These days, the genre of “badass guy goes on rampage after his family and/or dog is murdered” is anything but unique; Dev Patel’s Monkey Man, a recent film, and the John Wick series are two prime examples. With Boy Kills World, director Moritz Mohr attempts to reinvent it by moving the scene to a bizarre dystopia driven by capitalism, adding aspects of video games, and amplifying the brutality. Sadly, rather than being a novel take on the vengeance thriller, the outcome is more of a copycat, headache-inducing imitation of it.
The movie opens with a loud, humorous narration that introduces us to the background of the silent protagonist Boy (Bill Skarsgård). This voiceover lets us into the character’s thinking, but because it’s not Skarsgård, it’s constantly off-putting and distracting. Flashbacks showing his family’s deaths occur at the speed of light, and then there’s an amazing training montage where Boy (played as a child by twins Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti) is turned into a killing machine by the enigmatic Shaman (Yayan Ruhian from The Raid). His ultimate incarnation is the astonishingly toned Skarsgård, who sets out to rid this world of the glitzy, despotic Van Der Koys in order to exact revenge on his mother and sister.
The action sequences in the film are overdone and poorly depicted.
The rampage starts, and it doesn’t stop. Boy Kills World excels at its deranged action and intricate fight choreography. The camera swoops around set pieces, which include a two-against-many corridor fight, a massacre at a dining table intercut with macaron munching, and the gnarliest use of a cheese grater since Evil Dead Rise. All of these scenes are realized in visceral, wince-inducing detail.
However, the action sequences in the film are overdone and poorly depicted. Aside from a brutal yearly ritual known as “The Culling,” we are given very little indication of the emotional bond between Boy and his family or the Shaman, making it difficult to care about them or what Boy is vengeful of. Additionally, the tone of the film is intended to be Deadpool-esque, breaking the fourth wall with humor, but aside from a few amusing moments, it never quite succeeds.
Video game language is the most noticeable among a plethora of obvious influences, ranging from Tarantino to The Hunger Games. It permeates every aspect of the game, including the plot, graphics, and vibrant, exaggerated character designs. However, Boy Kills World falls short of providing the complexity and nuance required to truly succeed as a film in its attempt to feel more like a game.