Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Kill List (2011)

Director: Ben Wheatley

Time Out rating

Average user rating

36 reviews

Synopsis

The violent new thriller from Ben 'Down Terrace' Wheatley.

Movie review

From Time Out London

Ben Wheatley’s self-funded debut feature ‘Down Terrace’ was an odd beast. It was hard to tell how much of the wordy, ultraviolent gangster comedy’s undeniable power was intentional and how much was derived from its micro-budgeted on-a-wing-and-a-prayer production. Well, here’s the answer: on the strength of ‘Kill List’, Wheatley might be the most idiosyncratic and exciting filmmaker the UK has produced since Shane Meadows.

Much of ‘Kill List’ will be familiar to anyone who caught ‘Down Terrace’ during its brief run last year: the semi-improvised dialogue and naturalistic performances, the close, documentary-style photography and the deep-seated sense of suburban moral decay. But it’s altogether more confident: where the earlier film leavened the darker moments with slapstick and satire, ‘Kill List’ is an unrelentingly grim ride into the bleakest imaginable terrain, its only humour black beyond belief.

It begins in a quiet housing estate, where Jay (cockney shoot-’em-up veteran Neil Maskell) and Shel (MyAnna Buring) are trying to raise their seven-year-old son amid money troubles and a faltering marriage. The arrival of Jay’s foul-mouthed colleague Gal (Michael Smiley) and his paramour Fiona (Emma Fryer) prompts a realisation: these two apparently normal working stiffs are, in fact, hired hitmen, and it’s time for them to get back to work. But who is their enigmatic new client, why does he want them to knock off a priest and what’s his connection to the mysterious Fiona?

For the first 45 minutes, this seems like a fairly standard killer-for-hire set-up. The editing and the audio palette are unusual and unsettling, the performances noticeably superior and the mood unrelentingly claustrophobic, but the plot seems to follow a predictable template. Then something happens – no clues except to say that it involves a hammer – and ‘Kill List’ takes a sharp left-turn into no man’s land.

There will be some who find the resulting series of increasingly brutal and dreamlike events hard to process, and a number of plot points remain unexplained even as the credits roll. But allow the film to take hold and its power is inescapable: the effect is like placing your head in a vice and waiting as it inexorably closes.

It’s hard to remember a British movie as nerve-shreddingly effective since ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’ in 2004. Like that film, ‘Kill List’ may not make the impact it deserves upon initial release. But this is a grower, a film which lingers long in the memory: look for it on ‘Best of British’ lists for a long time to come.

Author: Tom Huddleston

Time Out London Issue 2141: 1 – 7 Sept, 2011

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

Rich H said...

Posted on Apr 13 2012 09:45 This is not a typical movie. Its not cliched, it doesn't use a worn plot pattern (although parts will echo with other movies) and the style is totally unique. My issue with this film - and its my only issue - is killing of a child that occurs in it. A number of people expressed concern at 'not understanding' it - I don't think you are fully meant to at all here. People are polarised on this film - its real marmite stuff. Personally, I loved it and the film stayed with me a for while afterwards but I get why others object to it. I watch a lot of movies so for me, seeing something this original and challenging was really refreshing.

Report as inappropriate
dsmith said...

Posted on Mar 20 2012 13:25 There was a point where I considered walking out of the movie and the revulsion brought up by the final scene was strong enought that I immediately wished I had... Having slept on it, Kill List was pretty much what I had hoped for - a movie about something other than what was happening on the screen, Watch it again? Nope.

Report as inappropriate
militano said...

Posted on Mar 18 2012 18:33 Pretencius. Movie has influnce of Eyes wide shut on the end, which is a master piece compare to to this crap. If this is best of todays british cinema, than Hitchkok is turning in his grawe. Its not that is wierd and scary, its just so stupid, riding on the trends, but they have be going wrong for a long time, and this movie took the worst from each of the past decade trends, and blend it evan more badly, while trying to be cool

Report as inappropriate
brutaldeluxe09 said...

Posted on Feb 22 2012 22:21 A strangely compelling film, very well acted/directed and the production values are entirely delibarate, the sound in particular is very effective. The plot cam seem slightly disjointed but it's supposed to be. A typically British film this may not be a classic but it's a very good film and it should be saluted!

Report as inappropriate
John Cooper said...

