Review of The Killing (1956) by Jackson M — 03 Sep 2012

The Killing' was kubrick's first film that gained him a sense of credibility before the monumental leap of 'Spartacus' and 'Dr strangelove', however 'the killing' displays kubrick's influential narrative structure towards the crime genre, and after re-watching 'the killing', it's quite evident of the influence 'the killing' has had on modern crime films and modern directors, in particular Quentin Tarantino.

Besides kubrick's influential narrative structure, the film displays brilliant noir traits, such as the beautiful low-key lighting, the cynical attitudes and the deadly femme fatale. In a sense, 'the killing' very much represents kubrick's meticulous behaviour, as for a robbery to work, everything must go 'according to plan', there cannot be any faults or the plan will fail.

Similar to kubrick's films and his nature, he wanted his vision to be told as accurately as possible. Kubrick display this view of perfection through the final act, the robbery of the races. The robbery is told through an unchronological order that displays the essential meticulous needs to succeed in a robbery, furthermore this structure captures the perception and moments of each characters contribution to the robbery.

However, through this ending kubrick displays the punishment of cynical attitudes and the faith of punishment that follows criminals, no matter how perfectly executed the crime is.