Review of The Killing (1956) by Matthew M — 25 Jun 2008

Second official Kubrick's feature, "The Killing" is a decent noir starring Sterling Hayden as a tough, highly motivated ex-con who sets up a last bank heist before the classical settling down. Heavily influenced by John Huston's nicely done "Asphalt Jungle", "The Killing" is the first true proposition from Kubrick's catalog. An entertaining proposition.

The true treasure here is dialogue, delivered exactly how is suppose to be: smart-ass, fast, snappy and funny. 28 years-old Kubrick's direction is impressive here, just a year after his debut, "Killer's Kiss". The tempo of the plot is perfectly balanced with relations of the characters and even though non-linear storytelling takes away some of the tension, it's engaging till the end.

Why Kubrick decided to make this picture? It doesn't feel like a Kubrick's choice for a movie. Despite storytelling, there's nothing fresh in this story. What's more: when you want to make a movie, the last movie you want to make is a movie that everybody makes around you. Well, the best guess then would be that he simply wanted to make a picture formally fine, without any flaws, a picture that would be fun to watch from beginning to the end.

And that's exactly what it is.