Rap rock is less “music” and more “warning.” If you hear it, you’d best run. Best-case scenario is that you’re about to get into an unpleasant political discussion. Worst-case scenario is that you’re about to watch The Killer’s Game. From the rap rock song that opens the movie to laughable CGI blood and gratuitously obvious continuity errors, everything around Dave Bautista here is either repellent or lame. Sorry, big guy. We have all talked about it, and everyone likes you! Just, you know, not this thing.
This grating debacle is an attempt at a throwback to an era that none of us wants to be thrown back into. Despite a litter of hitmen, The Killer’s Game doesn’t share DNA with John Wick so much as late 1990s/early 2000s “action comedies” that were often neither of those things. Much of the film’s first third sees the brooding, quiet Joe Flood (Bautista) fall in love with a dancer named Maize (Sofia Boutella) and decide to quit his job as a professional hitman. We’re allowed to like him and root for him because the film tells us like 30 times that he only kills very, very bad people. Murder is okay if we don’t like someone. That’s in the bible and federal law, right?
Joe is having headaches and gets devastating news from his doctor, launching into the meat of the film’s “story.” He takes out a contract on his own life for $2 million, so that Maize will get a lot of insurance money. He could have given her the $2 million, sure, but where’s the fun in that? Waves of assassins keep coming, each with a different flavor of stereotype. We get a gang composed entirely of Asian tropes, a sassy Hispanic dancer, drunken and gross Scottish brothers, and two ladies who are probably a couple but can’t stop making sexual jokes directed at Joe. This is one of those movies where every single woman is impossibly horny at literally all times. Feminism!
If the comedy had worked, maybe some of those problems get excused. Maybe? If the action had worked, maybe the lack of comedy gets excused? But every joke falls flat while all the action that isn’t visually indecipherable is boring. It’s lose-lose. The rap rock warned you.
Back to Bautista for a moment. His impressive filmography and real-life likeability combine with his on-screen charisma enough to make everybody root for the guy. But he’s not quite able to carry a movie on his own. He doesn’t have the acting prowess to fill in a completely hollow character. He’s not bad here. He’s never really “bad.” He’s just not able to spackle over shoddy filmmaking. And this is about as shoddy as it gets. Honestly, it only gets the grade below because I still liked it more than Strange Darling.
Grade = D-
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Michael Ordoña at the San Francisco Chronicle says “Don’t expect surprises or something to ideologically critique. This is kooky carnage. You came for Dave Bautista stomping a motorcycle into submission, and damn it, that’s what you’re gonna get.”
Travis Hopson at Punch Drunk Critics says “The Killer’s Game will be a blast for anyone who shows up to watch Bautista throw down, but they’re also going to get a glimpse at the rest of his career taking on more diverse roles. I just hope when that happens he continues to clear some room on his schedule for flicks like this where he can punch people a lot.”
Tessa Smith at Mama’s Geeky says “There are several laugh out loud moments, epic and unforgettable fight sequences, and a love story that will have you holding your heart and rooting for the good guys to win.”