I don't like movies like this because they create an alternate world but fail in the end to explain anything about it. We are treated to multiple scenes of graphic violence, as if the movie was little more than an excuse for a sort of Roman games where there is no moral center and nobody to identify with, only the thrill of the hunt and the takedown. Jay and Gal are two professional hit men. They appear to have credible home lives, but are called out by a shadowy character to perform a job: to kill several people. We don't know anything about the shadowy character or the shadowy organization he works for or the reason for the assassinations. Jay and Gal are just doing what they're told. The scenes are well played, the action and suspense are beautifully done. But to what purpose?
We are invited into a world which cannot possibly be the one we live in. It's like the imaginary dream world of a supernatural horror flick in which we have to take a huge leap of willing suspension of disbelief to enjoy. But in those movies we are prepped for the leap. In this we are supposed to be convinced of the reality of the situation by an intense and unwelcome intimacy with the hit men's emotional problems and family relations. But we have no one to root for, no sense of right or wrong. In the end we don't know any more than when we started about the who or why. This film is nothing but an exercise in nihilism and voyeuristic violence for its own sake.
People who liked this film and reviewed it here chide the negative reviewers for not understanding such a thought-provoking work of art. That's nonsense. The more you think about "Kill List" the less you understand about it.
We are invited into a world which cannot possibly be the one we live in. It's like the imaginary dream world of a supernatural horror flick in which we have to take a huge leap of willing suspension of disbelief to enjoy. But in those movies we are prepped for the leap. In this we are supposed to be convinced of the reality of the situation by an intense and unwelcome intimacy with the hit men's emotional problems and family relations. But we have no one to root for, no sense of right or wrong. In the end we don't know any more than when we started about the who or why. This film is nothing but an exercise in nihilism and voyeuristic violence for its own sake.
People who liked this film and reviewed it here chide the negative reviewers for not understanding such a thought-provoking work of art. That's nonsense. The more you think about "Kill List" the less you understand about it.