The Killer is…slow. VERY slow. Hell, it even admits it is. It’s not filled with too much action, it has a brawl or two, but it is by and large a cinematic take on what the waiting game looks like for an assassin.
I’m gonna be honest, despite all the people claiming that it’s Hitman-like, it really isn’t. Sure, it has the Killer use a disguise or two, as well as some social engineering to get into places. But everything else is wrong. Too talkative, too loud, and the entire plot starts because the Killer misses his sniper shot on his target and hits a civilian that was…er…dancing for their amusement, despite having better chances to shoot them, coming off as a show-off. Hell, even his thoughts are filled with pop-culture 47 would definitely not know about (casually referencing storage wars for example).
Just because they’re being stealthy does not make a pseudo Hitman movie make.
I will concede this is a better film that either the 2015 or 2003 film, but those aren’t large gaps to clear.
The film tends to favour “show, don’t tell” in places it really shouldn’t, and left me confused for half the runtime, and not in the “deduce and solve” kind of way.
Grab a coffee, get comfortable, and vibe with the narration of Fassbender. It’s a nice time, if a little clunky and the story is a tad unclear.