David Fincher’s latest film The Killer is so chillingly good, it’s currently #1 on Netflix in the US and is drawing rave reviews from audiences who’ve described it on social media as everything from riveting to their favorite movie of the year. That’s thanks in no small part to the spellbinding performance from Michael Fassbender, who plays a cold and calculating hitman with an affinity for The Smiths. Wracked by inner demons and having just narrowly avoided his own brush with death, Fassbender’s killer leads his employers on an international game of cat-and-mouse.
Tech. Entertainment. Science. Your inbox. Sign up for the most interesting tech & entertainment news out there. Email: SIGN UP By signing up, I agree to the Terms of Use and have reviewed the Privacy Notice.
“I liked the idea of exploring the inner psyche of somebody who kills for a living,” Fincher explained in a Netflix interview about the movie, which also got a limited theatrical release from the streamer. “And how he qualifies his notion of what he’s doing from what other people might ‘misperceive’ it as.
“I liked the idea of James Bond by way of Home Depot. And we love revenge movies, but the reality of revenge is there’s a lot about it that should make audiences uncomfortable. We’re going to explore that. We want to involve viewers in all of it.”
Tilda Swinton as The Expert in “The Killer.” Image source: Netflix
Michael Fassbender as an assassin in “The Killer.” Image source: Netflix
From the nail-biting storyline to tense action sequences, there’s so much here to sink your teeth into. And I fully expect The Killer to dominate Netflix’s next Top 10 movies chart, when those get updated this week.
In the meantime, the success of Fincher’s latest has me reminiscing about some of the other Netflix movies I’ve enjoyed over the last year or so about professional killers. Here’s what else I’d recommend along those lines for fans of The Killer: