Review of Kill List (2011) by Max E — 23 Feb 2012

I'm writing this as the credits roll and I'm somewhat perplexed. I loved this film all the way up until the sudden ending.

In a nutshell, Kill List was thoroughly enjoyable. Brutal, chilling, creepy, eye-opening and unforgiving. The film opens in powerful fashion, showcasing superb performances that last, and introducing well-rounded and likeable, human characters. It's really refreshing to find subtle dialogue that doesn't hand piles of plot to the audience, and a film where the thrills, chills and tension come from the interaction between characters and the excellent acting. I also really liked the editing throughout, keeping to the essentials with consistency and a flair for timing.

The effectiveness of the soundtrack was a little wavy, particularly in the first half when it sometimes seemed a little unnecessary. It made up for it later on however, and it's another example of how much a minimalistic style can bring life to a thriller like this one.

The puzzling thing about this film is how suddenly and cryptically it ended, I'm afraid the message, if there was one, is lost on me. There was a distinct reminder of The Wicker Man crossed with A Serbian Film, and the big twist was sadly far too predictable. I was eagerly watching all the way through, but the film ended quickly, provoking a thought of "what the hell just happened?".

It feels to me like a botched ending, and I'm now off to see if I can work out what went wrong. For this reason, 'only' four stars, everything before that was certainly exceptional work and lived up to its reputation.