THE KILLER Ending Explained!
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- čas přidán 9. 11. 2023
- In this video we take a deep dive, review, recap, and breakdown the ending to Netflix and David Fincher's THE KILLER starring Michael Fassbender.
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What did you think of Fincher's latest?
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Watched this yesterday afternoon. It was an ok little thriller but to be honest it didn't make any sense. (Spoilers ahead). Why did he mess up the job in the first place? He had plenty of time to take at least two more shots after he accidentally shot the prostitute. He has all these storage lockers with guns and passports in them but he doesn't have any poison? He has to go to the CVS and buy sleeping pills to drug the dog? Lol. The lawyer's secretary literally has a Rolodex with the addresses of all the assassins in it? He kills the lawyer, his secretary and the Florida assassin and burns the house down and word didn't get to Tilda Swinton that something was up? I'm just listing a couple of things from a long long list of things that made this movie quite ridiculous.
It was predictable. A lot of silly clichés. Boring fight/assaination scenes. Also what is this message about empathy? He kills the cab driver but lets the client live? Is he just slowly learning empathy? Doesn't work. What a waste of the incredible actress Tilda Swinton. Her scene was silly. Why no empathy for her? His repetitive inner dialogue was pretentious. This was written by the dude who wrote 8mm....maybe the comic is cooler.
@@gavinborden5451 -- right? And if he had to be killed because he failed to do the job, why didn't Florida dude and Tilda have to be killed for failing to do their job? So they assaulted his girlfriend and failed to get information so they just went home? Made no sense. And why send two killers anyway, when one of them would have been more efficient. And what kind of professional killer leaves big boot prints with a pile of cigarette butts to be found right at the entrance gate?
@@cjlaity1 so ridiculous. I agree with everything you said. Also, wouldn't "The Lawyer" know those assassins bothched the job and hence he'd be expecting The Killer to maybe come for revenge? Wouldn't he have some security? And also, because they did fail their job, wouldn't they mayhe have been waiting for The Killer to arrive to get another chance at assainating him? Or hunting him? Instead of just going about their lives business as usual?
When he spared the client, I think that his words are to build pure fear and constant torture. In the beginning, The killer stated that “one of the greatest lies said by the United State Military-Infrastructure is that sleep deprivation didn’t qualify as torture”. Basically The Client is now tortured with the fact that such a killer is still on the loose and can strike at anytime for a slow gruesome death. Sleep Deprivation, Fear and Anxiety of The Killer, the client really is going thru literal hell, Hense I don’t think he’s being very empathetic with the client.
That’s my own theory so tell me if I’m wrong and ur own opinions
Nice
After reading that I definitely agree, my thought after watching it was that the client was a billionaire and shown in several articles on the killers phone so if he shot him right there it would be massive news and hard to get away with. But I guess both can be true
probably gonna become so mentally unwell and scared that he will kill himself
Very good point
All movies are a audio and visual, only, experience that the writer and the director want to print on us.
David Fincher is known to be a very methodical director, and he usually spends time and money printing on the movie what he wants the audience to convey.
As an audience, I don't feel that he showed us that "The Client" is afraid of "The Killer". He is more surprised than afraid, in my opinion.
The way the film depicted the fight between The Brute and The Killer was really well done. You can visually “feel” each hit. It’s like a good middle ground between Bourne’s shaky cam tussle and Wick’s well-framed shootout.
I agree. For me the impactfulness was mostly due to the sound during that scene, like every thud was so intense.
In looked uncanny in someway like CGI.
When I tell you I was so impressed by the fight scene. I was not expecting that froma netflix film!
@@WouldYouKindlyGWAR Some how it managed to not take away from the fight. It felt like real chaos in the moment.
@@UziTekk It was still fun to watch I just could not, not notice it ya know?
I think that he allowed Clayborne to live because of what he said about the police putting more effort into solving crimes committed against the rich. It would probably be safer for him to intimidate Clayborne than to kill him and have the authorities investigate his death.
When you kill a billionaire it's not just the police you have to worry about, it's the the FBI, the CIA in case of a foreign nation involvement, the security forces of whatever nation the billionaire has business dealings with and let's not forget the most powerful institution on the planet, big banks. If any of their moneyed clients die mysteriously it's because they wanted it to happen. You can't hide from big banks either, not when you have 8 million dollars to spend. I wish they said something like this in the film. You just know the director of Fight Club thinks this way.
Agreed. Logical.
But the killer can always make it look like an accident or of natural causes (ricin)
@@jacobrobles474Sure, but his protection/employer is gone and he is now vulnerable until he finds a replacement or retires. His skills might be effective dealing with unwitting targets, but in the real world these sorts of professionals operate under the protection of the military, the intelligence agencies or organised crime. The freelance assassin is a myth because he can't operate without the protection of the powers that be. So, he chose wisely to respect and defer to real power.
@@jacobrobles474nope his on camera bro watch the movie again.
I think the eye twitch and finally closing his eyes has to do with his finally resting and turning off his perpetual vigilance. Fassbender conscientiously chose not to blink in a single frame of this movie until the final frame. So the first blink followed by the twitch and then closing his eyes, is him resigning to blindly accept fate whatever that may be.
I assumed he was drugged by Tilda. That whiskey was too specific of a scene. She was drinking poisoned whiskey in my opinion. Baiting him to drink it. When he finally does. She knows she's dead. But gets to kill him in the future. The Killer says to the final guy he spared - I could poison you, a slow death, your body shutting down (or something similar) - I think the eye twitch is him dying from poison.
he actually blinks after the whiskey swig
Come on. The twitching eye is just because he was hit very hard during his fight with the latin guy. Sometime a cigar is just a cigar
@@alepst9296 I don't believe a filmmaker, especially one as meticulous as fincher, would put an eye twitch just before credits for no reason. This man does 100 takes. He doesn't like happy endings. That's your unhappy fincher ending. Fassbbutter is dead as dead.
