Jay (Neil Maskell) has been feeling under pressure lately.
Since a botched job in Kiev happened eight months, Jay hasn’t been at work
since to his wife Shel’s (MyAnna Buring) frustration. After reuniting with his
friend Gal (Michael Smiley) during a tense couple’s dinner night, Jay decides
to return to work as a hitman alongside Gal. Gal and Jay are given three
targets on their kill list by a shadowy client and they head out to carry out
the hits. As they proceed in their mission, things quickly take a dark turn.
Director Ben Wheatley is masterful at creating dread in his
films and Kill List is positively
dripping with it. The comfortable suburban house Jay and Shel reside in serves
as a mask, hiding the fraught tension between the pair that quickly flare up
and are forgiven just as quickly, although they are never properly resolved. It
lies stagnant in their home, causing Jay to seek refuge in the garage to smoke,
whilst Shel suffers alone as a former soldier turned house-wife, lashing out in
revenge with barbed remarks. Everything is muted, washed-out and grey-looking within
Jay’s domestic world, his dominance in the home constantly undermined and
questioned by his wife and son Sammy (Harry Simpson). It is no wonder that Jay
soon quickly agrees to return to assassination, where he is a king over other
men and they are his prey. Whilst out on his mission, the world is brighter
although it retains a sickly quality and it is more immediate as we follow
behind Jay and Gall in long hand-held shots. As the horror starts to catch up
to them, Laurie Rose’s cinematography starts to become more lucid, culminating
in a nightmarish underground scene. Jim William’s music is persistent in
establishing the uneasy tone of Kill List,
reverberating and humming underneath the action.
Gal appears to be intimidating in his tucked away house, with
pit-bulls roaming around the front, and is salacious towards his girlfriend
Fiona (Emma Fryer). However, he is revealed to be professional and fairly soft-hearted
for a hardened hitman, offering comforting advice to Shel and Sammy after one
of Jay’s outbursts. In contrast, Jay appears to be a respectable middle-class
man, but has a violent temper and machoism that lands him constantly in trouble.
Appearances can be deceiving in this film, with ugliness lurking underneath just hidden
away. Gal is religious and it is a theme which rears its head sporadically throughout
Kill List. Comparisons between
patriarchy in religion and the family dynamic could be read in the film. There
are other themes which could be discussed, but it would be at the risk of
spoiling the film. However, Kill List
is a film which fits snugly into any one interpretation and reveals in its ambiguity.
Neil Maskell gives a strong and sympathetic performance as
Jay, who clearly loves his family but struggles to keep control of himself. Maskell
conveys a lot of inner turmoil in one head rub, with a gruff demeanour towards
anyone who is not a friend or family member. Michael Smiley provides some
gallows humour in his role of Gal, maintaining a polite manner whilst mocking
those around him. Gal seems ready to retire from the job and displays a
sensitivity which allows him to read people and the situation in front of him.
MyAnna Buring is temperamental as Shel, capable of acting coldly and warmly
towards Jay. Buring appears to be carrying an invisible burden, as she looks
after the home and her son during her husband’s absence.
Kill List is an
atmospheric horror, with disturbing visuals and sounds contributing to the
constant sense of dread, topped off with some strong acting.
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