Posted on Feb 08 2012 08:11 An ambitious film which ultimately takes on too mucn
getting lost in the process. There's the `hitmen as buddies` scenario, a gritty, sardonic British version of
Pulp Fiction, then there's the psychological analysis
element which tries to ground the film in surburban realism . . . . . and then there's The Wicker Man
in the final reels, where presumably the film-makers
are trying to incorporate diverse philosophical ideas
into what is already a head mix. Ths film succeeds in
that it poses questions about the nature of good and evil, and about human capacity for love and hate. However the film is gripping and the editing
and the soundtrack are intermittently effective. However
it's too much of a mish mash to achieve the aesthetic
coherence which one would hope for from a four or five star film.

Report as inappropriate
Jerry said...

Posted on Jan 31 2012 17:58 Sorry, but I should have paid heed to the word 'cult.' Bad camera shots, average acting and the arguments over trivia yet when the husband and wife were alone she changedcompletely. Couldn't wait for it to end. Embarrased to be British

Report as inappropriate
Spillage66 said...

Posted on Jan 24 2012 15:27 It's a well made gritty realistic urban hitman picture, that sudenly turns into a pile of pretentious crap, straight out of the vomit which is The Whicker Man, (and its ilk!)
There's no excuse, even by the PTS syndrome studying gazelle... it is, what it is! A half decent plot, well photographed, realistic practical effects, then, for no real reasons, apart from artistic ball locks... it turns into some ridiculous arty farty religious cult that makes no sense at all flick. (Even if you suspense belief that much that no involvement with the police or emergancy services results in people being murdered left, right and centre!!)
The extras on the DVD are crap as well, especially the "making of". Which is simply a montage of visuals with a sound track blurting over it. Don't bother with it, unless you suddenly take drugs during the last fifteen minutes!

Report as inappropriate
Robin said...

Posted on Jan 24 2012 12:26 The comments by others merely illustrate how misunderstood PTS and depression are; or worse how little people are prepared to try and understand. The film is an allegory of the mental decline of Jay due to the aforementioned. It is graphic, unerving and gritty. There is nothing pretty about PTS; it can destroy even the most loved of the sufferer (hence the finale). Jay and Shel's lack of selfawareness and undertsanding of Jay's condition preclude a happy ending. Highly recommended viewing, albeit disturbing at times and inevitably sad. If you like this sort of thing then try Vahalla Rising.

Report as inappropriate
Your thinknig matches min said...

Posted on Jan 24 2012 10:42 Your thinknig matches mine - great minds think alike!

Report as inappropriate
Spenner said...

Posted on Jan 23 2012 07:52 This film will divide people into two groups. Those that think they under stand it and those that think they don't. Im in the latter of the two groups. Ever heard of the tale of the Emporers new clothes? Thats how I would catagorise those people who think they understand it. Isnt it funny how people rave about a film that has a few arty camera angles and a bit of quirky "gritty" banter. 44 Inch chest has the same ingredients (arguably without the same level of violence) but you understand whats going on. With this film you expect to find out whats going on, but nothing ever really gets explained. Call me old fashioned, but I like a beginning, middle and end to my films (even if they aren't in chronological order, ala Pulp Fiction) not, as this film seems to deliver, a beginning and a middle. The film gets two stars because it does deliver some good moments.

Report as inappropriate
Zoe said...

Posted on Jan 22 2012 20:45 Rubbish. Couldn't get into the film so turned it off after 35 mins! What a let down :(

Report as inappropriate
I literally jumped out of said...

Posted on Jan 21 2012 13:33 I literally jumped out of my chair and dnaced after reading this!

Report as inappropriate
Fi18fo said...

Posted on Jan 19 2012 16:54 Some great acting and gritty drama but a completely bizarre end. Leaves a bit of a bitter taste. Would prefer not to watch a small child been stabbed to death. A better plot at the end could have made this a brilliant film. Unfortunately it's just weird.

Report as inappropriate
Thomas Noctor said...

Posted on Jan 06 2012 21:37 Boring, weird and seemed like it was made up as it went along. Awful, worst movie experience since The Road

Report as inappropriate
leon thomas said...

Posted on Jan 02 2012 14:58 for those who say the ending was rubbish and didn't make sense, can i suggest you watch it with your eyes open next time.
BRILLIANT film. one of the best to come out of this country for a long time.

Report as inappropriate