The Killer, a new film from filmmaker David Fincher based on Le Tueur, the French comic book series by writer Alexis Nolent (under the name Matz) and artist Luc Jacamon, debuted over the weekend at the Venice Film Festival, and has attracted more than 20 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes already. So far — admittedly with only a few “top critics” accounted for — the movie is sitting at 91% “fresh” on the review-aggregation site. The consensus seems to be that it’s a well-acted and beautifully constructed film…even if it’s probably a little quiet and slow for what you might expect.
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Le Tueur ran from 1998 until 2013, with the most recent hardcover collection arriving in 2017, and centers on the life and work of a killer. At the start of the noir-inspired series, the unnamed assassin had no moral compass, although the original synopsis for the movie suggests that Fincher’s version will pick up at a later point in his story, after he has started to develop a conscience.
According to Netflix, “After a fateful near-miss, an assassin battles his employers and himself on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.” The movie seems like the meat of the film is going to be our antihero (played by Michael Fassbender) in a game of cat-and-mouse with his employer (Tilda Swinton).
The Killer made its debut in competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival, and it faced some steep competition. Among the films that made their debut at the film festival were Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s the latest project for the acclaimed filmmaker at Netflix, where he previously ran House of Cards and Mindhunter.
The Killer stars Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton, leading a cast that includes Kerry O’Malley as Dolores, and Charles Parnell (Top Gun: Maverick) as Hodges, Arliss Howard (Full Metal Jacket) and Brazilian star (Sophie Charlotte) are also in the film. Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt (Mindhunter) is re-teaming with Fincher for the film, while his musical collaborators Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, Mank) will compose the score. Fincher’s Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker is doing the script, which is based on the French graphic novel by Alexis Nolent.
Per the original official synopsis from Netflix, The Killer “tells the story of an assassin that begins to develop a conscience and doubts his work, which happens at a time when clients demand his particular set of skills.”
The Killer will arrive on Netflix on November 10.
