David Fincher’s reputation precedes him. His perfectionist tendencies have transformed him into the stereotypical “genius ahole” director. While it can be hard to quibble with his results, that thirst for absolute perfection leads to dickish behavior, very much a part of Michael Fassbender in Fincher’s latest magnificent feat of moviemaking, The Killer.
This Killer is the most extreme version of ones we’ve seen before. Meticulous and calm, our assassin follows a series of rules which make him the best in the field today. That is, until his most recent job, which goes awry, forcing the killer into hiding back at home. Normally that’d be fine, but the killer’s girlfriend (Sophie Charlotte) gets caught up in his work, transforming that meticulous calm into something a little more rage filled and improvisory.
The first job is pure beautiful psychotic David Fincher. Through the overly monotone chilling Michael Fassbender, we spend 30 minutes learning about our killer and his methods to the most inane specific detail. The directors puts you in Fassbender’s plastic covered shoes, tensely scouting and preparing for his next hit. His annoying calmness sets your teeth and body on edge, since Fincher makes it clear this level of preparedness is…special, for lack of a better word. Even during this brilliant sequence, the director and Fassbender are laying in clues that the killer might be at least a little full of sh*t with his “process,” not officially realizing that himself until its too late and the job goes bad. When it does go south, we see some small flicker of panic/humanity, which makes us even more scared and tense as to how this situation will resolve itself. Part of me wonders if really Fincher should have just made this opening scene short film, a piece of brilliant filmmaking only a director like him could pull off so well.
Like Fassbender’s killer, Fincher tries to keep the rest of the movie at that high quality level as the assassin starts to unravel. The movie gets there from time to time, depending on how long and detailed the plan is, and how much the killer breaks from his established rule set to really lay down his version of justice. That meticulous tension transforms into nervous tension in the audience as they watch Fassbender untether from his code. Is he gonna get caught before he’s done? Is he hurting innocent people? Or maybe worst of all: has he gone over to the dark side: full fledged psychopath? Fassbender’s repetition of his process as he openly breaks his rules becomes more and more unnerving as we careen towards the story’s inevitable, probably bloody conclusion.
David Fincher clearly thinks he displays the tendencies of this character. I wish the director wouldn’t think so poorly of himself. Because when he’s cooking, Fincher is one of the best directors working today, making amazing films like The Killer, which are endlessly entertaining and thought provoking either perfect or imperfect. I just hope Fincher realizes that’s ok, and he can move on, like the “normies” out there. But we all know better: that disgusting idea is how he keeps pushing to make the perfect movie.