Movies like The Killer on Netflix: Streaming on Netflix after a limited release in theatres, โThe Killerโ is David Fincher’s return to the genre of crime and thriller, which he had managed to hone and perfect by the late 90s and early 2000s. Clearly a style statement, โThe Killerโ is nonetheless distinctively Fincher-ian, and it also shares its DNA with lots of other movies within the same umbrella of crime and thriller space. It is such a vast umbrella that a list like this could run the risk of being too broad. Thus, the movies selected are done through a specific lens of tone, filmmaking style, as well as the genre they are referencing or inspired by. I am sure I am missing a lot, so please put your list down in the comments section, and letโs start a conversation.
7. The House that Jack Built (2018)
On the surface, โThe Killerโ and โThe House that Jack Builtโ couldnโt be more different. โThe Killerโ is about a ruthless assassin, while โThe House that Jack Builtโ is about a serial killer reminiscing about five murders and interspersing them with his own rationalizations tinged with intellectualism. From a filmmaking standpoint too, both these movies share distinctly different and yet unique, overwhelming directorial voices all on their own, and yet this exact difference is what puts this film on the list.
โThe Killerโ is about a distraught assassin trying his hardest to maintain order and control over each and every aspect of his assignment, down to the preciseness of his heartbeat to shoot. In a way, โThe Killerโ is Fincerโs most biographical film, where he uses a genre template to create an autofictional narrative about a man who is not averse to putting a mirror on himself and acknowledging it with a sense of sheepishness.
โThe House that Jack Builtโ is Lars Von Trierโs attempt at autofiction through a similar genre template that invites provocation in exploration of Von Trierโs own begrudging themes, which get called back and oft-repeated, but there is also a sense of artistic frustration that wouldnโt be out of the ordinary. Second-hand voiceover via conversation with Virgil also takes the genre element of the neo-noir template both this and โThe Killer” are trying to emulate, and of course, there is a dark sense of humor throughout the narrative, even if both of the directorial voices are so vastly different.
6. Haywire (2011)
In a vacuum, David Fincher isnโt the only celebrated auteur to take a crack at what one would mostly call โtrashy genre fare,โ like a movie about contract killers and assassins. Fincherโs style permeates through every frame of โThe Killerโ to the extent that the movie could be called an elevated stylistic exercise with a special focus on formalism and ruthless efficiency in filmmaking. A similar commentary could be presented in Steven Soderberghโs 2011 outing โHaywire.โ
There is efficiency in every frame of Haywire, which follows Mallory Kane (Gina Carano), a black ops agent betrayed by her employers and targeted for assassination. There are issues with Caranoโs dubbing, but not any issues with the action sequences, which the movie devotes most of its time to. Soderbergh revels in his editing, his choice to keep the movie as exposition-light as possible, and his sharp cuts, which are especially important for creating seamless movement within and between action set pieces.
But an apt comparison with โThe Killerโ would be a similarly strict and banal approach to the corporatization of even an organization like assassination or contract killing, where conflict and disconnect between bosses and employers could cause rustication. Except here, that usually means death until she proves herself useful and is offered a job back within the organization. โThe Killerโ chooses to view that with apathy; โHaywireโ views that with nonchalance as more of a part of the narrative than a commentary.
5. The Mechanic (1972)
โThe Killerโ opens with a twenty-minute sequence where our unnamed protagonist stakes out a Parisian house from the opposite window of a WeWork, listening to the Smiths and commenting on the process of his job in his head while waiting for his target to appear until he misses. Michael Winnerโs 1978 action thriller โThe Mechanicโ opens with a similar and yet exactingly different opening sequenceโa full sixteen minutes where Charles Bronsonโs Arthur Bishop prepares to execute his assignmentโand the sequence features no dialogue.
Admittedly, that is different, and yet Winner wastes no time in showing Bishopโs expertise in his job of making the kills look like accidents and not foul play. Like Michael Fassbenderโs unnamed protagonist, Bishop also works for a secret organization with its own strict rules. Like โThe Killer,โ โThe Mechanicโ is about a hitman running afoul of his higher-ups once he fails in his assignment and is targeted, and how he would have to go after them systematically. There are, of course, differences, like the presence of an apprentice, but even that causes conflict with the bishop and the organization that works for him.
