Review by Ben Bussey
If Shion Sono remade a Michael Mann movie, I would expect the result to be pretty close to Killers. Writer-director duo Timo Tjahjanto and Kimo Stamboel (AKA the Mo Brothers) have crafted a tale of an unlikely brotherhood between two drastically different individuals who somehow find themselves arch rivals as they bond online over a common interest – murder. The result is an intriguing, stylish, well-performed, technically impressive film that seems sure to attract a wide audience – yet somehow it left me a little cold and underwhelmed once the dust had settled.
Nomura (Kazuki Kitamura) is pretty much Tokyo’s equivalent of Patrick Bateman: a handsome, wealthy, immaculately groomed bachelor, whose flawless visage masks a homicidal maniac of gargantuan proportions. At a glance, he would appear to have nothing in common with Bayu (Oka Antara), an unkempt, divorced, struggling journalist scraping by in Jakarta. Yet despite being perfect strangers to one another, seperated by thousands of miles (not to mention class), their bloodlust brings them together. For some time, Nomura has been video-recording his murders and releasing them online; after seeing these, and chatting online with the unknown killer, Bayu is inspired to follow suit. However, whilst Nomura is meticulous, calculating, and not too choosy about his victims, Bayu is emotional, impulsive, and determined to kill only those who deserve it – his ultimate target being the corrupt politician who destroyed his career, Dharma (Ray Sahetapy). It’s pretty clear straight away that it isn’t going to end well for anyone.
With the casting of The Raid’s Ray Sahetapy and The Raid 2’s Oka Antara and Kazuki Kitamura, not to mention the presence of Gareth Evans as executive producer (one among a great many producers here), it’s little surprise that Killers is being sold heavily on its connection to The Raid movies. However, the Mo Brothers have quite the legacy of their own to live up to following from their earlier collaboration Macabre, plus Timo Tjahjanto’s admirable work on one of the most impressively nasty episodes in The ABCs of Death (L is for Libido), and what was widely regarded the best chapter in V/H/S 2 (Safe Haven, which also starred Oka Antara). All this being the case, it’s easy to see Killers attracting widespread interest in the west, not only from horror fans and Asian extreme afficionados, but a more mainstream audience as well – though the latter group may hold out for a US remake, which I fully expect to materialise at some point in the not-too far future. And why not? Any western star would surely jump at the chance to tackle this kind of material, given it balances good old fashioned shock horror and action with character-based drama. While there is no shortage of gruesome murder and punch-ups, Killers goes to lengths to place equal emphasis on the emotional and psychological state of our two leads, following them through their everyday lives – Bayu’s strained relationships with his ex-wife and daughter, Nomura’s blossoming friendship with a florist and her autistic kid brother.
Why, then, did Killers not quite work for me? I’m struggling to put my finger on it, I must admit. In many respects there’s nothing to complain about: it looks great, it’s well-acted, and there are a number of impressive set pieces. There’s also a nice undercurrent of dark humour running through it, particularly in Bayu’s frequent blunders in his attempts to become a great killer. Overall, though, something about Killers rings hollow. In its ambitious attempt to tell two parallel stories which ultimately converge, it feels a little long-winded and overblown for my liking, hinging on some plot contrivances and lapses into arch melodrama which I feel somewhat undermine earlier efforts to craft a sophisticated narrative.
Still, I rather suspect I’m going to be in the minority on this one. Killers has much to recommend it, and the Mo Brothers are without doubt filmmakers of note who deserve the attention they’re getting; on this evidence, they’re just not quite this writer’s cup of tea, or this particular film isn’t at least.
Killers is available on UK DVD and Blu-ray on 1st September, from Lionsgate.