The Killer's Game (2024)

​“The Killer’s Game” stars Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, Terry Crews, Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, Pom Klementieff, and Ben Kingsley.  Released on September 13, 2024, the film has an assassin surviving a hit he placed on himself.

The film was directed by J. J. Perry, an action director and stuntman known for directing “Day Shift”.  It is based on the 1997 novel by Jay Bonansinga.  As an assassin, you’re bound to encounter many obstacles during a mission to eradicate your target.  You have to strategize to remain inconspicuous and choose a weapon capable of killing them quickly and easily.  But what if the target you’re choosing to kill is yourself?  This better be one hell of a paycheck.  September isn’t just the place for horror films to shine but also a month of action-packed options looking to appeal to audiences looking for more thrills than chills.  One of them is the latest action-comedy that has Dave Bautista flexing his comedic and violent muscles outside his “Guardians of the Galaxy” outings.  Does it make for a successful killing regarding its entertainment value, or make us want to place a hit on it immediately?  Let’s find out.    

The story centers on Joe Flood (Bautista), a veteran assassin specializing in killing his targets.  After meeting and falling in love with a dancer named Maize (Boutella), he decides to retire from the killing game.  However, his new life with Maize takes a sudden turn when he discovers that he’s diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.  Hoping to end his life before his disease does, Joe seeks the help of a contractor, Marianna Antoinette (Klementieff), to place a hit on himself.  Unfortunately, Joe later learns from his doctor that the terminal medical diagnosis he received was inaccurate, and Marianna is using the contract as revenge against him for killing her father.  As a result, Joe finds himself surviving against Marianna’s plot and the other assassins seeking to claim the prize.

I might be one of the very few people who was looking forward to “The Killer’s Game”.  Sure, it seems like something that could’ve gone straight to streaming, but if there’s one thing I learned from watching movies, it’s that even smaller action films can work as theatrical experiences.  Obviously, my intrigue is due to its cast, with Dave Bautista seeking to provide another tolerable addition to his action-comedy lineup.  Plus, the concept of an assassin surviving their own contract seemed pretty ironic, adding to the film’s comedic aspect.  The other reason is the involvement of J. J. Perry, another stuntman-turned-filmmaker seeking to reinvigorate the action genre through their love of cinematic stunts.  While his directorial debut on Netflix, “Day Shift,” wasn’t too groundbreaking regarding the genre and storytelling, I would give Perry credit for making the action scenes kinetically fun and violently absurd.  So, it makes sense that I was hoping for something similar in “The Killer’s Game” based on the trailers.  

Unsurprisingly, it delivered on those hopes I had expected, for better or worse.  Does it mean it’s great?  Not really.  It’s another disposable, run-of-the-mill action film that would have been more suitable as a streaming movie than a theatrical release.  However, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a bad thing.  From my experience watching movies on streaming, I learned that some run-of-the-mill movies are surprisingly more tolerable than others.  It depends on a viewer’s expectations of a movie’s enjoyment factor.  Regardless of the quality and storytelling, if a film succeeds in delivering some entertainment from its simplistic premise, I would call it a suitable win.  But, as a film critic, it’s always fair to expose the flaws I had with it amid my enjoyment.

“The Killer’s Game” is the latest target of this hypothesis, with enough fun action and subtle charisma to balance out its narrative shortcomings.  The screenplay by Rand Ravich and James Coyne offered a straightforward and restrained plot involving an assassin getting out of the hitman’s game to be with the love of his life.  Amid its comical misunderstanding and bloody violence, the movie expresses its message of valuing the ones you have in life, whether it’s short or not.  While it may be thoughtful on paper, the script didn’t have the proper execution to do this message justice.  It had a few comical moments that I surprisingly found amusing, and the romance between Joe and Maize was mildly endearing.  Unfortunately, they were bogged down by the movie’s genre tropes, hit-and-miss humor, and cliched dialogue.  As a result, the film struggled to distinguish itself within the competitive hitman-movie landscape.  It didn’t make me want to order a hit on myself, but it’s also one of the screenplays that could’ve been made in the 2010s.

One of the reasons for the film’s enjoyability was the cast, notably Dave Bautista.  It bears repeating that Bautista can be a talented actor outside his wrestling days if the right project suits him.  Even if some of the movies he’s in are not that good, he usually compensates with his stunts and charm to deliver a presence that’s hard to ignore.  His performance as Joe was unsurprisingly no exception.  While a far cry from his other significant roles like Drax in “Guardians of the Galaxy”, Bautista relied on his charisma to showcase Joe’s dangerous yet kindhearted nature with decent results.  Sofia Boutella, who recently starred in Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon”, forgoes her sci-fi action heroine persona in favor of being Joe’s girlfriend, Maize.  She was all right with what she was given, though nothing special.  Terry Crews also had some likable moments as Lovedahl, one of the hitmen sent to kill Joe, in his first live-action film role in four years.  The reason?  He voiced a kaiju in a subpar animated WWE movie with monsters.  Pom Klementieff and Ben Kingsley were also respectable in their roles of Marianna and Zvi, Joe’s compassionate mentor, respectively.

The other reason is J. J. Perry himself.  Now, I’m not going to say he’s becoming the next Chad Stahelski or the next David Leitch regarding the direction.  However, I will say that his approach to this concept was a minor improvement over his directorial debut, “Day Shift”.  It’s not just regarding its enjoyment factor, but also the action.  As expected, the film consists of plenty of grotesque kills and bloody violence, but they’re filmed in a way that’s neither headache-inducing nor chaotically edited.  Perry desired to showcase the stunt work in action without relying heavily on shaky cam and multiple edits, and they were fun to watch despite a few iffy CGI effects.  It’s no “John Wick”, but regarding the choreography and stunts, the violence had enough merits to delight plenty of casual moviegoers looking for a fun time.  Perry’s approach to the presentation was also lively enough to compensate for its lack of uniqueness.

Overall, “The Killer’s Game” lacks the proper execution to stand out from the action-comedy crowd but makes a serviceable killing in its enjoyability.  If you’re going into this movie expecting an action-comedy masterpiece, you’ll easily be disappointed with the result.  While the film is tolerable in most places, its middling script and formulaic tropes will likely make you want to place a hit on yourself.  However, despite its flaws, the movie delivered what was expected from the marketing: a run-of-the-mill action comedy that’s mildly fun and delightfully violent.  Bautista and the cast provided good enough performances to carry the movie’s concept, and J. J. Perry did a serviceable job with his vision regarding the action and presentation.  It’s a disposable, straight-to-streaming movie made to delight casual moviegoers, no doubt about it.  But to me, it’s entertaining enough to avoid getting assassinated early.  

C+