for one hired gun). There's also some great location filming of Budapest by cinematographer Flavio Martínez Labiano for those who don't like blood. I didn't even realize that the Langos Brothers, aka the aforementioned biker brothers, were both played by the same actor (Miklós Szentváry-Lukács). I commend the visual trickery involved here. I also commend the sound design for helping us empathize with Joe during his migraines.

Is anyone going to play The Killer's Game a week later? Or are you all going to see what everyone else is offering? It maybe tonally confused, but I got to admit, it was interesting when it was over-the-top. A little fine tuning could have made it a great killer farce instead of an OK one. At least it's more enjoyable than some other recent films. It's time to prepare for some more big films in the next few months. And my weekend is packed with a few of them. Stay tuned.