Review of Kill List (2011) by Ben D — 02 Mar 2012

This had such great reviews that perhaps I went in with too high expectations - but Ben Wheatley's second film, though shot with brutal energy and a mesmerising performance from Neil Maskell, feels rather disjointed and marred by a lack of explanation.

Comparions were made upon its release to The Wicker Man and Blood on Satan's Claw - both seem easy comparions to make, but they're plain lazy. This film barely registers on those films levels - and doesn't even force comparion until the final twenty minutes. (Interestingly, this isn't the only British movie in 2011 to force a Wicker Man comparion, A Lonely Place to Die does as well, suggesting the power of that film upon filmmakers starting out - coinciding with the rediscovery of The Wicker Man's power in the mid 1990s.).

Putting the negatives to one side, however, and there is much to enjoy here. The violence is queasily brutal - a claw hammer attack in particular - and Ben Wheatley's direction is both lyrical and appropriate. I think there are better films to come from him. I suspect Kill List will not enjoy the longevity of something like The Wicker Man - because of its inconsistencies of plot and its few unanswered and unexplained questions - and because its shock ending, once seen, doesn't reward in the way the shock ending of The Wicker Man does. In fact, the ending of Kill List seems written just to shock and is entirely inconsistent with everything else that has come before it. A shame - so here is a film with lots of potential, and shows a director finding his feet - but there is better to come, I am certain.