Kill List review

The librarian: Thank you

Director: Ben Wheatley
(2011)

There is something incredibly powerful about the ending of a film. A mediocre film can be saved by its finish, with plot twists leaving the audience locked in a state of thought about what they had just witnessed. Conversely, an ending can destroy a film in mere minutes, tarnishing all of the hard work from the cast and crew. It’s seems almost unfair to put Kill List in that last category, because up until its final 15 minutes, it’s an engaging, disturbing thriller.

Kill List centers on hitman Jay (Neil Maskell) and his wife Shel (Myanna Burring). After being mentally scarred from a job 8 months prior, Jay must return to the world of contract killing with friend Gal (Michael Smiley) in order for his family to survive financially. Jay and gal are assigned 3 targets from a man known only as the ‘the client’.  Once the contract is accepted, things fall into an unsettling and shocking rhythm. This descent into the disturbing is amplified by the film’s mundane opening 3^rd, which centers on a dinner party. Things are relatively normal, a vast juxtaposition to the events that are primed to unfold.

Kill list is tremendously compelling thanks to director Ben Wheatley’s bizarre script that makes for tense and interesting viewing, effectively maintaining our intrigue for most of its duration. Why does ‘the client’ cut jays hand? Why do the targets thank Jay for before he kills them? What happened in Kiev? These questions add depth, but most are left unanswered. It’s fine for a film to be ambiguous and in no way do I feel that every strand of narrative should be resolved, but Kill List takes things a little too far. There are no answers. There is a difference between ambiguity and vagueness, and Kill List is more of the latter.

When the time arises to respond to some of these questions, Wheatley doesn’t even attempt to give answers. Instead things change direction entirely, its thriller genre dropped in favour of a fast paced and violent horror. This doesn’t fit with the rest of the film, and the climax falls completely flat. Nothing is explained; the ending is poses yet more questions and isn't integrated into the rest of the narrative in the slightest.

When all is said and done, Kill List fails to capitalise on its well crafted and interesting story in an attempt to elicit a strong emotional response from its audience. Right up to its finale, Kill List was excellent, solid in every department. It’s a shame really, another film ruined by its ending.

5