Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning — An insufferable ego trip

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning (2025) • View trailer

Two stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for strong violence, dramatic intensity and fleeting profanity

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 5.25.25

Vanity, thy name is Tom Cruise.

 

It has become increasingly obvious — ever since the Burj Khalifa climbing sequence in 2011’s masterfully entertaining Ghost Protocol revived the series — that Cruise’s increasingly flamboyant stunt sequences were becoming the tail that wagged the dog.

 

Upon reaching the entrance to a huge underground server farm, Ethan (Tom Cruise,
center) and his comrades — from left, Paris (Pom Klementief), Degas (Greg Tarzan
Davis), Benji (Simon Pegg) and Grace (Hayley Atwell) — find the place curiously quiet.

The Final Reckoning brings this trend to its inevitable, lamentable conclusion. 

All tail, and no dog.

 

This slog is overcooked and overlong, its incomprehensible, so-called “plot” no more than techno-babble dialogue interludes between Cruise’s determination to prove that he “can too still do this stuff” in his 60s, in an escalating series of laughably ludicrous action sequences that are leagues beyond any viewer’s willingness to accept.

 

The Christopher McQuarrie/Erik Jendresen narrative doesn’t merely stretch credibility beyond the breaking point; it makes no effort to feign any level of credibility.

 

“This new movie is a gargantuan accomplishment,” Cruise boasts, in the production notes. “Very elegant, very layered and incredibly epic.”

 

Elegant? In your dreams, Tommy.

 

This is what happens, when unchecked ego calls the shots.

 

I worried, when 2023’s Dead Reckoning concluded, that McQuarrie and Jendresen had written themselves into an irresolvable corner, with their all-powerful AI “Entity” poised to infiltrate and corrupt every aspect of world-wide civilized society.

 

As this film opens, that worst nightmare has come to pass. The Entity’s “deep fakes” have obliterated world-wide public trust in all news sources, politicians and government officials. People riot in the streets of every country’s major city; violence and anarchy are the order of the day.

 

Worse yet, The Entity has seized control of five of the world’s nine nuclear missile stockpiles, and is doing its best to break into the remaining four ... one of which is our good ol’ USofA, which it’s certain to absorb within three days.

 

(Why three days? Who could know such a thing, with such precision? Don’t ask.)

 

Impressionable, cultish “true believers” eagerly hope The Entity will destroy everything, in order to create some ill-conceived new world order. (Like there’s life after nuclear annihilation???)

 

There’s simply no coming back from the doomsday scenario depicted in this film’s first 10 minutes ... despite the fact that — somehow — Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his Impossible Missions Force team will save the world, because The Script Says So.

 

Ergo, Cruise and McQuarrie — who also directs this film, as he has the previous three — rely entirely on breakneck momentum, to lurch from one preposterous action sequence to the next, rather than even attempting to develop genuine suspense with a reasonably crafted linear narrative.

 

The result is an insufferably loud barrage of soulless visual cacophony: an unforgivably protracted, boring, senses-shattering 169 minutes of mayhem.

G20: An engaging guilty pleasure

G20 (2025) • View trailer

Three stars (out of five). Rated R, for relentless violence

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang

Viola Davis isn’t the first Best Actress Oscar winner to turn into a kick-ass action hero — she was preceded by Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, Helen Mirren and Jennifer Lawrence — but Davis definitely is the first EGOT to do so.

 

Secret Service Agent Manny Ruiz (Ramón Rodríguez) helps President Danielle Sutton
(Viola Davis) to safety, as South Korean First Lady Han Min-Seo (MeeWha Alana Lee)
wisely follows.

(She achieved that status in 2023, when she won a Grammy Award for narrating her memoir, Finding Me, as an audiobook.)

I’d also argue that, even in full-blown battle mode, Davis is the most regal of the bunch.

 

G20 is pure hokum, but director Patricia Riggen and editors Doc Crotzer and Emma E. Hickox keep things moving rapidly enough to camouflage a plot that has more holes than the proverbial Swiss cheese. Honestly, the four credited scripters — Logan Miller, Noah Miller, Caitlin Parrish and Erica Weiss — could have tried a little harder.

