Movie review: ‘The Killer’ is stylish and intriguing despite its flaws

The Killer (15) *** The Stars: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Sophie Charlotte. The Story: An assassin turns investigator when a hit goes badly wrong.

He’s a big fan of Manchester band The Smiths, a practitioner of yoga and an existential, philosophical type, who lives by his own set of strict rules to keep himself safe in what could be a killer career.

We first meet him in an empty apartment overlooking a street in Paris, watching the comings and goings of people on the streets below as, we assume, he’s waiting on his next assignment. The Killer is now on Netflix.

In a lengthy and gripping opening scene in this slick thriller from David Fincher (Zodiac, The Social Network), we hear - through his first-person narration - what makes Fassbender’s character - who we only know as The Killer - tick.

He’s a world-weary man with a very calm facade but a deadness behind his eyes that belies the work he does.

He believes he should never take sides or form an opinion on his target. That he should trust no-one and that he should only fight the fight he has been paid to. Empathy, as he sees it, equals weakness and vulnerability.

“If I’m effective, it’s because of one simple fact: I don’t give a f***,” he how he puts the secret of his success. It’s probably a good quality to have if you’re working as an assassin for hire.

But the character’s many philosophies are upended following a lengthy and tense opening scene which culminates in a hit going very badly wrong.

What follows is a bloody series of confrontations as the assassin - well aware there will be hell to pay for his mistakes - takes aim at the various characters involved in setting up the killing.

When they decide to target his live-in girlfriend, the threat becomes all the more vital and personal. Having failed him drastically once, will The Killer’s ice-cool judgement and nihilistic life mantras stand to him again?

Nerve-wracking and violent, The Killer is not an easy watch but it is an immersive and original one.

Filmmaker Fincher was so keen to have the Kerry-German actor star in the leading role that he even scheduled filming around the actor’s professional motor-racing career.

Fincher has wanted to make this film, an adaptation of a French graphic novel that was originally published in eight volumes in the late 1990s. He’s going for a movie that’s noir by its nature, with its main protagonist spouting his life mantras.

The result is a strong thriller that’s nevertheless not quite as gripping as it thinks itself. The highly stylistic set-up may alienate some, while I found the largely first-person narration grating and stagey at times.

Not among Fincher’s greatest films, then, but one that will hold your curiosity all the same. And if you like your revenge thrillers served cold, you’ve come to the right place.

The Verdict: Stylish and intriguing despite its flaws.