4. Point Blank (1967)
In most of these assassin movies, the assassin’s mettle is tested when they are attacked, either by the person or the ones closest to them, and the response is a seething journey of retribution through the hierarchy of the organizational ladder that has chosen to betray them. The hideout in the Dominican Republic being attacked is enough to elicit a response from Fassbennderโs titular โThe Killer,โ a similar response to the criminal Walker in John Boormanโs 1967 classic โPoint Blank.โ
One could call “Point Blank” a revenge flick, and that wouldnโt be the wrong genre to slot the film into. However, there are elements in this that manage to ensure the movie slips in and out of the slot. For one thing, it is a killer working against an “organization,” and the killerโs code is almost stubbornly simple: he wants his $93,000 back. It’s again a systematic way to move through the levels of an organization and the ladders to ultimately reach the end of a money trail. But, unlike Fassbenderโs protagonist in Fincherโs film, Lee Marvinโs Walker extracts almost a pitiless form of violence.
There is also a strong sense of style in framing, editing, and unique use of sound mixing to disorient the audience, similar to how โThe Killerโ shifts from diegetic to non-diegetic music to shift focus. With subversive music and stylistic escapades, and a focus on the intermixing of brightly colored fluids at a kitchen sink to emulate the sense of dream logic, “Point Blank” is one of the early few films trying to elevate the โB-movie trashy genre templateโ into an arthouse action setpiece of elevated nature.
3. Blast of Silence (1961)
Some might call โThe Killer” a high-end B-feature, which would be talking down to the catharsis one experiences while watching a low-budget genre film. But Allen Baronโs low-budget 1961 shlocky feature โBlast of Silenceโ is the one film that eschews the closeness to Fincherโs own style in โThe Killer.โ Following a hitman working for the Cleveland Mafia as he traverses through New York City for a week to complete an assignment, Baronโs film could be called comical if the voiceover is any indication.
Unlike โThe Killer,โ where Fassbender drones with a first-person voiceover, talking about the ethics and codes of the hitman while in reality completely failing at each and every turn, the voiceover in โBlast of Silenceโ is in second-person and with the sharpness of a buzzsaw, the quintessential hard-boiled drawl. It seems to hold up an internal mirror for Frankie Bonoโs damaged psychology, almost acting as a defense mechanism. There is a black sense of humor within its hardened bite, which โThe Killerโ emulates. But there is also a focus on showcasing New York with a gritty, documentary-like style, particularly during the procedure of attaching a silencer to a gun or a fight with a heavy-set individual ending in a bloodbath.
2. Murder by Contract (1958)
One could sense while watching โThe Killerโ that our unnamed protagonist has the cynicism of a man almost stuck in a dead-end job in the gig economy. The fact that the job is about killing is beside the point because, according to the man, the monotony could only be helped by a lack of empathy, as he re-affirms the tenets of his work while trying to execute his assignment. Irving Lernerโs 1958 noir “Murder by Contract” is one of these earliest noirs, with its spare filmmaking style, a peculiar sense of nonchalance, and a hitman grappling with existentialism.
Considering the fact that Claude joins the organization as a โcontractorโ to pay off the down payment on a house, the humor is very much a laconic and dark one, with Claudeโs set of skills coming into sharp contrast with his set of twisted tendencies that get in the way, especially his weird hang-up about the final client being a woman because โwomen are unpredictable.โ Much of the film also deals with Claudeโs own methodology of training, his self-inflicted wounds, and the procedural-oriented nature of murder, which has come to inspire multiple movies of this genre, including โThe Killer.โ And, of course, the caustic and hilarious black humor-tinged voiceover is eager to cite details and affirmation of existentialism.
1. Le Samourai (1967)
To make a hitman film embellished with the procedural nature while achieving precise formal style, look no further than Jean Pierre Melville’s 1967 neo-noir “Le Samourai.” “Le Samourai” follows a professional hitman, Jef Costello (Alain Delon), trying to find someone who would want to have him killed after hiring him for a job, while a wily Parisian commissaire tries to catch him.
As Fincher himself admitted in an interview, you canโt make a movie like โThe Killerโ without referencing “Le Samourai” in some form or fashion. โThe Killerโ moves like a homage to Melvilleโs masterpiece while also deliberately commenting on elements of Melvilleโs visual aesthetic. If Le Samourai had Costello use a bunch of keys to identify and hotwire a car, “The Killer” has the unnamed protagonist use a key fob.
While Costelloโs own get-up resembles the typical film noir protagonist, he is very much able to navigate within society and not draw attentionโa similar ploy employed by Fassbenderโs killer, but through his own laconic dress code, which is far from being beatific. Fincherโs own clean style, sharp edits, and focus on the details and incidentals are very much inspired by Melville meticulously following Costello in โLe Samourai,โ but not entirely with the same amount of solipsism as Fincherโs latest.
