Synopsis
In the new action-comedy THE KILLER’S GAME, when top hitman Joe Flood (Dave Bautista) is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he decides to take matters into his own hands – by taking a hit out on himself. But when the very hitmen he hired also target his ex-girlfriend (Sofia Boutella), he must fend off an army of assassin colleagues and win back the love of his life before it’s too late.
What We Thought:
If The Killer’s Game came out in 2004 it might have been cool. If it was going straight to a streaming service and you happened to randomly come across the movie, it might have been cool. But somehow it’s getting a theatrical release in 2024 and that makes zero sense to me. It’s based on a book from the 1990s and should have been a movie then as well.
The problem is everything about it feels cheap and dated. It has the feel of a low budget straight-to-video/streaming action movie with post-production blood splatter and muzzle flare. If it was made for $8 million and was distributed like those types of movies I’d have no issue with it. Instead, it has a bigger budget and is hitting theaters this weekend and I have no idea who it’s for. It’s mid September, if this was a horror movie or action-horror zombie movie, sure you throw it out there hoping to cash in on spooky season, but it’s an action movie starring Dave Bautista.
There’s also a lot of editing issues with it. In the third act Bautista’s character’s hand is wrapped in duct tape. At no point in time does it show his character wrapping his hand or even needing his hand wrapped. Some scene explaining that clearly hit the chopping room floor. There’s also a scene where there’s an explosion and Dave is thrown to the floor with his gun sliding away from him. The next thing you see is him standing against a wall with the gun in his hand. Maybe the average viewer isn’t going to notice these errors (and many others), but you should expect more from a film hitting theaters and not going to straight-to-video/streaming.
It also feels like a lot of other movies. Smokin’ Aces did assassins all coming together for a bounty much better almost 20 years ago. Bullet Train did a similar thing introducing characters with graphics and sound effects. Assassin/hitmen movies are a dime a dozen at this point, beyond the interesting concept it does nothing to separate itself from any other film in the genre.
The Killer’s Game has an interesting concept with a hitman being told he’s going to die shortly from a medical issue, putting a hit on himself so his love interest can collect the insurance money and then finding out he’s not dying and has to put down all the assassins coming for him. If it was a Netflix flick maybe I’d call it watchable, but I don’t see it doing much at the box office unless the competition against it is even worse. Ben Kingsley does everything he can to raise the movie up and is the only real positive of the film, but Scott Adkins is underused as usual and the film just feels tired and played out. It has too many errors, too many stereotypical characters even for the genre and the action doesn’t stand out beyond a few scenes. The John Wick franchise has set the standard for action movies and this isn’t up to par.
Directed by:
JJ Perry
Screenplay by:
Rand Ravich and James Coyne
Based on:
The Book by Jay R. Bonansinga
Produced by:
Andrew Lazar, Steve Richards, Kia Jam
Executive Producers:
Jonathan Meisner, Dave Bautista, Chris Milburn, Thane Watkins, Peter E. Strauss, Scott Lambert, Dean Altit, Adam Fields
Cast:
Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, Terry Crews, Scott Adkins, with Pom Klementieff, and Ben Kingsley
Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, language, some sexual material, brief drug use and nudity
The Nerds Templar 