 

(I also get a sense — given that production on this film took place in early 2024 — that all concerned envisioned this as wishful thinking about the upcoming real-world election, and cheekily built their story around a Black female U.S. president.

 

(Ah, if only...)

 

We’re introduced to President Danielle Sutton (Davis) as she’s dragged out of bed late one night, because her headstrong teenage daughter Serena (Marsai Martin) once again evaded her Secret Service handlers to sneak out of the White House. 

 

Thoroughly fed up — because the girl refuses to realize how such behavior places her in danger — Sutton and her husband, Derek (Anthony Anderson), decide to take Serena and her brother Demetrius (Christopher Farrar) to Cape Town, site of the annual G20 summit meeting, in order to keep her under strict surveillance.

 

This soon will place Serena and Demetrius in far greater danger than her midnight escapades, because...

 

...Summit security has been outsourced to a private outfit.

 

(“Stupid mistake!” we scream.)

Bullet Train Explosion: Needs more fuel

Bullet Train Explosion (2025) • View trailer

Three stars (out of five). Rated TV-MA, for dramatic intensity

Available via: Netflix

By Derrick Bang

Japan’s Shinkansen high-speed railway system couldn’t ask for a better promotional video than this film’s opening sequence.

 

Having already overcome several unexpected predicaments, Conductor Takaichi
(Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, center), politician Yuko Kagami (Michiko Ono) and her secretary,
Kodai Hayashi (Daisuke Kuroda), contemplate their next move.

As the Hayabusa No. 60 (5060B) bullet train awaits departure from the Shin-Aomori Station, seasoned conductor Kazuya Takaichi (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) describes the vehicle’s features to a lively group of high school students: attainable speeds, the importance of maintaining a tight schedule, and even the coupling mechanism concealed within the engine’s nose.

Following this demonstration, the students pile into 5060B’s many luxurious passenger cars, alongside scores of other commuters and travelers of all ages. The train pulls out of the station, driven by the perky Chika Matsumoto (Non) and supervised — in the Shinkansen Operation Control Center — by general manager Yuichi Kasagi (Takumi Saitoh).

 

Shortly after departure, an anonymous caller — with voice electronically concealed — informs the control center that a bomb has been placed on 5060B, which will explode if the train slows below 100 km/hour.

 

By way of proving this isn’t a hoax, the caller alerts the center to the impending destruction of a freight train at a station in Aomori-Higashi. It blows up on cue, after slowing below 5 km/hour. The threat duly established, the bomber calls again and demands a ransom of 100 billion yen in exchange for the means of defusing the bomb on 5060B.

 

If this scenario sounds familiar, that’s no accident. This film actually is a long-gestating sequel to 1975’s Shinkansen Daibakuha (The Bullet Train), a thriller concept which then producer Toei Company — and director Junya Sato — felt would prove as popular as recent high-profile American disaster films such as Earthquake and The Towering Inferno. Sato’s big-screen hit, in turn, inspired the 1994 American film Speed.

 

This new film — helmed by Shinji Higuchi and scripted by Kazuhiro Nakagawa and Norichika Ôba — is an impressively polished production, highlighted by persuasive special effects, an engaging cast, and sharp cinematography (Yusuke Ichitsubo and Keizô Suzuki). That said, the often laughably overblown melodramatic touches undercut the tension that Higuchi and editors Atsuki Satô and Kaori Umewaki work hard to establish and maintain.

 

That’s an uphill challenge, because this film doesn’t earn its 134-minute length.

The Amateur: Could be more professional

The Amateur (2025) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for strong action violence and some profanity

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 4.13.25

Robert Littell’s long reign as an espionage author got an early start with this 1981 novel, which jumped to the big screen that same year, as a tidy little thriller starring John Savage, Christopher Plummer and Marthe Keller.

 

Despite his best efforts, Charlie (Rami Malek) simply lacks the killer instinct required of
a good CIA field agent, as his handler, Henderson (Laurence Fishburne) points out.

