THE STORY – Diagnosed with a terminal illness, top hitman Joe Flood decides to take matters into his own hands and take a hit out on himself. However, when the very men he hires also target his ex-girlfriend, he must fend off an army of assassins and win back the love of his life before it’s too late.
THE CAST – Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, Terry Crews, Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror, Pom Klementieff & Ben Kingsley
THE TEAM – J.J. Perry (Director), Rand Ravich & James Coyne (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 104 Minutes
Between John Cena in last month’s “Jackpot!“ to the Rock’s seemingly omnipotent presence at the box office (“Moana 2” and “Red One” are both slated for theatrical release later this year), WWE stars continue to deliver as some of Hollywood’s biggest draws. But among the many actors-turned-wrestlers in Hollywood, there’s one heavyweight champion whose career has been a particularly curious one to follow: Dave Bautista.
Though the one-time 320lb world heavyweight champion first made his presence known on the big screen via monosyllabic “heavy“ roles in franchise action flicks (he speaks a single word as the hard-hitting Mr. Hinx in “Spectre”), Bautista’s more recent roles are decidedly more verbose. While he may still harness his imposing physicality for maximum dramatic potential, films like “Knock at the Cabin,” “Dune,” and, most recently, “The Last Showgirl“ harness his range and depth of character work. Even Bautista’s more comedic roles: his run as Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his pivotal turn in “Glass Onion“ soar thanks to his self-awareness and a deceptively breezy wit behind a deep voice and a mountain of muscles.
His latest vehicle, “The Killer’s Game“ (based on Jay Bonansinga’s 1997 novel of the same name), sees Bautista playing perhaps the most traditional leading man of his career, as a contract killer with a code racing against time to save his unsuspecting wife (Sofia Boutella) from coming face-to-face with the violent side of the work he’s kept hidden from her. Though a messily adapted script leaves characters feeling hollow and the film plagued by pacing issues, “The Killer’s Game“ is still a swift, serviceable action-comedy with first-class stunts and a formidable lead in Dave Bautista.
Over the past decade, audiences have seen no shortage of “The Killer’s Game‘s” man against the world“ brand of action: between the likes of “The Killer,” “Bullet Train,” “John Wick,” “Nobody“ the genre is well-trodden. “The Killer’s Game“is a veteran stuntman and second unit director JJ Perry’s second time in the director’s chair following 2022’s “Day Shift.” Though the film’s action sequences are predictably top-notch, there’s a distinct disparity between the electricity of the stunts and the predictable, by-the-numbers story ushering Flood from fight to fight.
On the page, Joe Flood is (perhaps by design) as bare bones of a character as one can be: a blank slate of a man with no discernable personality beyond his ability to kill someone with whatever you put in his hands. Though Perry’s direction doesn’t necessarily play up the comedic mundanity of the character as much as the likes of David Fincher in “The Killer,” Bautista is able to nonetheless instill Joe with a down-to-earth self-awareness that makes him an intrinsically charming lead.
Bautista’s newly minted leading man status also sees him playing the romantic lead opposite fellow action/franchise veteran Sofia Boutella, whose ballet dancer Maize is an unfortunately underwritten and stereotypical damsel in distress type. Maize’s relative lack of agency (or personality beyond being a dancer who loves Joe) feels particularly incongruous considering the agency (and, at times, comical hypersexuality) of the film’s other female characters.
Pom Klementieff is a highlight as the sadistic, bloodthirsty Marianne (a domme-adjacent turn reminiscent of her role in “Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One), though she’s frustratingly sidelined and kept out of all the proper action. Decidedly not left out of the action are Shaina West and Lucy Cork as Ginni and Tony, a pair of best friends/assassins whose introductory action sequence (masquerading as pole dancers complete with razor-laden heels) is a particular delight.
As is the case with most of the film’s contract killers, though, Ginni and Tonya are one-and-dones, who exit the film almost as suddenly as they enter it. The revolving door of killers keeps Joe (and the audience) on his toes, and it’s a formula that’s worked in the past (again, looking to David Leitch’s “Bullet Train“). Still, the lack of character depth necessitated by form combined with Perry’s relative inexperience as a director is what causes “The Killer’s Game“ to stumble where others have found success.
The two biggest victims of Perry’s approach to character are Maize and Terry Crew’s vaguely “Shaft”-inspired Lovedahl, who on paper is “The Killer’s Game” ‘s secondary protagonist but often ends up feeling like a tacked-on subplot with a particularly grating sidekick in George Somner’s Money. Ben Kingsley and Alex Kingston make a winning pair as two of Joe’s unlikely allies, as do Drew McIntyre (another WWE superstar making the leap to film) and Scott Adkins as the hard-drinking, harder-hitting Mackenzie brothers — McIntyre’s hulking physicality and ferocious grin make his feature debut a brief but memorable one.
Though the narrative connective tissue holding the abundance of eye-catching stunt sequences together may be flimsy, once “The Killer’s Game“ enters familiar territory for Perry, the film kicks into another gear. Between daredevil brothers mounted on motorcycles to a quartet of fun-loving Korean assassins or a Latin ballroom dancer who can only kill to the right music, “The Killer’s Game‘s” stunts are as impressive as they are varied, though the third act finale is frustratingly explosives-heavy for a film directed by a martial arts specialist.
While “The Killer’s Game“ may tread familiar territory in terms of its premise, director JJ Perry’s extensive experience with stunts elevates the formulaic script, while Dave Bautista’s one-two punch of dramatic chops and physical prowess reminds us how singular of an action star he is.
