Kill List

Prenons Drive et retirons-lui toutes ses composantes poétiques et hypnotiques. Il ne nous reste donc plus que la violence graphique et le côté lugubre. Multiplions ensuite ces deux aspects par cinq et on obtient Kill List, un film visuellement âpre made in UK. Le malaise croissant découlant du fanatisme occulte qui se déroule devant nos deux durs à cuire fonctionne à l’écran, mais sans pour autant aboutir sur un dénouement éloquent à mes yeux. Peut-être est-ce parce que j’ai assisté, dans autre chose, à quelque chose de TRÈS similaire, mais beaucoup plus pervers et percutant. Et c’est sans parler de l’extase puissante et pourvoyeuse de frissons apportée par la fuite dans un tunnel souterrain. (17/01/2012)

I liked Kill List in the details, but the overall impression is mixed… For instance, the initial dinner (fantastically oppressive), the second murder (after Drive, the second film this year where a hammer is really cool), the chase in the tunnels (the only really scary scene) and the music (or rather the various unpleasant noises and sounds), all that is great. The individual bits are really nice, but I couldn’t put anything together with the package as a whole. And the ending was very disappointing, it blends two ways how to ruin a climax: lack of surprise and not answering some questions the answer to which I would like to know. The film made me happy several times with how it’s made and its perfect atmosphere… but in the end it didn’t tell me anything. 3*+ (26/12/2011)

Excellent. Cival's parallel with Eyes Wide Shut doesn’t falter much (an internally incomplete character attracted to the obscure community), and I would also add Wickerman (pagan cult), and praise the film for its almost "veristic" approach to leading actors and working with mise-en-scène and editing. It's sick, it's derailed, it's raw, it's absorbing... dirty dumplings, somewhere between absentee sex, ubiquitous death, and fleeting love. (18/04/2013)

Good intentions and several thrilling scenes wrapped into a messy narration that fails to draw in the viewer and in the end leaves them with more questions than they would like. I appreciate the unorthodox approach vis-a-vis the characters, the work with the music and the unexpected bursts of violence, but the story doesn’t make any sense. Even A Serbian Film, which was more gratuitous and morally reprehensible, left me with a better impression. (22/10/2019)