Boy Kills World

The film is off to a very promising start. Some of the ideas concerning the perception of the world around the deaf-mute main character are quite entertaining, although the film doesn't try to work with them in any clever way. Similarly, they don't attempt much in terms of world-building, so the whole inner world feels as shallow as an arcade game level (which may have been the intention), plus they populate the plot with utterly futile, annoying and unmotivated bad guys (which may not have been the intention) and soon bog down in a very repetitive action spectacle without any substance (which certainly wasn't the intention). The film cuts the branch underneath itself with a twist in the last quarter that turns the whole plot on its head and commits the cheapest deception on the viewer that can be devised. It's no longer about being stylistically surprising, it's just helplessly messing with the script. And the rest, sadly, isn't nearly as engrossing and cool as it tries to be. (04/25/2024)

This hammy romp about a deaf and dumb killer who has to overthrow a totalitarian regime spares no expense with absurd scenes, black humour and incredible action that combines the best of The Raid with childish imagination and naivety. The self-parody sequences where the protagonist tells the story in a video game voice, doesn't understand a mumbling comrade or sees things that can't exist in the real world get a heavy kick in the balls at the end. The film delivers not one but two switcheroos and becomes a heavy existential drama that turns the previous course on its head. An original fun flick with a great Bill Skarsgård and a godlike Sharlto Copley that bends the rules of the genre, clumsily, but enough to push them in the right direction. The best weapon is the grater, and macaroons are the food of the gods. P.S: Yayan Ruhian reprises the bloody finale from The Raid 2. (05/30/2024)

A bit of a disappointment for me, only the awesome finale pulls it up to a higher rating, but otherwise a bit of a letdown. The light-hearted concept bothered me a bit, unfortunately it isn't very funny and most of the actors overact disgustingly theatrically (Andrew Koji downright pissed me off here and doesn't perform anything). I was also quite bothered by Bill Skarsgård's inner voice and the humour was surprisingly lacking, but the action scenes were good, there’s a decent portion of gore, where heads and limbs are not spared. But then comes the finale, where the final 2 in 1 fight is the new ceiling of the action genre!! It was a like out of The Raid 2, with top choreography, nice slow-motion shots, fatalities; it made me scream and sweat like few have done before, this scene will definitively be in the TOP 10 fights on YouTube. 70% (05/22/2024)