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The Killer’s Game Review
Image Credit: Lionsgate
Loading...The Killer’s Game is the new action vehicle starring former WWE legend Dave Bautista. It opened at #6 and is not looking to set the box office on fire, but opening weekend grosses are not always a true mark of how high of quality a film may or may not be. So let’s take a look at The Beast’s newest offering!
In the movie, Big Dave plays Joe, a professional hitman who has spent his life trying to be an assassin in as much of the “right way” as is possible. He has never killed a civilian or an innocent, and he takes pride that he has played the Game the right way.
And yes! You WILL get tired of hearing the word “game” in this flick. So I just want to warn you of that straight away. They say it A LOT.
Anyway, early in the movie he meets a professional ballet dancer named Maize after he saves her from a rampaging crowd at her performance. The two end up meeting again when Joe returns her cell phone to her, and they strike up a quick romance.
In the meantime, Joe has begun suffering from severe headaches. After seeing a doctor, Joe is diagnosed with a fatal disease that should cripple and kill him within three months. Not wanting to see his life end that way, Joe seeks a clean death, so he visits a rival assassin and puts out a two million dollar hit on himself.
Of course from there, we learn that Joe was misdiagnosed and has his whole life ahead of him. With love suddenly in his life and a future confirmed, Joe has to fend off the money-hungry hitmen who are out to fulfill the contract.
TWO UPS AND TWO DOWNS
+ When it comes to sizzle, The Killer’s Game has it in spades. There is a ton of style and sex appeal and bombastic action sequences from start to finish in this movie. Everything is hyper-stylized and beautiful in the way it is filmed and presented. We get gorgeous, blood-soaked introductions to almost every character; brilliant little sequences that shows who they are and what they are about. The sex appeal of some of the scenes with Maize & Joe and with the Party Girls is off the charts. The action is brutal and vicious, and it’s almost constant throughout; none of Joe’s victims get away easily here, as the violence is visceral.
Basically, everything that this movie was sold on is a complete success.
+ Dave Bautista remains a joy as he continues his acting career ascension as a surprising star. I never expected his work as a thespian to go as well as it has. He is everything The Killer’s Game needs him to be: an action dynamo and a charming, witty stud.
Dave is cast pretty perfectly in this flick. The screenplay and direction don’t ask that much of him, but he still delivers in spades. In a loud, explosion-heavy movie, Bautista himself is surprisingly understated. He is a man falling in love while simultaneously wrestling with his own mortality and the life he has led. He creates a protagonist that, for swaths of the runtime, is juxtaposed against everything else we are seeing. It’s more than the script ever asked for, and that’s because the star is turning in such a great performance regardless.
– In contrast to Up #1, I do have to point out that there is little substance behind all of the style. That’s not to say that the movie is bad or anything, but that it is all exactly what it appears to be at face value.
Joe and Maize are in love because the movie tells us they are. Dave and Sofia Boutella certainly have sparks and chemistry, but their story is forced along at a generic cinematic pace. We don’t really see the real developments that should occur between two people falling for each other. Joe saves her life, and that’s really all to which we are privy.
Past that, you’ve got an action-heavy effort that isn’t that interested in growing much of a heart. It knows what it is–a fireworks display of a movie–and it’s perfectly okay with that.
– The first Down was a counter to the first Up, so I might as well use the second Down to respond to the second Up, right? It is true that Dave is perfectly cast here and does everything that The Killer’s Game asks of him. There’s no doubt there.
But the problem comes in the fact that nothing Bautista does here is going to really affect his resume all that much. This is the kind of role we all already knew Big Dave could excel at. But if he’s truly looking to start getting more serious and dramatic roles, well… this isn’t something casting directors are going to take too long of a look at.
It’s a shame because, as I noted, the former Batista does add a touch of nuance to his performance here. But I do still feel like we are waiting for him to take on the kinds of roles we DON’T expect of him.