Despite — or because of — its fidelity to Littell’s book, most critics pooh-poohed a plot they found laughably contrived. (Hey, I liked it anyway.)

Perhaps bearing that in mind, scripters Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli have retained only the bare bones of Littell’s plot for this remake, while modernizing events with all sorts of computer modeling, surveillance technology and satellite spycraft that didn’t exist in the early 1980s.

 

Ironically, the result becomes just as unlikely and increasingly contrived, as the solid first act moves into the second and third. That said, director James Hawes and editor Jonathan Amos move events at a briskly enjoyable pace, and everything is anchored by Rami Malek’s richly nuanced and persuasively credible performance.

 

Charlie Heller (Malek) is a brilliant but deeply shy and introverted CIA decoder, who works in a basement office at the agency’s Langley headquarters. He has three passions in life: his work, his beloved wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan) and solving puzzles.

 

Sarah is his polar opposite: vivacious and outgoing ... but gently understanding and tolerant of Charlie’s preference for isolation. She therefore isn’t surprised when he declines to join her for a trip to London, to attend a conference.

 

His world collapses, upon arriving for work the next day. His Langley superiors — Moore (Holt McCallany), head of the covert Special Activities Center; and Alice O’Brien (Julianne Nicholson) CIA director — inform him that Sarah has been killed by terrorists who invaded the London conference.

 

(Even at this moment, when compassion seems called for, McCallany plays his role so aggressively, that he may as well have “Doing And Concealing Bad Stuff” tattooed on his forehead.)

 

Standing in O’Brien’s office, Charlie wilts like a stalk of old celery. Malek’s performance is shattering: the epitome of loss, grief, shock and a level of rage that has no outlet.

 

Back at his desk, as the next few days pass, Charlie employs his computer skills to identify and compile detailed dossiers of the four terrorists involved. But when he presents this information to Moore and his close colleague Caleb (Danny Sapani) — head of the CIA’s Nuclear Proliferation branch — Charlie is stunned to discover that a) they already know; and b) apparently aren’t doing anything about it.

 

Moore threatens Charlie with insubordination, if he doesn’t drop the matter.

 

Wrong move.

 

By coincidence — and thanks to a mysterious, heavily encrypted online source dubbed Inquiline — Charlie has gained possession of damning information about unsanctioned covert CIA operations. Armed with some of these documents, he blackmails Moore and Caleb into sending him to “agent training school,” so that he can travel overseas, track down the terrorists, and execute them himself (!).

 

As an added threat, Charlie promises that — if anything should happen to him, in the meanwhile — copies of said documents will be distributed to major news outlets.

 

He’s sent for a crash course in field work, under the tutelage of Henderson (Laurence Fishburne), a retired CIA colonel who coldly assesses Charlie’s lack of physical prowess. Even so, Charlie proves quite adept at some tasks — improvising tactical explosives, as one example — but utterly hopeless at even holding a gun, let alone shooting one.

 

One of Fishburne’s many fine moments concerns the latter, when Henderson challenges Charlie to point a loaded gun at him ... and, despite teeth-gritting effort, he can’t.

 

“Some people are killers,” Henderson finally says, gently. “You aren’t.”

 

Charlie eventually heads to London and then — following his own leads — Paris, where he knows how to find the first terrorist.

 

And we’re off to the races.

 

Nolan and Spinelli concoct clever — if improbably elaborate — ways for Charlie to proceed with his mission. On the other hand, he doggedly proceeds through unfamiliar locales — eventually including Marseille and Istanbul — like a seasoned tourist, which he obviously isn’t, and always is able to determine exactly where to go.

 

Setbacks abound, and it’s frankly amazing that no matter how many times Charlie is forced to abandon his equipment — and everything else — he’s always able to buy a fresh set-up, and continues to have money for lodging, meals and so forth.

 

As if the terrorists aren’t bad enough, he’s soon being followed and attacked from all sides, including the KGB (!). At one point, finally desperate, he reaches out to Inquiline ... about which, I’ll say no more.

