The Killer’s Game is an action comedy directed by J. J. Perry, starring Sofia Boutella, Ben Kingsley, and Dave Bautista and sets to be released on September 13, 2024. The film is based on a book written by Jay Bonansinga in 1997 which bears the same name.
Plot
The primary focus of the film is Joe flood, a hitman played by Dave Bautista who has been known for a high success rate and has carried his job with a lot of pride. When he realizes that he has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, Flood decides to take matters into his own hands and plans to end his life while maintaining control. This is done by placing an order on himself under hitmen, which according to him is the easiest way to die. However, as the assassins are carrying out their mission on the other hand, Flood’s ex girlfriend played by Boutella is also attacked, and eventually becomes the target. The whole drama sets Flood to battle with all his former partners. The climax of the film involves many action scenes and a bitter sense of humor.
Cast & Crew
- Director: JJ Perry
- Screenplay: James Coyne and Rand Ravich
- Inspired From: The Killer’s Game – a novel by Jay Bonansiga
- Producers: Kia Jam, Andrew Lazar, Steve Richards
Main Cast:
- Joe Flood by: DAVE BAUTISTA
- Sofia boutella wallows in Joe’s ex-girlfriend
- Terry Crews
- Pom Klementieff
- Scott Adkins
- Ben Kingsley
Production and Release
With a budget of roughly $ 30 million, The killers game was produced and filmed in different locations with major scenes filmed in Budapest Hungary. The film however was released on September 13, 2024, under the distribution of Lionsgate. Contrary to expectations, the action-packed film starring top Hollywood actors managed a total gross of only 5.9 million across the globe.
Critical Reception
The reviews were mostly negative with some critic estimating them to be trolling. The film holds a poor rating on rotten tomatoes and is ‘An action film that doesn’t involve any real action, and a comedy with no humor’ according to some of the critics.
The film overall failed on every effort it made to merge the two genres and still barely managed to deliver on even a single genre.
But much more attention has been directed by the audience towards Bautista’s acting along with the outrageous level of violence the film offered. According to IMDb, the average rating of The Killer’s Game as rated by filmgoers is 5.7 stars out of 10.
Power and Analysis
The Killer’s Game covers power, control, self agency and the reason behind violence. The way assassin stories go, Joe Flood’s exterminating instinct as a strong adage while also showing his virtue to never black out is quite in order. In the event that his ex-girlfriend is brought into his line of sight in the middle of his work, that pushes Flood to make a decision that is against his principles because he has never had to think twice about such things since he was a professional.
The cloudy center of carnage and gallows humor is what the assassination film sets off to achieve and for such classic combinations they need perfect pitch. That being said, some do and other parts don’t which makes entertaining content while at other parts it doesn’t deliver well. With the amount of pressure the hitman Deon is under, interspersing humor throughout life-and-death scenarios is meant to add nuances into his character, that are beyond the nonchalant attitude of a killer.
Conclusion
The Killer’s Game has a very interesting concept that captures action and dark humor well, all thanks to Bautista. There is great promise in the idea of Bautista leading the film however much criticism has been aimed at the way in which the film has been pieced together especially with the action and comic relief elements. Still, for the fans of the genre and Bautista, this movie has plenty of suspenseful action and some comic relief.
With the release of the movie on various streaming sites, its target audience which is a subset of the population that likes films about assassins may grow larger. It hasn’t been the case for the majority of viewers which is why it hasn’t done been well with critics or makers however The Killer’s Game is a film that can be looked at as a part of action comedy movies progression and the imagination behind creating one.
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