There is a flicker of a twitch when he cuts the secrataries ties.
That's not it. He refused to buy bullets for the Glock, he had already decided not to kill the billionaire.
Excellent catch ;)
With a gun, at least. We had already seen him kill multiple people with his bare hands.
Killing a billionaire means killers on his head
He probably has bullets or the gun came with atlest 1 loaded mag
He probably has bullets or the gun came with atlest 1 loaded mag
I noticed Tilda Swinton also had the eye twitch once or twice at the dinner table. She also mentioned that he will be in the same spot one day. I took his last scene of eye twitch to imply he’s nervous about dying. Brilliant ending.
thought maybe she had passed him a posioned glass of whiskey?
@@harryc1971 but her eye twitched immediately while his twitched days after so that couldnt be the case.
Nervous about not killing. He''s The Killer after all.
Same with Tilda's character. She's rich enough too retire, but can't stop killing. At first it was about money, later it wasn''t anymore
I took it that he is dying. That's why he calls himself one of the many
In the beginning- the killer explains that a small group of people though powerful feel insecure and need protection from “the many”. They have to control the “many” who feel like they are safe under the protection of the few.
Throughout the rest of the movie each character represents their own motivations and feelings of protection.
The lawyer’s secretary represents “the many”. When faced with death all that matters is that her insurance money goes to her family and her family sees her death as an accident- not that she’s part of an assassination ring.
The brute- is “protected” by intimidation and large bombastic strong things- his posse, the hummer truck, the dog “diva” and his muscles.
The Q-tip woman is protected by her cunning- she is physically weaker but can prey on anyone’s sympathy. She is protected by others’ weaknesses.
The killer does not kill the billionaire at the end bc the billionaire only wants to feel safe from blowback.
By breaking into the billionaire’s condo, the killer has shown that nothing is impenetrable and that the billionaire should fear the killer for the rest of his life.
This is a stronger protection than killing the billionaire bc if he killed the billionaire a new manhunt for the killer would ensue.
The killer now has plenty of money and has erased every potential threat; protected so that he can live like “the many” because he is “protected” by his manipulation of “the few”.
But why kill the uber driver (taxi driver) who literally did nothing but drive those people to a destination and wait for them to return and took them to an airport after , he even says he wanted to leave but had to stay because his job required it.
Now speaking from personal experience doing Uber / Lyft if someone requests multiple stops , you have to go to those stops requested and wait for the people at each stop no matter how long it takes and if you need gas , just turn your engine off and wait.
The point I'm making is why kill him and not the billionaire who hired others to clean up a mess that he paid for knowing he could be doing wrong.
Taxi driver is local, knows where he lives, and saw his face.
Claybourne is a rich coward who had the fear of God put in him, the taxi driver is a poor man without much to lose and could see opportunity in exposing the killer. It's a calculated and necessary decision imo
@johndarcangelo6893 but the billionaire has the "means" (if he wanted to order as many hitmen as possible to go after the killer , where as the taxi guy just trying to make a living and probably won't seek that guy out anyways) also both rich guys live in the end (first hit (I'm assuming he's rich based on his place of residence at the beginning) and the billionaire at end , who I guess put out the hit on the other rich guy but in the end both rich guys live and the peons die.
Also regardless of whether the billionaire was guilty or innocent he never bought bullets for the gun meaning he didn't wanna kill him regardless which I find confusing.
Story of our lives I guess , money brings longer life , with exceptions to people like Steve Jobs.
@@TheRealHarpo well tbh, his reasons are probablynot that deep at all, it's probably exactly for the reason he says in the movie. I actually didn't think this was a very good movie.
@@TheRealHarpo I could be wrong, but whenever The Killer gets home, he sees cigarettes and footprints in front of his house you can see the same footprints leading to the house. Before he shot him, the taxi driver pulled out cigarettes and started smoking , that could mean the taxi driver was lying about just waiting around for them to come back.
This movie is more Hitman than any Hitman movie they'll ever make
The outfits are exactly what Agent 47 would wear! Also the way he plans for the getaway and everything. Just brilliant. This is how they should've made the Hitman movies.
@@TunezCottage yes I agree, it looks just like Hitman games in pretty much everything
The fight scene between him and brute was amazing. Not many fast cuts they kept camera on the action and the punches felt real
no human alive could take that punishment ..
@@brianlutz7813well i mean…it’s a movie bud?
The brute had him on the ground completely defenseless and punched him in the face twice. Decides to just stop and go for the gun? Why not just beat him to death there? Also the Brute hit him witn a full force uppercut and dude didn’t even flinch. I know, I know, “its a movie” but still.
@@CodyTravers_ it’s a movie.
I thought it was hilarious The killer getting punched in the face by the brute or was awesome his facial expressions were like I fucked up.
"Stick to the plan, trust no one, anticipate, don't improvise" -- Killer.
This is what it takes
I mean by the end of the movie you're sitting there reciting the mantra haha
This is what it takes to succeed
@@gamingtemple5731 yes, in every aspect of your life
I thought it was hilarious that his camouflage was that of a German tourist
Fincher really needs to do more movies like this...watched this morning and afterwards I was like I hope he does another one...been awhile reminds me of Dexter inner monologue was awesome and the lighting and had hints of fight club I wouldn't mind seeing a assassin with split personality but filmed like this...but yeah this is fincher doing doing what he does best thank you Mr fincher please don't have us fans waiting for so long until the next one
I actually enjoyed Mank and Gone Girl, I think it would become a little monotonous if all his films were the same. I thought The Killer was good but definitely not one of his best imo. Gone Girl was much better and had a lot more depth with a great performance from Rosemund Pike.
