The 2024 action comedy The Killer’s Game, something I was initially quite excited about, is actually a little boring. It also shares a bit with the 2023 action comedy Ghosted. Is there a template out there somewhere?
The story
Hitman Joe Flood has severe headaches. On a Russian hit, he finds dancer Maize Arnaud. The two hit it off and thus begins a whirlwind romance. Joe decides to have his headaches looked at. His doctor tells him he is going to suffer a fate worse than death. Now Joe wants to check out. His leaving the “game” begets a high price.
Joe asks a rival hit bureau to take him out before the disease does. All is well until he learns that the doctor got things very wrong.
Unfortunately, he cannot cancel the hit.
The Main Cast
The “Good Guys”
Dave Bautista is Joe Flood.
Sofia Boutella is Maize Arnaud.
Ben Kingsley is Zvi Rabinowitz.
The Bad Guys
Pom Klementieff is Antoinette.
Terry Crews is Creighton Lovedahl.
Daniel Bernhardt is Max.
Surprising Cameo
Dylan Moran is Father O’Brien.
Familiar
The Killer’s Game feels familiar. Perhaps the genre of “hitman” films is worn out. A lot of these types of films exist. *Although, to be fair, I could not remember a single one with this type plotline apart from 2014’s Aussie movie; The Suicide Theory.*
There may just be too many “killing” films out there. Ghosted a film that I pretty much panned, also shows a lot of different kills. Dave Bautista is on form here and Sofia Boutella is, as many would agree, perhaps the most beautiful actor on celluloid. Kingsley does what he does best and Moran is an amusing, if somewhat odd, priest.
Possibly the worst sin committed by The Killer’s Game was that of boredom. A film with a a budget of 30 million dollars should not just shimmy and shake, but it should also rock and roll. Sadly, the film does neither.
Even Bautista looks bored in most of the fight scenes.
Behind the Camera
J.J. Perry (John Wick 2) makes the thing, apart from that CGI blood, look jazzy and vibrant. He is aided, in this respect, by the cinematography of Flavio Martínez Labiano. Roque Baños and his score matches the film’s theme of vibrant jazz.
Rand Ravich and James Coyne share screenplay credit and Jay Bonansinga gets “based on a book” credit.
The VFX by EDI Effetti, apart from the aforementioned blood spurts, is pretty solid.
Bautista and Nic Cage
Bautista and Nicolas Cage are the few actors whose films stay up on Amazon forever as rentals or purchases. I only mention this because they have had films drop lately that are still not available to stream via popular platforms. In other words; free for the price of a subscription.
I can only wonder if they share the same agency?
The verdict
The Killer’s Game earns a shaky 3 stars here. There are a lot of annoying things in this one: Too much CG blood spurts, airsoft weapons and an annoying misuse of its talent. The films is available to rent or own on Amazon.
Tip to the wise? Wait for it to stream on another platform. The trailer, with the snappy Frank Sinatra tune I’m gonna Live Till I Die, is the best bit of the movie.
The Trailer
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