 

The film is saved by the fact that all characters are portrayed convincingly by each member of the large ensemble cast. Malek’s delicately shaded performance contains multitudes; he’s thoroughly engaging in every scene. Charlie veers from stubborn determination to lingering grief, and Malek’s expression is particularly heartbreaking when Charlie keeps “seeing” Sarah at unexpected moments.

 

“You should go home,” he’s told, at one point.

 

“I can’t,” he replies, forlornly. “She’s not there.”

 

Henderson’s transformation from compassionate instructor to implacable pursuer is jarring — but not unexpected — and Fishburne makes the guy quite lethal. Nicholson is terrific as O’Brien, unimpressed by Moore’s glib assurances, and clearly underestimated by him. Jon Bernthal is appropriately mysterious as a field agent dubbed The Bear, who owes a debt to Charlie; Michael Stuhlbarg is chilling as Schiller, the guy who led the London terrorist attack.

 

The ubiquitous Adrian Martinez is a welcome ray of sunshine as Carlos, one of Charlie’s CIA techie colleagues, and it’s a shame his role wasn’t expanded.

 

In a droll nod to this film’s 1981 predecessor, Marthe Keller pops up briefly, as a florist.

 

Hawes and cinematographer Martin Ruhe make ample use of the many international backdrops, none more charming than the fishing community setting that dominates Charlie’s time in Marseille.

 

Although this obviously is a check-your-brains-at-the-door thrill ride, Malek and his co-stars make it more compelling than the plot deserves.

And, sometimes, that’s enough. 

The Gorge: Not quite deep enough

The Gorge (2025) • View trailer

3.25 stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for intense action and violence, brief profanity and dramatic impact

Available via: Apple TV+

By Derrick Bang

TheWrap cheekily dubs this “The romantic sniper monster movie you’ve been waiting for,” and that’s a fair description.

 

When Levi (Miles Teller) and Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) finally figure out a way to meet in
person, the flickering sparks of mutual attraction become incandescent.

I’ll go a step further: For the first hour or so, while director Scott Derrickson and scripter Zach Dean keep their cards concealed, this is a highly intriguing thriller fueled by two compelling characters, played superbly by Anya Taylor Joy and Miles Teller. This movie would be a silly little trifle without them.

Unfortunately, it’s eventually necessary to Provide Answers, and this film’s second half — although a rip-snortin’ roller coaster of pell-mell action — loses its smarts. The Reason For All This leaves far too many questions, hanging chads and plot holes large enough to fill the gorge in question.

 

Many films of this nature conclude with viewers sputtering “But, but, but...!” and wondering what logically would happen next, but this one’s in a league all its own.

 

Events begin as professional assassin Drasa (Joy) — a Lithuanian frequently employed by the Kremlin for covert ops — successfully completes an assignment with a long-range sniper rifle. She carefully retrieves the single spent cartridge shell and — during a subsequent meeting with her father, Erikas (William Houston) — hands it to him by way of purging her “sorrow.” He places it into a pouch laden with scores (hundreds?) of such shells.

 

But she’s shattered to learn that he’s dying of cancer. Unwilling to succumb slowly and painfully, he announces that he’ll end his life early the following year, on Valentine’s Day. Her chagrin is complex: Aside from not wanting to lose him, how will she then exorcise her sorrows?

 

Joy and Houston play this scene masterfully. She has long been adept at finely nuanced expressions and body language, since bursting onto the scene in the 2020 miniseries, The Queen’s Gambit. A wealth of emotions come into play here, particularly during the silences between sparse dialogue.

 

Elsewhere, in the States, former U.S. Marine scout/sniper Levi Kane (Teller) has lost his psychological edge; he suffers from nightmares about previous assignments. He’s nonetheless recruited by Bartholomew (Sigourney Weaver), a high-level spook of some sort, for a highly unusual, year-long assignment.

Blink Twice: Once would have been enough

Blink Twice (2024) • View trailer

Three stars (out of five). Rated R, for strong violent content, sexual assault, drug use and frequent profanity

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.25.24

It remains one of life’s most important lessons, applicable in all manner of circumstances:

 

If something looks and/or sounds too good to be true ... it almost certainly is. Be wary.