If it’s good, then it’s probably one of his best. How many films have he made? If it’s top 5 or top 10 would it be one of his best? I would rank Gone girl over this because of the storyline only, but as for the movie as a whole it’s right up there. Both movies were a little slow, but still engaging.
@@RichardWhatley-qo5jm
The Killer is his 12th film. Personally I wouldn't put it in his top 5.
I disagree with most of the comments about letting the client free. It was not just he is rich and the police would investigate much more than his previous victims. He does say F-it! in his head and went through a lot to get into his high security apartment. I believe he fully intended to kill the client. He let him live because the client gave a truthful explanation that was in line with what he already suspected. That it was the lawyer who ordered the hit on his "innocent" girlfriend. That was what he was getting revenge for. The Killer thought what they did crossed the line in that he was in trouble for botching the hit but they instead punished an innocent and instead beat up and scarred his girlfriend. It was against his very convoluted "moral code".
The film actually shows the level of culpability and his targets knowing why he was after them. The first is the lawyer, who acts indignant and says repeatedly "why did you go home?". He expected the Killer to run and hide and would not know his girlfriend was to be killed. (They tell us she survived only through luck). He had to punish the killer in some way, and expected he was gone and could not kill him, so he took the punishment out on the only person the killer (maybe loved?) cared about. He was most culpable and died pretty horribly.
The Brute knows what he did and know why he is there but is such a killer himself he does not apologize. The Expert knows why he is there too, but unlike the first two, apologizes and says she did not approve, but her attitude towards her job and her nihilism made it impossible for her to stop it. So she died too. She was still culpable, but at least knew it was wrong, but that was enough to kill her. BUT not as harshly as the others and he could at least talk civilly to her.
When he confronted the client, There was the least culpability and he could tell the client was telling the truth and he did not know his girlfriend was to be a target, just him (implied) and the Killer was fine with that as he could accept that. But he warns him still that the "clean up" for the botched hit is over and not to look for him, and the client I believe absolutely understood and will not.
Best breakdown by far‼️ Some of these theories in the comments are just ridiculous 😭
what about the taxi driver?
I didn't buy the client's plea. There are no reasons he should not have killed him but we wouldn't be talking about it if he had.
By far, the best explanation. Thanks bro for taking the time to write it
@@Jake-gw9cjthe taxi driver, knew something was off. He saw the brute came back bleeding, yet he went by his life and didn't report the incident or have any guilt about it
One thing I actually liked is how humanized he was. Usually these kinds of portray the hit man as some sort of overpowered demigod with superhuman mental and physical capabilities. They both prepare for anything and adapt to everything. This is especially true in the beginning of the film, when we are being introduced to the person. We watch an example of the characters prowess to set the stage. But in this we see him going through extreme boredom, which completely subverts our expectations. And to double down, the first action he takes is very incompetent. We watch him make a predictable mistake, one we felt that even we wouldn't have made it. Then he basically panicked. I immediately knew this was going to be good. Hell even looking at the Netflix recommended related to this movie is just a bunch of movies that are exactly the same. And those are just the very recent ones. I'd be willing to bet you could give anyone a letter and they could come up with 5 titles off the top of their head beginning with that letter
The dude was totally void of any emotion. Didn't hesitate when it came time to kill the innocent cab driver. My expectations weren't subverted. The guy didn't panic after he screwed up. He tried to make a second shot and when he was comprised he got out of there all stealth like. Good movie, but not Fincher's best work.
@@stephen3762interesting take. I felt the payoff of the killer being affected by having to kill the cab driver was done earlier in the movie when he finds out the driver’s identity- from that point it was almost a certainty that he’d kill him- otherwise he’d be caught. I disagree with the “he’s basically a psychopath” assessment tho. Fincher deliberately gives us a view into what the killer tells himself to justify killing the innocent- he despises empathy towards anyone that stands in the way of his journey, almost like a soldier being propagandised against empathy for the enemy- except he does it to himself; so no, i don’t believe he was a stone cold psychopath, but someone who got too used to killing-which still ultimately bothers him.
@@stephen3762 The cab driver wasn't innocent. The cab driver waited at the front of his house whilst his passengers attacked the killers home (see the cigarette butts outside the main gate to killers house). The cab driver lied to the killer. The cab driver being poor can be easily bought and identify the killer. The cab driver may be innocent in that he couldn't have predicted all this and he was just doing his job but he inadvertently put himself in a situation where as the killer says if you see him then it's bad news. The killer says no compromise, if someone has to die to protect the killer then they will die.
Great job. I just want to add the McDonald's part was also methodical as he said millions of people buy there. (Helping him camouflage ) and was the perfect place to get 10g of protein for a peso. He then eats it with out the bread to cut the most of the unnutritious calories. Thar whole part was like a hit man's hack to eat breakfast low key.
One euro*
@@sqeekeezthehamster1116 yes thank you
its pure product placement(particularly the line about how many ppl eat there). every mcdonalds has lots of cameras. hed be better off buying at a local market to avoid a paper trail.
There's more to Fincher's use of branded names than mere product placement too. The most obvious thing is the nameless killer is surrounded by well known brand names, like Wework, Fed ex, McDonalds. I don't think Fincher is celebrating corporate names in anyway. His films are too smart and subtle. He's a bit like Kubrick in that regard. The brand names only serve to highlight the satire. @@onsidelegal1002
My boy on the carnivore diet. All I saw him eat was that McDonald's without the bread and extras and those two boiled eggs.
