People keep asking about the contradictions of him having a girlfriend so I guess I should explain: His rules apply to his work. Not his personal life. The film opens with the Killer listening to a song from The Smiths called "How soon is now?" the lyrics are as follows: You shut your mouth How can you say I go about things the wrong way? I am human and I need to be loved Just like everybody else does. Part of the Killer's mantra includes a question "What's in it for me?". Well in the case of his girlfriend it's love and companionship obviously. As the Killer says "I am one of the many". This means like most people he needs to feel love. His empathy is a biproduct of the love he has for his girlfriend. But she's not the only reason he goes after the people who hurt her. They didn't just hurt his girlfriend, they came after him too.
I think the complexity / purposes of the movie is hidden as well as Fassbender hides humanity underneath his psychopathy. At least after-the-fact, I appreciate the subtly of how that complexity reveals itself. The film format is a mask of parody and convenience, just as the character uses routine and mantra to bury his true self.
The whole point was the destruction, one by one, of his mantra. He became empathetic, he did jobs he wasn’t paid for, he trusted the billionaire. Every one of his principles disappeared. In becoming one of the many, he became someone who cared. Watch it again.
You don't use mantra and doctrine to emphasise who you are, you use is to overcome the default of self. By introspecting show no empathy, it doesn't imply he fundamentally lacks empathy, but that he needs a mantra to safeguard him from his default to be empathetic, like any other normal person. He's using the mantra a little like an alcoholic might recite the 12 steps... he doesn't want to give in to his humanity, because in his chosen line of work that is death.
Everyone reviewing seems to be missing the twist... Its not about revenge, and he doesn't empathize for his wife. The twist comes at the end, where he spares the man responsible, because he's not a threat. He doesn't know his name, address etc, but the killers did. He killed everyone who was a threat to him, and spared the one truly responsible. You're meant to think hes on a revenge spree, only to find out it was never about revenge. Only about ensuring no threats are left.
Its just his girlfriend, not his wife. Maybe you missed something? How was the cab driver a threat? Or the secretary? The Billionaire seemed more of a threat than those…?
@@mikekay9529 cab driver knew his home adress. Secretary knew his boss and other people around. He literaly said why he won't kill the billionaire, rewatch it.
cap driver knew his address, and had just pointed a gun at him. always potential for revenge. Same for the secretary. Notice how hes resting with his eyes closed at this house at the end of the movie? That was the whole point. hes safe there now. Billionair didnt know his name, or his address, and killing him would have been a larger risk than anything. his face was seen at the gym, at his building, his face would have been on every news outlet within the day.@@mikekay9529 I didnt miss a thing, i just saw more.
I agree with people saying that this movie is a way of Fincher to make fun of himself, like, throughout these years having a lot of experience in the crime genre, he's caught on to his tropes and he satirizes them. I like to compare this to The Irishman. In a way, these are both films that mix each director's tropes and results in a self-tribute of sorts.
I'm still salty we never got Fassbender as James Bond. I think that ship has sailed (It should be Dan Stevens now), but instead we got far too many Daniel Craig Bond movies and Fassbender got to do Snowman and Assassin's Creed. Not what I had envisioned lol. But he does get to hang out in bed with Alicia Vikander and drive around in fast cars so it's not like he's hurting too bad.
Found it pretty forgettable tbh. An ok watch, with impeccable cinematography as always , but there's really not that much meat around the bone. Really wish he would finish Mindhunter or the Girld with Dragon Tatoo trilogy instead of making a slow paced movie about an asassin messing up most of his kills while we hear his pretentious monologue making him sound like he's the best at what he does...
My honest review is I didn't like it and was disappointed by it. I'm a big fan of Fincher and his filmmaking style and this film was of course expertly shot and edited. But the story was very run of the mil and kind of boring and very unoriginal. A hitman messes up. His bosses make him pay by nearly killing his girlfriend. He swears vengeance and tracks down and kills some of them. And that's pretty much it. Maybe I missed something but I found this film very underwhelming. The only original thing was his narration.