 

Tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) seems unduly concerned that Frida
(Naomi Ackie) has a good time, while cavorting day and night on his private island.
She begins to wonder why he keeps asking...

Director Zoë Kravitz and co-writer E.T. Feigenbaum have concocted an intriguing little thriller around this premise, but — alas — the result would have played better as a one-hour episode of television’s Black Mirror. At 102 minutes, Kravitz’s film wears out its welcome, mostly due to a protracted first act that is much too long.

Apartment mates and BFFs Frida (Naomi Ackie) and Jess (Alia Shawkat) work together as cocktail waitresses for a catering company that’s often hired by upper-echelon clients. Frida has long been intrigued by tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum), who recently reappeared after having dropped out of sight for a year, following bad behavior and a series of scandalous headlines.

 

He has been making the media rounds on an apology tour, and the public seems willing to forgive and forget. Among other things, everybody is fascinated by the fact that he has bought his own private island, where all food is grown and raised in a self-sustaining manner.

 

A bit later, Frida and Jess crash a posh event featuring King; an accident involving high heels brings him to Frida’s rescue. They spend the evening revolving in and out of each other’s orbit, but then King begs off, explaining that he and his friends are heading to his island for a retreat.

 

She watches him depart ... but then he turns around, steps back, and hesitantly asks, “Do you want to come along?”

 

A deliriously giddy Frida and Jess board King’s private jet with his posse: Vic (Christian Slater), the token jerk; Tom (Haley Joel Osment), apparently benign but prone to temper; Cody (Simon Rex), the resident chef; and Lucas (Levon Hawke), who seems far too innocent for this group.

 

These five guys also are accompanied by three other women: Sarah (Adria Arjona), a confident Survivor alum; and party gal Camila (Liz Caribel); and Heather (Trew Mullen), the latter an unapologetic stoner.

 

Upon landing, Frida and Jess are awe-struck by King’s palatial home, the luxurious pool and surrounding grounds, and the always attentive staff. The two gals do find it odd, however, that their private bedrooms already are stocked with clothes that fit them perfectly.

 

(At which point, I glanced at Constant Companion and said, “This is when you’d run for the hills, right?” To which she replied, “Oh, yes.”)

Monkey Man: A ferociously violent revenge thriller

Monkey Man (2022) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated R, for rape, profanity, drug use, nudity and relentless gore and bloody violence

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang

When George Lucas created Star Wars, he was inspired by the writings of mythologist Joseph Campbell, and 1930s and ’40s Hollywood serials.

 

When Kid (Dev Patel, center left) attends a political rally, to observe his opponent in a
public setting, he's dismayed to discovered that his enemy is closely aligned with a
messianic guru who holds dangerous sway over a large chunk of the local population.

Dev Patel was stimulated by the ancient legend of the divine Hindu monkey deity Hanuman — symbol of wisdom, strength, courage, devotion and self-discipline — and hyper-violent Asian action and revenge thrillers such as Oldboy,The Raid, and The Man from Nowhere ... along with a healthy dollop of our very own John Wick series.

Both filmmakers clearly were attentive students.

 

And, just as Lucas’ Star Wars universe also became a pointed parable regarding the oppressive behavior of dictators and autocratic regimes, Patel’s film has an equally relevant subtext that mirrors real-world events.

 

That, however, takes awhile to emerge.

 

Monkey Man has been Patel’s dream project for nearly a decade: one that took much longer than expected to complete, and very nearly went off the rails due to Covid, financing issues, assorted other delays, the star’s broken limbs, and an ill-advised distribution deal that would have seen it vanish into the vast wasteland of straight-to-streaming. Credit Jordan Peele for a last-minute rescue, when he chaperoned the project to the big-screen release it deserves.

 

Because, seriously, John Wick fans are gonna lap this up like soda pop.