The movie is a bit more layered than at first glance I think. I can see themes from other movies reappearing in this one. The way the Killer uses both modern tech, like the card key fob, or his heart monitor watch, and later uses an old fashioned rollerdex reminded me of the same theme of digital versus analog in Dragon Tattoo. Then there's Finchers love of screens. The Social Network, Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl and now The Killer have tons of shots of screens..computer screens, cctv monitors, plasma screen tvs, all sorts. It makes me think the shot where the Killer is thrown against a plasma screen, smashing it, has metaphorical meaning too. It's an intriguing movie and I haven't figured out exactly why yet. Also, how great is it seeing Fassbender in a lead role again?! The guy is effortlessly charismatic.
Spoilers for no country for old men but it reminded me of near the end once Anton does something against his code things immediately go downhill for him and this movie felt like the end of that movie but more fleshed out in a sense until he finally accepts he lost his mojo by the end
I got a sense of No Country too. There's even the sound of a ticking clock at the end of both movies! All the proceedural stuff, like having a wash in the gas station bathroom, reminded me of Anton and Moss doing similar things when Moss goes on the run. @@The_Gake
Fincher has come out and said that the narration is a ploy, a way tpo play around with the audiences expectations for a thriller and the thriller format. The Killer talks about precision, then misses his first shot. He also speaks about blending in, but he stands out like a sore thumb! The Killer is an old fashioned unreliable narrator!
I don't think he ever meant to kill the client. Even when he buys the Glock he says he needs no ammo. He just wants to scare the guy, that's all. The guy is too big and the attention wouldn't be nice. And he gets the confirmation that the people he already killed are the ones responsible, particularly the lawyer. He often asks "What is in it for me?" Killing the client: nothing, the vengeance was already done.
With a gun, at least. We had already seen him kill multiple people with his bare hands. Plus he had already seen Client, so Killer knew Client was no match for him physically.
One thing that doesn't make any sense: the 2 killers were sent to 'mop up'.... but not only they didn't find him and kill him, they didn't kill the girlfriend! Not only this supposedly hyper professional operation of hitmen leave a job unfinished but also leaves a motivation for revenge like they're not aware of what happens when you mess with a killer's love ones.... or pets? 🤔 They haven't seen John Wick? 🤔
This kind of bugged me too. Those two would have stayed and finished the job in the Dominican. Self preservation first and foremost.
They had to know he was the top dog as hit men go.
By not killing Clayborne, Fincher is giving a pass to those with money and power who keep their hands clean. As long as the Rich and Powerful don't know the details, they're blameless. The only people who deserve "justice" are the workers that carry out the orders of those in power.
I thought the same. Interesting choice.
So the movie is an adventure in nihilism?? Hard pass.
its also an ode to the phrase 'dont bite the hand that feeds you'
RIP Leo
I think the point was that by letting Clayborne live, the police wouldn't come after him and he could live rest of his life with his girlfriend as a "normal person".
not killing the client was a purely logical and rational decision consistent with his first principles. he went intending to kill, knowing the risk/reward was high (saying the higher the net worth, the more the police will investigate), then made the decision not to kill when the client provided a plausible explanation putting all the blame on the people he had already killed. it wouldve been foolish for him to up his exposure for no real logical upside.
Yeah he believed him and he basically hedged his bets by telling him "Don't make me come back here."
Every debating his morality and why he didn't kill the client meanwhile the poor cab driver is like 'what did I do?'
The thing I love about Fincher is how obvious it is that he truly loves the history of cinema and pays homage or is influenced by: Hitchcock (Rear Window) Coppola (The Conversation), DePalma (Body Heat), Scorsese (Taxi Driver) and the director of Drive (always forget his name, lol). His lighting and cinematography and art direction always wow.
I think people are missing something big. The killer is the hunter that Tilda Swinton described in her Hunter v bear funny parable. The bear ultimately figured out that the hunter liked getting fu*#%ed, not the hunting alone. The killer was too good, so good that he was not used to the consequences of failing. That’s why he did not kill the client at the end. That’s when his normal rules did not apply. He left the door for the client to come after him wide-open on purpose, so he could “hunt” all over again.
Do you believe this is the beginning of a series of films?
I love this. Great insight
This is the best hitman film adaption ever created, then again agent 47 and the other one weren't hard to top
its good but its not leon
@@ChrisW_Essex Leon was too Hollywood. a contract killer with a good heart... at least Gary Oldman was there to save the film
Yeah the “chapters” reminded me a lot of the newer Hitman games.
The best hit man film is Le Samourai. This was 💩
Collateral is also good. Tom cruise.
I thinks that the liquor he drank offered by the expert is spiked with radioactive material. Hence the twitching of the eye, just like he said to the client on his warning before leaving.
I dont think the end is as rosy as this take describes it. She flinches when he approaches, and his eye twitch says to me that he's not capable of truly stopping. To me, the entire movie was about the killer coming face to face with his own hypocrisy. He breaks every part of his professed code along the way. Both the lawyer and expert give him a reality check on how he's not really doing what he thinks he's doing, nor is he doing them for the reasons he thinks he is.
I think her flinch indicates she's still traumatized. He doesn't get to leave entirely unscathed, in that he cares about her, so must share this pain.
I appreciate the lack of melodrama. at the same time, the girlfriend isn't just a motivation for revenge.
This is my take too. His entire goal is ultimately to get revenge for his lover being tortured, which inherently goes against his empathetic ideologies. He essentially is a walking contradiction. Fascinating character.
I actually thought it would have been cool to see his girlfriend’s eye twitch as if she was the one who orchestrated everything to get him out of her life but her plan failed. I get that all the people he killed weren’t on the offensive (they didn’t expect him) but it would’ve been a cool twist ending.
