Review of The Killer Inside Me (2010) by Manik H — 17 Nov 2012

Michael Winterbottom has often struck me as the pretentious type, so I tend to distance myself from his work, but "The Killer Inside Me" is a modest achievement on his part. That being said, the main thing about it that I don't quite care for is his peculiar directing style, which makes light of some dark subject matter.

It almost seems like he tried to strip a film noir of most everything that made it a film noir in the first place. So, what should have been a bleak, gritty crime thriller ends up being a sort of whimsical psychological drama that takes itself seriously, but in the silliest of ways.

I enjoyed "The Killer Inside Me" for its beautiful cinematography and top-notch performances, but I'm not sure if I totally liked it. The scenes of violence that were designed to shock me didn't have as much of an impact as I'm sure they were intended to.