 

Patel directed, produced, co-wrote — with Paul Angunawela and John Collee — and stars in this slow-burn action epic, which takes its time building to each of its two lengthy, jaw-dropping displays of bone-crunching, eye-gouging, slicing, dicing, defenestration and every other manner of mano a mano mayhem one could imagine.

 

All of which is choreographed with stunning razzle-dazzle by fight coordinator Brahim Chab and a massive stunt team.

 

But their efforts come later.

 

Following a fleeting, idyllic prologue that focuses on the loving relationship between a young mother and her adolescent son — clearly a flashback, although context isn’t yet clear — the story opens as Kid (Patel) endures another pummeling at an underground fight club. He ekes out a meager living, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask and following the orders of tacky emcee Tiger (Sharlto Copley), to get beaten bloody while losing to more popular opponents.

Fast Charlie: A briskly paced crime saga

Fast Charlie (2023) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated 18+, for strong bloody violence, gore and frequent profanity

Available via: Amazon Prime and other video-on-demand options

By Derrick Bang

Phillip Noyce’s résumé as a thriller director runs hot and cold; for every Quiet American and The Bone Collector, he has bottomed out with swill such as Sliver and The Desperate Hour. 

 

Marcie (Morena Baccarin) is completely surprised by an unexpected double-cross,
although Charlie (Pierce Brosnan) had his suspicions. But what will they do about it?

Fast Charlie falls somewhere in between, with Pierce Brosnan’s laconic charm giving Richard Wenk’s bare-bones script more juice than it deserves. The film is adapted loosely from Victor Gischler’s 2001 crime novel, Gun Monkeys, retaining the core plot beats while abandoning the dark humor that finds the author sharing territory with Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen.

Wenk — undoubtedly with input from Brosnan — also has softened the title character. He’s still a ruthless killer, but solely in the service of restoring honor; most notably, the film’s Charlie Swift doesn’t take out cops.

 

The story settles into well-worn territory, with Charlie a career “concierge” — please, don’t call him an “enforcer” — for elderly crime boss Stan Mullen (James Caan, genuinely touching in his final film role). Stan has long controlled Mob operations in Biloxi, Miss., with a well-honed crew that oversees various profitable enterprises. But his memory has been failing with age; Charlie spends every possible moment helping the man he has called a friend for decades.

 

Stan and his crew are family.

 

But the times, they are a-changing. Beggar Johnson (Gbebga Akinnagbe), an ambitious up-and-comer not inclined to patience with The Way Things Have Been Done, has his eye on Stan’s territory.

 

Charlie — an accomplished chef on the side, who loves Italian food — has been contemplating retirement. Under ideal circumstances, he’ll succumb to his long-nurtured dream of buying and restoring an Italian villa. (This is a real thing: One can purchase a property for just 1 euro, with the understanding that it’ll be properly renovated within a specific deadline.)

 

But — wouldn’t you know it — circumstances swiftly cease to be ideal, and Charlie suddenly is faced with scores to settle: the ol’ “one last time” scenario.

 

The Beekeeper: Buzzes with guilty pleasure

The Beekeeper (2024) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated R, for strong violene, pervasive profanity, sexual references and drug use

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang 

There’s nothing like starting the new year with a vicarious revenge saga, particularly when the villain has been concocted for maximum audience satisfaction.

 

Having located the building that houses the illegal phishing call center that victimized
his friend, Adam (Jason Statham, left) promises to burn it to the ground ... which two
security guards find amusing. Until they don't...

Jason Statham continues to kick ass with pizzazz at age 56, with that grim, go-to scowl that always means somebody’s about to suffer well-deserved damage; The Beekeeper clearly has been fashioned around his crowd-pleasing strengths. Although the third act succumbs to excess that only a superhero could endure and survive, his occasional flinty smile and taciturn one-liners will keep viewers happy.

Director David Ayer is a veteran of action-packed thrillers; he and editor Geoffrey O’Brien move things along at a lively clip.

 

Kurt Wimmer’s screenplay is a long way from Shakespeare, but he sets the stage cleverly, and definitely knows how to punch our buttons.