That fight scene was fantastic. From the moment the Brute’s dog passes out to when the Killer throws a Molotov cocktail through the window, I was on the edge of my seat. That is exactly how you do a brawl scene.
The end explained in first monologue what made him a perfect killer is he didn't give a fck. However, when he foundout his girlfriend was endanger he realized he did give a fck which makes him part of the rest of us.
I find this review as a brilliant take on the movie. A whole new perspective for me. It's a great explanation of the movie's conclusion and everything that's led up to it.
That’s why people should learn to understand movies by watching videos like this. Always puts a new perspective on what we saw and what we understood
As for him eating mcdonald’s, he did say “protein” in particular and he only ate the meat and egg…
When he realized he wasn't a part of the few and only just one of the many so he decided to let the guy go cause he doesn't even remember the whole deal was just perfect, Fincher never loses his touch , i loved every second of this movie and I'll definitely watch it again
yeah the fight between the brute and the killer has to be one of the best hand to hand fights i’ve ever seen in a movie. It just kept going and it felt realistic how long it took for them to kill the other. And the sound especially enhanced this
Fassbenders eye twitch at the end was the final transformation of the Killer. He is no longer an apex predator, but is now prey, one of the many, if you will.
Well, he cleaned up all involved, so who excatly is gonna come after him???
Who is gonna make a contract after him?
The client? He doesn't know shit about him, he gonna go and ask someone to kill some random hitman???
@@jarigustafsson7620 No one needs to come after him, he could get car jacked at the supermarket by some random. Because, that shit actually happens, unlike super assassins running around the planet killing people and amassing millions in "clean" money in off shore accounts.
If he was not poisoned by the Expert, then he is spiritually poisoned by his mistake and his criminal past, as immediately preceding the eye twitch is his partner's flinching when he approaches, symbolizing irreparable trauma.
I really loved the film. To me, that final twitch is less about that need to continue the hunt, but rather the tension and anxiety he will continue to live, always trying to anticipate some sort of retribution of another assassin coming to find him. Though he has retired, the price he must pay is never fully being at ease with his normal life because he wants to protect the one he loves.
That's how I saw it too. It's not easy to just let go and forget your past. The twitch was just an after effect from his past.
Finch did an amazing job with that fight scene. I want to see him do more action.
I missed that twitch at the end! Good catch. Cheers for the video.
At the end of the film, the ticking of a clock can be heard on the sound track, and the music becomes subtly dissonant, just before the credits roll. Time is running out, it seems to say. Don't let that escape your notice.
Awesome breakdown! I thought the inclusion of all these corporate brands was interesting and had me thinking this film was a twisted metaphor for corporate misdeeds and lack of responsibility at the top. Everyone in this operation gets killed except the wealthiest one, the Client, who escapes repercussions with a half-assed apology, something we've seen time and time before in real life.
There are times that I’m on the fence about watching something and then Think Story will make a video about the same movie or show and it always gives me the extra nudge to check something out.
I really the movie and your explanation did help me with that big question. I missed the twitch though and glad you mentioned it .
Great job!!!
You all missed it. He believes Clayborne because as he points out, Clayborne, upon seeing a man sneak infiltrate his home with a silencer, assumed it was a robbery and not a hit. And so the killing did not fit his logic. Contrast that to QTip, who lied to him till the end.
He made the point that investigation of crimes is proportional to the wealth of the victim, this is why he let him go, because he also kiled the taxi driver and assistent who both had no choice or knowlegde of what happened. He declares in the end he will protect the rich because he wants to be with his girlfriend. It is a version of 'crime and punishment' by Dostojevski who is a pretty popular philosopher at the moment. In that book the protagonist kills a woman because he feels like he's entitled to the same right to violence as the state. He is investigated and a detective recounts his writing about the topic to him (but can't catch him). He's riddled with anxiety and in the end he chooses to undergo punishent because he can't bear the guilt. He thus decides to embrace his social status which is not that of a god.
Great breakdown. And the fact that the assassin uses aliases from sitcom characters is also a subtle nod to the film’s final scene, which I couldn’t watch without thinking the theme tune ti the British sitcom Terry and June😂
I think you nailed the heart of who the killer was. It makes me think of how when we're young, we don't GAF. However, life has a way of making us, GAF. It's almost as if the Killer has matured during the course of the movie. It also points to the fact people are not machines even though he's portrayed as a terminator type figure at the beginning with no feelings, no emotion, strict daily rituals, etc and by the end, he now has conflicting ideas given the slight twitch.
Finally, that twitch hopefully means Part 2 is coming.
At 3:13 - you mentioned how the killer eats McD's. This was the best and most realistic representation of eating "healthy" while not having access to a gym and proper nutrition. As someone who has recently started tracking my macros, I immediately noticed that the killer doesn't eat excess carbs (the only time I remember him eating carbs is when he was eating a banana, which is considered good carbs from fruit) and thus, the killer is continuously eating healthy. With the McD's, he first says, its surprising how many McD's are in France and that it offers the best protein to dollar ratio. Additionally, he removes the bread and combines two breakfast sandwiches, thus only eating protein and fats. He later is seen eating a banana and drinking an Ensure drink. Finally, he doesn't indulge in ice cream when he is with The Expert. Couple his food intake choices with the yoga and calisthenics he does, and it is easy to see why he is in such great shape! This was absolutely intentional.
Don't remember the banana, but yeah I noticed all he ate was the meat from the McDonald's sandwich and those two boiled eggs. Might be on the carnivore diet
@@Rich_iam the banana was when he was staking out the Lawyers office and he was in the van eating it 🍌, and then he washed it down with an Ensure Shake I remember bc it was the only time he had a carbs, which as humans we need. Just don’t need excess carbs.
he’s in mid shape at best though. he’s just malnourished 💀
@@girthatbirth based on your photo, you’re a big guy, which means you are disciplined, to which I applaud you. Now, and respectfully, given your size, you also have a skewed view on what mid-shape and malnourished looks like.
