73
Metascore
59 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawIt is all entertainingly absurd and yet the pure conviction and deadpan focus that Fassbender and Fincher bring to this ballet of anonymous professionalism makes it very enjoyable. And there are moments when the veneer of realism is disquieting.
- 90Screen DailyJonathan RomneyScreen DailyJonathan RomneyThe Killer is a masterfully engineered piece. Throughout, Fincher pitches his own methodical control against The Killer’s, but also signals the glitches in his protagonist’s logic and flawed self-knowledge.
- 80Total FilmJane CrowtherTotal FilmJane CrowtherIf you ever wondered what Fincher’s Bond might have looked like, this could be it.
- 80The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinMuch of the pleasure of the film is in procedure: watching someone work diligently and knowledgeably towards a goal that just happens to be murder. But a darkly fun tension emerges between its anti-hero’s internalised principles and how he actually behaves when pressed.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinThe Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinLet’s just say that morally, The Killer is all over the place, which may alienate some viewers. Others may delight in both the protagonist and the film’s puckish, zero-fucks-given attitude, one that seems entirely, atheistically uninhibited by fear of a punitive deity or higher moral purpose.
- 75IndieWireRyan LattanzioIndieWireRyan LattanzioThe Killer is nothing if not committed to its own one-note bit, an existential nihilism that stays the same even as the protagonist, in a mostly silent Michael Fassbender performance, starts to change. It’s as unfeeling as any Fincher thriller, at once predictable in its simplicity but also strangely daring because of it.
- 67The PlaylistRafaela Sales RossThe PlaylistRafaela Sales RossDavid Fincher is rarely dull, and The Killer cannot take the director’s filmography in that direction, but it won’t push itself toward the top of his work, either. A competently realized crime thriller made by a technical team just as sharply attuned to details as the director at the ship’s helm, the Netflix production is entertaining but a little orthodox.
- 60The Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeThe Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeFor all the inherent familiarity of the hit-man genre, Fincher and Walker have nonetheless crafted an absorbing tale; what it has to offer that’s any different from countless similar tales lies in the minutiae rather than the mayhem.
- 60New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNew York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriFilled with expertly composed sequences undone by the protagonist’s relentless observations about the meaninglessness of existence, the movie feels like an attempt to highlight its own emptiness.