There has been many wrestlers that tried their luck in films after stepping out of the ring. Out of them, I would say my most favorite maybe Dave Bautista who has been rather compelling on the screen in the last few years. Of course, because of his size and physique, he is great for action roles but there is more to it he has actually been quite good at comedy as well, in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies and “Glass Onion”, and even in limited appearances only able to show part of his range, as in “Blade Runner 2049”, he has this understated presence that reminds of the late Robert Forster. Even if the movies themselves are terrible or average, like the one starring him and titled the “My Spy” films, Bautista’s screen presence does the job of captivating you. Bautista does shine in the horrible action comedy ‘Killer’s Game,’ but still, even he couldn’t help to make this stinker more interesting than becoming 100 minutes of sword swinging monotony.
In the film, he portrays Joe Flood, a hitman based in Budapest. Don’t fret, for he is one of the most upstanding characters we have seen in a while he only ever takes jobs that involve the elimination of people who deserve to die, he has principles regarding the profession that he will not milk, and quite neatly, it is played in the film by Ben Kingsley, who has done a role of Zvi, Flood’s mentor handler. Such a man is so fortunate that, in the opening sequence which features him being comically chased by enemies during a bloodbath at a dance recital, he has a romantic encounter with Maize, the lead dancer played by Sofia Boutella, and love inspires him to leave the business once and for all. Barron has found a way to motivate himself saying that after all, a perfect hitman comedy is a fine man from the past, he has ‘a newfound respect for life.’
Unfortunately, he has been diagnosed as well with severe migraines and his physician claims that this condition is secondary to an intractable neurodegenerative condition and has only three months to live.
Since he does not want Maize to find out about his pain, he thinks about putting a hit on himself. However, Zvi does not want to do it, which leads him to seek the services of another assassin’s handler, Marianna (Pom Klementieff), to assist in getting him killed. Counted among the many that Joe has taken out over the years, Marianna’s father is more than willing to enlist people for the job. Unfortunately, at the exact moment the contract goes into effect, Joe’s doctor Only drooling happens to ring the bell and announce to Joe that there has been a blunder in the laboratory tests and that Joe is fit. When Joe decides to cancel the order for the contract, Marianna not only extends her grip but threatens with different kinds of assassins and soldiers of fortune.
The image of a person hiring a contract killer, then sophisticatedly pulling out of the agreement, particularly, being incapable of doing so, is rather familiar to many movie lovers. The late Graham Chapman spun it out into a quirky comedy entitled ‘The Odd Job’ in 1978. It was also a focal turn in Warren Beatty’s great Bulworth. On the other hand, screenwriters Rand Ravich and James Coyne, in the adaptation of Jay R. Bonnansinga’s novel don’t have any unique notions that would’ve added some spice to the whole thing. When the key premise has been stated, the movie can be only described as a substantially simple sequence of Joe being attacked by more colorful assassins. Among them are a lesbian stripper couple, a Scottish pair whose speech needs subtitles even in movies with audio visual texture, and believe it or not, the world’s most vicious K pop band. Then, Joe gulps them down and spars with stab knives, firearms and explosives in quite grotesque scenes that can actually make one think they are watching an animated movie on a new level. Now what we saw in John Wick 3 would seem as Butoh art.
Such a scenario would be forgivable if battles in the film were done in the cohesive energy and visual prowess of the battles in the films, but this is not the case, as they are executed by J. J. Perry (the director of previous Jamie Foxx vampire hunter $\textit{Day Shift},$ one of the most unfulfilling films ever), in a chaotic, but utterly apathetic way, which, to make matters worse, is compounded by excessive but ineffective use of digitally simulated carnage throughout the movie.
Still Bautista giving his hand, or whatever other limbs are flopping around in this context, does almost all of the heavy lifting, such that there are parts of the film that actually come together. Bautista, to me, seemed to be the type of performer that knows better as he has already partaken in more ‘creative’ ventures namely the MCU, Dunes, and Knock at the Cabin yet still has some spark to see this through. It may not have ‘worked’ in the contrived way most expect, but there was certainly more scope for creativity than otherwise, which is the more deserving sentiment. As regards the other actors and actresses, there are some famous people among them; Terry Crews played one of the hired killers but none of them are worth. The fiery Boutella is turned into a concerned lover who barely fits into any scene, Kingsley appears disinterested, and fans hoping for great chemistry between Bautista and Klementieff will be disappointed after learning they only see each other for a minute or two in the film.
Thick and derivative in equal measure, “The Killer’s Game” is a raw deal, generic wide appeal cinema that is only surprising in the particular fact that it is actually being given a theatrical release instead of going straight to streaming where it would drown in the algorithm in short order and without anybody paying attention to its disappearance or regretting it. This is such a waste because Bautista, even at this comparatively early phase of his screen career, unambiguously merits finer material than the one that he has been offered in this instance. By the time he reaches that stage and gets to be a popular star, I hope for his sake, most of the people will have long completely erased that movie from their minds. For goodness sake, most of the people will likely forget that it exists by the end of this month in any case.
For more movies like The Killer’s Game visit 123Movies.