The killer said to Clayboure "maybe a radioactive speck on the lip of your favorite coffee mug -a slow death from a painful facial necrosis" the twitch on the killer"s face at the end of the film might be a sign of the facial necrosis. Perhaps Claybourne really planned to erase him.
My take on it, which now one ask for.. the Killer is and always one of the Many, he is obsessed and infatuated with the idea of being one of the few. This is why he has this mantra for himself. One who are these things, Does it need to remind himself constantly.
Fincher a big shower not teller.
The killers actions stand in stark contrast to his inner dialogue. It is only when he reminds himself, to be ruthless that he is.
An other examples of this characters, inconsistencies, are during his failed sniper shot, where he lists subsonic ammunition, not having a drop at that range, and his heart rate, needing to be below 60 bpm, and then missing the shot. ( as a former Marine scoutSniper) I can tell you that both of these points are very untrue.
And his use of the nail gun and understanding of anatomy are dubious.
I would say, the overall message of the movie is about trouble with self identity, and wanting to be some thing so much that you were not. And that if you try hard enough, you can get your goal with enough effort, but chasing an idea of yourself is always problematic, because it's not you.
Any way that enough typing in the bath tub.
Watched it this morning. Thought it was just a really good, really well done thriller!
The part that hurt me was the part he killed the driver , honestly that guy did nothing wrong, he was just doing his job , he was at the wrong place at the wrong .
I’m still trying to figure that one out. The only thing I noticed is how overly confident the cab driver seemed off and on-I think The Killer felt strongly the cab driver was lying. But that scene is driving my brain crazy.
Because the driver could identify Killer, and he needed to go back to the island, either permnently or at least to get Girlfriend and leave.
@@xczechr Hmmm well I think the guy was innocent.
The only thing I can think of is comparing the killer to a true hunter, who kills plenty of animals (deer, ducks, etc…) who have done seemingly nothing wrong to him.
Clayborne was Private Cowboy in Full Metal Jacket
The narrative in the 1st person was great! The storage wars reference was hilarious.
saw the killer in sydney. loved it. love fassbender and fincher. love your take on it. great vid. keep at it. hopefully this isn't the last time we see fincher direct fassbender
There’s one other time I noticed the eye twitch and that’s when the lawyers secretary was begging for her life in the bathroom.
Watched twice already. Its a hell of a movie.
fasbender so underrated. awesome movie.
The comicbook the movie’s based on is highly recommended reading. The Killer as well as Blacksad are 2 of the most well-written and drawn European comics from the last couple of decades, IMO.
I think he did not kill the client because just like the Expert’s story about the bear, he keeps hunting and he keeps coming back. So not killing the client(the bear) gives him a new path.
It’s upsetting that he killed the taxi driver, but not the Billionaire client who was the catalyst for his entire motivation. The Killer knew he was going to kill the taxi driver before he even stepped in the car even if he was innocent.
I can see your point and agree…… seemed like his emotion got the best of him with the 🚕.
It seems like that decision was an emotionless practical one to erase any connection to him or the girlfriend, to allow them to keep their life. He only stopped when he felt assured that the goal was accomplished, and killing the client vs. just scaring him was trading too much risk someone would come looking for him. Consistent with his “philosophy” laid out in the intro, it’s all practical and emotionless gamesmanship. He’s did what was required to meet his goal, and no more. No morale vindication or sense of justice, just what was required. He has a line of inner monologue when he’s leaving the Brute’s house: “This is what it takes. What you must commit yourself to if you want to succeed.”
Well technically the taxi driver is more guilty than the client. He drove the hit men and then knowing some shit went down, didn’t report it or do anything. Essentially assisted in the attempt of murder.
Everyone gets killed but the rich white guy lives on
Well it's more realistic 😂😂😂
@@gablebrandonI agree. The big cop-out in the movie is putting a knife in the hands of the woman killer to make us feel better about her death.
All his fake names were tv dads. Hearing the bank representative say “Thank you Mr. Jefferson” was funny.😂
Sala Baker is fantastic. Tilda Swinton too. Feeling a bit deflated about the ending.
I can't believe people forgot what The Killer told Claibourne about the many ways he could kill him if he felt that he had to go back. ONE of them was a slow-acting poison and he specifically mentions an eye twitch as a symptom.
I am assuming that despite his precautions he has been poisoned by the coffee he just drunk. It's possible that Claibourne hired someone else to take him out quietly, but I suspect the poison was left by The Expert. Remember, The Killer didn't stay in his home after he found out what happened, and this would be the first time he relaxed at home with a cup of coffee since going on his mission of vengeance.
I don’t think he mentions eye twitching. I don’t believe at all Claybourne went after The Killer to be honest. He’s a sloppy millionaire. His “bodyguard” was a joke. The Killer wanted out and killing Claybourne would make him paranoid and looking over his shoulder since that guy is rich and as he said, authorities would be more diligent in finding him. Rather keep him alive and terrified and scared of him having seen how easily he was that close to killing him. My two cents.
Boy, you're talking outta' your ass. First; there's no mention of eye-twitching throughout the entirety of the film, in conjunction with being poisoned or otherwise. Secondly, the concluding scene begins with him getting a coffee and snack for his partner that he nor she drinks out of at all.
The Killer was poisoned by the Expert during his conversation with her, when he drank from the wine bottle in a moment of doubt and humiliation. I agree that his description of one of the ways he could kill Claybourne does foreshadow his eye twitch as a symptom of poisoning.