 

The story opens quietly, shadowing beekeeper Adam Clay (Statham) as he lovingly cares for his hives, carefully scrapes the raw honey from combs, then processes that into jars of sweet syrup. He works and lives in a large barn rented from elderly Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad), who greatly admires the way that Adam and his bees have transformed her once-dilapidated gardens into things of beauty.

 

Alas, on this particular day, while Adam works outside, Eloise’s computer is hit with what appears to be a security alert. Understandably concerned — and the always regal Rashad is radiant, even when flustered — she calls the number on the screen. 

 

We see what she doesn’t: The call is routed to a scam center run by slick, slimeball conman Boyd Garnett (David Witts), who overcomes Eloise’s uncertainty — “Yes, you could call your bank first, but you’ll lose all your files” — with the smooth-talking élan of considerable experience.

 

This credibly written sequence could be extracted as an effective public service announcement: People, don’t do this at home!

 

The glee with which Boyd reels her in, to the delight of the equally skeevy dozens fleecing their own victims in the call center, is truly appalling. And, sadly, Eloise succumbs.

 

But she isn’t an average mark; along with several personal accounts, she manages a charity fund of more than $2 million ... all of which vanishes in an electronic heartbeat.

 

Eloise’s next move is tragic.

 

Adam’s subsequent reaction is cold fury.

 

The Killer: Grimly fascinating

The Killer (2023) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated R, for strong violence, profanity and fleeting sexuality

Available via: Netflix

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 11.17.23

Given that so many of director David Fincher’s films are cold, brutal and often quite disturbing — Se7en, Panic Roomand Zodiac leap to mind — he’s the obvious choice to helm an adaptation of the long-running graphic novel series by French creators Alexis Nolent and Luc Jacamon.

 

Surveillance is an exercise in extreme patience, as this career assassin (Michael
Fassbender) has learned, during a long and successful career that often involves
waiting days for the target to show up.

And, given that the primary character is a career assassin, the role similarly is a natural for Michael Fassbender, who excels at ruthless indifference. He radiates a degree of calm that is pure façade: a surface mask that conceals a cobra’s speed with a grizzly’s explosive brute force.

Scripter Andrew Kevin Walker augments the film’s already detached atmosphere by leaving all the characters nameless (except for a few clever and deliberate exceptions). They’re known solely by the “handles” employed by those who inhabit this lethal line of work: The Client, The Lawyer, The Expert, and so forth.

 

Fassbender is The Killer, whom we meet many days into his surveillance of an apartment on the other side of an active Parisian street. He’s holed up in the now-empty offices once occupied by WeWork (rather prescient on Walker’s part, given that the company filed for bankruptcy last week). He’s waiting for The Target to return home, at which point he’ll be executed by our assassin’s wicked-looking rifle.

 

The story is split into distinct acts, each taking the name of its primary focus. Thus, Act 1 — “The Killer” — profiles this man as Fassbender clinically details the rules, strengths, weaknesses, pitfalls, rash assumptions and mistakes that characterize his profession, in a grimly philosophical and nihilistic voice-over that runs nearly half an hour, while we watch him exercise, sleep, eat, yoga and remain focused on the apartment.

 

(“Trust no one.” “Forbid empathy.” “Anticipate, don’t improvise.” “Never yield an advantage.” “Fight only the battle you’re paid to fight.”)

 

Depending on a viewer’s sensibilities, this lengthy monologue will either be fascinating ... or dull and needlessly protracted. (I’m in the former camp.) Something about Fassbender’s presence and serene detachment makes it difficult to look away. Fincher and Walker also manage an undercurrent of very dark humor (which some viewers may not appreciate).

 

This mordant streak also emerges in the numerous arch songs by The Smiths that occupy The Killer’s playlist, and which Fincher alternates with the disquieting score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

 

The Target eventually arrives (at long last, some will think, with relief) and The Killer goes to work. Maddeningly, the man keeps pausing behind the small chunk of wall that separates two large windows. Then the moment comes, and...

 

...it goes wrong.

 

“This is new,” The Killer thinks aloud, with a soupçon of genuine surprise.