David Fincher has amassed a collection of certified classics under his name. Films like Fight Club, Gone Girl, and The Social Network have been recognized as some of the best, most influential movies ever made. What makes his films exceptional is that they are not straightforward, often covering controversial topics and featuring characters whose actions are not meant to be emulated. This keeps the movies more relevant as audiences have so much to unpack.

Fincher's latest film, The Killer, is unique in that it builds off of the legacy of the director's previous work. While based on a graphic novel of the same name, Fincher has also said that his inspiration for the film came from the common misinterpretation of his movie Fight Club. The Killer himself appears to be someone who believes that Tyler Durden is a character to admire and aspire to be like.

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What Is The Killer About?

The Killer is a film about defying expectations, pulling the rug out from underneath audiences twice during the very beginning. The movie begins with a fast, flashy opening credits sequence with hard rock playing. It's a familiar start for an action movie, typical for the type of movie that The Killer seems to be on the surface. Anyone who went in blind to this film, knowing nothing but the title and basic premise, knows only that it's about a hitman going on a revenge spree. Unwitting viewers would watch this opening and prepare for a fast-paced, over-the-top action movie.

Immediately after the title sequence, however, the movie slows down. Rather than launching into the expected high-stakes action, the focus is instead on The Killer (Michael Fassbender) as he waits for his target to arrive in Paris. The process takes a week, and in that time, the audience sees what The Killer does during his stakeouts. To be fair, it's not much. He spends a lot of time people watching, prepping his gun, and listening to The Smiths. He narrates his process, detailing the sacrifices it takes to be so methodical. He shares his low opinion of others and the ways he has grown detached in order to become better at his job. The stakeout is a slow, sprawling sequence, standing in stark contrast to the expectations set by the opening. The Killer explicitly says that what he's doing isn't for the impatient, both describing his line of work and warning the audience about the type of film they're watching.

After the long waiting period, The Killer's target finally arrives. The Killer lines up the shot, waiting for his heart rate to drop low enough to pull the trigger. He narrates his actions, speaking of the discipline and extreme precision that allows him to perform at such an elite level. And after such a long windup, so much hype behind it, The Killer misses his shot and accidentally kills a dominatrix in the same room as his target.

The Killer flees the crime scene, avoiding the police and leaving France. Upon returning to his luxurious home in the Dominican Republic, he discovers that his lover has been assaulted by assassins. Realizing that the hitmen were there to punish him, he embarks on a vengeance-fueled mission to wipe out the chain of command who went after him.

The Killer Ending, Explained

At the beginning of the film, The Killer openly states that he considers himself to be one of the few and not the many. He thinks that he is above other people, who he calls 'normies,' and thinks that he goes about living life in a superior manner. His proficiency in espionage and murder are unique talents that he has cultivated due to his discipline and self-sacrifice.

His main arc throughout the course of the movie is realizing that he is not better than anyone else, and that his traits are neither unique nor extraordinary. The Killer's real name is never revealed, as he gallivants from place to place using his multitude of fake identities. Everywhere he goes, he makes new accounts under fake names, takes out new credit cards, and buys and breaks phones. The movie points out that there is little challenge to doing this. The world of today is so centered around accounts and logins that creating temporary identities goes unnoticed.

The Killer puts on a powerful persona, taking advantage of those he needs information from and bullying them into submission before killing them. He considers himself to be a force of nature, a powerful being elevated above other people. In reality, however, The Killer's power comes from having a gun when his opponent is unarmed. Obviously, this is true for the way a sniper takes out their targets. In The Killer's case, however, this is also how he deals with the first few people on his kill list. An Uber driver, his old professor and boss, and an office assistant are all dispatched because The Killer pulls a gun on them.

In the one instance where The Killer has to fight another person on even ground, he gets blown back. When he takes on The Brute, one of the two assassins who attacked his lover, he gets overwhelmed and has the pistol knocked out of his hand. In the ensuing conflict, The Brute easily overpowers The Killer in hand-to-hand combat. The only way The Killer manages to win the brawl is by grabbing at things around him to use as weapons, eventually holding The Brute back long enough to grab his gun and finish the fight. In spite of his constant talk about being superior, The Killer can only win fights with outside assistance.

When The Killer confronts the second assailant, The Expert, she engages him in conversation. The Expert offers him food and drink, and attempts to appeal to his sense of humanity. One rule The Killer has emphasized throughout the movie is that an assassin must not have empathy, as empathy is weakness and weakness is vulnerability. He considers himself to be above The Expert, then, when she appeals to his nonexistent sympathies. He continues to feel this way when she stumbles and asks for his help getting up, only to shoot her while she's down. The Killer's sense of superiority fades away, however, when he sees the concealed knife fall out of her grasp. He was not unique between the two of them. They were both unfeeling, willing to end the other in a heartbeat; he simply happened to have the advantage.

The final confrontation takes place between The Killer and the billionaire who hired him in the first place. It is the most difficult bullet on The Killer's list, and The Killer spends a great deal of time stealing the pieces he needs to work his way undetected into the building. This final kill is built up as a grand finale. The Killer expects the billionaire to be a vindictive spirit, eagerly awaiting the chance to tear him apart. He wants a worthy final battle for an exceptional man.

What he actually finds, however, is a timid man who has no idea who The Killer is. He's not scared of him; he only fears for his life. The Killer presses the billionaire and discovers that he only agreed to the vague notion of "damage control" after The Killer missed his shot. The billionaire didn't know the specifics. This was his first time working with a hired killer, and he doesn't actually want The Killer dead. The Killer feels a sense of defeat over the anticlimactic encounter and leaves the billionaire alive, a first for him.

In the end, The Killer has learned that he is just like everyone else. He's not special, and he's not the main character. He's doing things anyone could do, and masking mistakes just as anyone would. He even admits as much, with his final line claiming that he's one of the many. Given that he says it while enjoying retirement with his lover, however, it seems the revelation has brought him joy, something he had not found until the very end of the film.

The Killer (2023)

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