@@PerditiousRuin If you look at the Killer and his girlfriend, their wounds are almost healed. Quite a time has passed since he encountered the Expert. Any poison would have left his system by that time.
That's no BS either. Polonium is one of the most poisonous substances by volume.
This probably isn’t the reason but I noticed the killers motto “the less you know the better” came into play when it came to the last victim because he basically explained to him that he didn’t know what “cleaning the trail” meant so it would be hypocritical to kill him when he uses the same motto to kill others
You had me at Director of Se7en! 🤣🤣🦋
This film is filled with so many subtleties that I have (gleefully) had to rewatch and think about it more. There is much more to this film than only one viewing can discern. I think the filming and editing are superb. Michael Fassbender is the perfect casting choice for this role - I hope he is back to acting as I always look forward to his work (I'm only now gong through his filmography). Everything about this film is high art of the film industry. I am encouraging people to see it, which I seldom do. One idea : It took me about half of my first viewing to realize that Fassbender never blinks. I know this was due to film editing, but the effect, subtle though it may be, is startling. There seems to be some debate about the flinching muscle near the eye (which took me two go arounds to discover) at the very last scene. When coupled to an entire film of no blinking and then adding finally being able to close his eyes, makes for a very subtle but strong intricacy . I wonder about the character then - if it is a response that comes from stress or nervousness or even exhaustion. He has just sought revenge on personal grounds -- completely opposite of his mantras. Seems to me that it is truly time for the Killer to get some rest.
It was a great looking, dense and atmospheric masterpiece but it still didn't totally work for me. Too detached. Too little at stake. Although it has the best fight scene Fincher ever directed, it felt a bit empty. I nevertheless want to re-watch it.
holy shite, when u show what David Fincher said i was like, yup that was me while watching the movie. like imagine renting a van/car not knowing the previous renter just butcher a human being there. i mean he cleaned it afterwards but still, you just never know. theyre the few of the many.
00:55 Is that a Happy Days reference?!
Great review, by the way.
Fincher needs to quit messing around and finish MINDHUNTER!!! But yea, The Killer was very good.
Netflix canceled it. It was good though
@@wheredougat1324 they cancelled it because he didnt have time, they can renew it if he wanted
Just watched it 50 mins ago, I liked it!
Me to
He didn't kill the client to ensure there isn't revenge. He killed his management. But he knows his client can be scared to prevent revenge.
loved the movie, loved the vid thank you!
This is a great film and it was refreshing just to see something that wasn't some moral story.
Average movie will never be cult classic
@@Whatta33 Since when do films have to be great to be cult classics? I think you're misunderstanding what a cult classic is.
Best pure Fincher since Fight Club.
My man, the Killer lets the billionaire go because as he narrates himself at some point when he first sets off to get the billionaire (1 hour 35 mins into the movie when he's on the airplane) that "the police tend to match their efforts in direct proportion of the victims net worth". It's, that, simple.
Your explanation is hella convoluted.
What I think about the ending: In my opinion, his partner was too worried about convincing him that "he hadn't said anything", her brother too, as if he wanted to protect her from Him, the Killer. The final scene shows her icy gaze, she doesn't smile, the scar on her forehead on full display. Then, outside the Killer's field of vision, the curtains move in the wind but it is as if it communicated to us an impending incoming threat. The Eye Tic, like a sixth sense that senses something and then... closes its eyes.
“Police tend to match their efforts in direct proportion to the victims wealth.” -The Killer
The Killer did not kill Claybourne because:
1. Claybourne honestly did not know the personal damage he caused The Killer.
2. He did not want even the slightest possibility of being involved in a large scale police investigation. He just wanted to retire in peace.
A Killer with an infinite amount of fake Passports and Money.
The Killer was excellent.
The battle with the Brute was fierce. However, The Killer was relatively unscathed.
I was hoping for better fighting skills, maybe a little Muay Thai. The Killer slips a punch and then smashes the Brute's knee with a powerful leg kick.
I think the killer was purging himself of "the killer" through the movie. The botched hit was going to be his last one. The killer used the situation of his girlfriend being harmed to purge himself of " The killer" he had been for so long. He is changing throughout the movie. That's why he takes more chances as the movie progresses, and why he didn't kill the cliet
The killer didn't kill Clayborne because of this reason. The "trail" had been scrubbed.
Clayborne says that he paid another 150k for them to scrub the trail.
The killer had failed his initial mission of killing the target. Clayborne accepts the failure of the mission and pivots to wanting to erase any ties back to him. This sets off the killer's associates' hunt for him.
However, no one could be more damaging to the client than all the middlemen between him and the killer.
The killer, inadvertently, scrubs the trail back to Clayborne by murdering all the ring's associates in his quest for vengence.
By the time he gets to Clayborne, their conversation causes him to realize that he's made good on the secondary mission of "scrubbing the trail". It's a recompense for botching the initial mission. So they're even. The killer remains but isn't a legal threat to the client because they have equal guilt in the matter, and the client isn't a mortal threat to the killer because all the capable parties are wiped out.
He killed the taxi driver but not the rich dude.
Exactly. If there were two guys he wanted to k-word the most, it's the Floridian and the client.
So ridiculous
@@gavinborden5451 its not, the cab driver knew where he lived, he couldnt have loose ends. the rich dude didnt know shit
@@x340x Arliss Howard would have enough resources to find this guy. That whole "he's not of in my world" (or whatever he said) I felt was a cop out. That said, all of this is subjective. If you liked it you liked it. A lot of people I know and respect liked it. I like Fassbender and I thought it had style but it didn't work for me for several reasons. I won't name them all here, but just one example - the two assassins weren't able to kill his girlfriend? Wouldn't they have waited for The Killer to arrive regardless? Or wouldn't they try to hunt him down instead of going back to their lives?
The fight with the brute looked CGI ish I liked the movie and the fight was intense it just seemed unnatural in some areas the way it looked. Fassbender has his own "he's literally me" character now.
Yea the fight was trash, deft looked off
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, with one exception. The director and prop master apparently don’t know the difference between a silencer and a muzzle brake. And they make that mistake throughout the entire film.
I think he dies at the end. He says twice during the movie that you can be poisoned in your drink without you even knowing it. He says something about "facial necrosis". The end centers on him making coffee and saying that he is part of the many, not the few. Then, he blinks. He's been poisoned and will die horribly.
The eye twitch is interesting. Just prior to that there is a shadow that comes in the right corner of the screen across one of the curtains I believe. I believe he has either about to be killed or it’s the start of a next chapter. I would lean more towards the idea that he has become one of the many and now he is going to be killed.
I looked for this scene and could not find a shadow. All I saw were the curtains blowing in the breeze.
Nah, got to make that sequel
I like the ties to 'one of the many'. I really think there is overwhelming evidence that the Killer was poisoned by the Expert and dies imminently after the credits roll.
@@PerditiousRuin it was days after, any poison capable of killing you would already cause symptoms by then. and for the expert to poison him she would have to also poison herself, which doesnt make sense since she thought she can fool him given the knife in her hand when she died
Please disregard Rotten Tomatoes, this film is a true masterpiece from beginning to end.
What?
@@nikitaeremeev3850Just agree with it, its the truth
That McDonald meal was packed with 34 g of protein and no carbs. Actually pretty smart, fast, cheap and can get it everywhere.
A camera in the client’s condo caught the Killer on camera and the client was one of the few (super rich) who he knew that society would care about. Law enforcement would come after him if he killed the client. He let the client live, so he could retire and live his life with his girlfriend as one of the many (the 99%, but in his case still rich, but anonymous).
Actually what Fincher is saying with this movie is that the most rich and powerfull are the most soulless and weakest individuals. And that makes them ”the killers” of our world. This film is Finchers most direct anticapitalist film. Whole point of the movie is to show how even this loser wannabe sociopath hitman has more empathy than the mega rich who won’t even remember they ordered a hit. They have no empathy and they don’t care. And this is why Hitman is one of the many and not the few like the customer. He just cared a bit too much.
Killer is subtle story about how someone loses everything that actually matters to them: meaning of life. It is so funny to read how people are not getting the movie and thinks the hitman is some kind of hero or how the ending is ”happy”
I was driving a 36 Ford from California to New Jersey and broke down in Kingman AZ, just able to pull into a Motel 6 a hundred yards from the off ramp and 50 yards from a prison. Repairing the engine was the only show in town for what passed for the cast of Sons of Anarchy who were lodged there. Carrying a steamer trunk full of supplies with my buddy up the outside stairs to the Motel 6 second floor room, one of the dudes piped up: "what's in the box?" and I said without stopping or looking: "dead body".
Got one of em to cackle.
The waterfront scene was filmed in my hometown in IL!
Great review! But you really missed the genius of the McDonald's scene. The McDonald's is probably the nearest restaurant from his hideout spot. If you Look closely you'll see that he removes the buns of the sandwich making it a healthy keto meal.
Cool movie-until you realize 6 people die because of one man’s f*ck up. Talk about selfish entitlement. He missed his shot and then spends the rest of the movie blaming others for his own mistake. The “brute” and the “expert” also mess up, but wouldn’t have needed to get involved if he didn’t cause the initial mess up. His girlfriend got beat up-because of him. The lawyer had to tie up loose ends-because of him. The prostitute got killed-because of him. The assistant was killed-because of him. The cab driver was killed-because of him and because the cabbie actually did his job right. The killer even says “I blame you, Leo, for having to bring my work home.” Some nerve. You had one job and screwed up. Now you want to blame the rest of the world?
The only people who live are the client (who ordered the hit) and the initial target. Both also rich and entitled. And now the killer is rich and even more entitled. Kinda sucks.
We need a part 2 of this movie
The scene with Tilda Swinton really nailed it home. Her story about the hunter and the bear really made me think she had the upper hand and the hunter was digging himself into a deeper hole with all these assassinations but he ended up turning the tables by killing her swiftly and having a happy ending more like
4:53 This isn't a hard question. He basically explained it. Killing a multi-billionare would bring WAY too much "heat" and police. Too dangerous.
The eye twitch is because he's dying. The Expert poisoned the whisky he but not she drank with radiation. His emotions bring him down.
LMAO that is litterly the first time i heard this one if he was actually going to die she wouldn't have tried knife attempt at him
@@haseebhassan6955 She didn't drink from the poisoned bottle. She drank from the shot glasses, which the waiter implied were all different drinks.
he didnt drink from the bottle as well@@PerditiousRuin
Baffling how so many are injecting wildly pretentious intentions and interpretations. This is just a film about a self-assured hypocrite who endlessly monologues about his ideology, painting himself as cool, calm, and collected with a clearly defined outlook on everything from his profession to existence itself - and then repeatedly demonstrates that he isn’t nearly as competent, efficient, or aware as he believes himself to be.
This shares a lot of parallels with Michael Mann’s Collateral, which also introduces us to a slick and ruthless killer who seems to have it all figured out - only to fumble from one contradiction and sloppy mistake to the next.
Did he “spare” the client? Was the address card not possibly coated in some kind of poison?
When he recovered it he methodically wrapped it in something else to limit potential contact. Just a thought!
did you see him coating the card with poison? why imagine things that not there.
@@mjakotka what an idiotic response…isn’t the point of this thread the opportunity to speculate?