Film Review - Boy Kills World
Images courtesy of VVS Films.
Just a month after the release of Dev Patel’s Monkey Man we get yet another thrilling directorial debut entering into the action subgenre - putting emphasis on crazy fight choreography - in Moritz Mohr’s brand new sci-fi bonanza Boy Kills World. It really is like a brother film to Monkey Man in many ways, a riveting revenge film about a man on a mission to kill the bad guys who rid him of his family as a child, complete with training montages, complex backstories, and very memorable fight scenes (even one taking place in a kitchen, what are the odds?).
Set in a totalitarian dystopia, our hero, the deaf-mute Boy, played by Bill Skarsgård, is set on a mission to enact revenge on the leaders of the regime who killed his family. Boy has been trained in martial arts for what looks to be well over a decade by The Shaman (Yayan Ruhian, known best as Mad Dog in The Raid). Once a year they hold an event called The Culling, where rebels, criminals, and other “enemies of the state” are executed by breakfast cereal mascots. We may have seen some of these established tropes in other media but the sheer gleeful anarchy with which the movie plays with it all out is extremely fun to watch.
Where Patel’s film is more serious and grounded, Mohr’s goes the way of the hilarious and surreal. Taking all the right lessons from the success of the Deadpool films, BKW perfectly mixes the chaotic, high octane fight scenes with moments of slapstick (or splat-stick) and physical comedy, amidst the occasional quip or one-liner, which are thankfully not overused here like they might be in the average action comedy. The tone of the film manages to stay upbeat despite all the viscera flying at the screen. We’re treated to a delightfully weird and deranged version of the otherwise edgy grimdark serious sci-fi dystopia. One major stand-out characteristic to the film and its protagonist is how Boy’s inner thoughts are narrated by a tough guy video-game voiceover in H. Jon Benjamin, giving some needed context, humour, and even pathos to Skarsgård’s non-vocal performance. The whole cast is hamming it up in the best way: their characters are off-kilter and unserious, subverting a lot of action tropes. While they may seem villainous, they’re actually bored of the totalitarian regime, yet resigned to do nothing about it because of how crazy their leader is. A refreshingly original take in that the regime has actually succeeded in weeding out their so-called criminals and so are struggling to find people to punish to keep up the appearance of power. It only takes meeting our hero to make them - often flippantly - change sides, you never really know who’s on which side even until the very end.
Now let’s talk about the fight scenes! Some seriously creative fight choreography with some unique weapons, which is always a plus in any action movie,here including very creative use of a cheese grater (I’ll let your imagination fill in the gaps). Often a wacky comedic action movie like this ends up skimping on the gore, but Boy truly Kills World here: limbs go flying, bones crack, and blood cakes the walls by the end. Red is the most common colour on screen, even in the costumes, with Boy’s red vest giving his character some instant recognisability to go with his reserved yet slightly goofy silent protagonist. The costumes are extravagant the whole time, from the over-the-top dystopian bourgeois to the colourful pirate-themed breakfast cereal mascots. Jessica Rothe’s silent assassin has a badass helmet that lights up with words and graphics instead of talking, and she gives off a powerfully angry performance to match. It would be really cool to see her and Skarsgård do more action movies in the future, and it will be equally as cool to see how Mohr follows up this maniacally fun film.
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Boy Kills World is screening in cinemas from Thursday the 2nd of May. For tickets and more info, click here.