Director Spotlight: Ben Wheatley - Kill List Review

Kill List focuses on a couple of hit men, Jay (Neil Maskell) and Gal (Michael Smiley), the former of whom has been avoiding work for close to a year in the aftermath of a badly botched job in Kiev.  Set in the wake of the 2008 recession money is tight and after some manipulation from his wife, with some support from Gal, his partner in professional murder, Jay agrees to take on another assignment. In exchange for a big pay day they are tasked with carrying out a trio of kills by a shadowy employer with an infernal secret agenda. Events rapidly take a turn for the worst and both men find themselves descending into a steadily more terrifying heart of darkness.

Ben Wheatley's second movie is a masterful fusion of the British crime thriller and occult horror genres that contains some of the most unpleasant, look-away-now moments of on-screen violence I've witnessed in recent years. For most of the first act you could be forgiven for thinking you’re watching a brutally effective kitchen sink drama about a marriage that is in the process of hitting the rocks in spectacular fashion. If you thought the dinner party scene in Wheatley’s debut Down Terrace made for uncomfortable viewing you've seen nothing yet.

The thing that immediately struck me during the opening act was the performances. One of the things that Wheatley excels at is casting his movies. Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Michael Smiley and Emma Fryer are all remarkable from the get go. As in his debut movie, the way Wheatley encourages improvisation really pays off.  All of the dialogue throughout Kill List's 95 minute run-time feels 100% real. There’s an ebb and flow to the conversations that echoes the kind of natural rhythm that can often be found in the movies of Mike Leigh (the opening 20 minutes play out like Abigail's Party goes to hell).

Michael Smiley and Neil Maskell are absolutely convincing as two friends who have gone through hell together. Although they have their ups and downs throughout Kill List (the downs including a couple of brilliantly staged scraps) it’s never up for dispute that they would die for each other.  It’s one of the most riveting bromances in modern cinema with both actors delivering a performance that supports and enhances the other. Most of the movie's often dark humour comes out of the various conversations between these two characters with much of the dialogue growing organically out of Wheatley's already mentioned predilection for improvisation. Just as in Down Terrace none of the humour feels forced. It flows effortlessly and is mostly rooted in the dialogue as opposed to the situation. MyAnna Buring is also tremendous as Jay’s wife. She throws herself into the argument scenes with an intensity that’s utterly convincing. Likewise, without giving anything too much away about her role, Emma Fryer is an inspired piece of casting as Gal's creepy girlfriend Fiona.

To call Kill List brutal would be like saying water is a bit wet. This is a violent story about violent people doing violent things. I approached the movie anticipating some carnage and Wheatley delivers big time. Crucially though, none of the more overtly horrific moments in Kill List are fun. The movie sets out to disturb and achieves its goal with absolute surety. There’s a scene involving a hammer that is so relentlessly, teeth-grindingly painful to watch that it became a challenge to keep my eyes on the screen. I was reminded somewhat of the sort of unflinchingly realistic explosions of violence that often crop up in European cinema (Nicolas Winding Refn's Pusher Trilogy comes immediately to mind) or in the movies of Martin Scorsese. The kind that leave you uncomfortably numb rather than elated. There's also a matter-of-factness to the way the violence is staged that speaks volumes about who these men are, the world they choose to live in and what they're capable of. Although it's tough to watch at times you can’t help but give Wheatley a mental pat on the back for his willingness to push the envelope so far beyond the boundaries of what you typically expect in British cinema. All too often movies err on the side of caution when it comes to presenting an accurate reflection of exactly how unglamorous violence is in the real world. Kill List isn't interested in dressing the violence up. To do so would be to dilute the effectiveness of the movie.  Kill List is full strength.

Another thing I love about this film is its structure. The movie is composed of three very different acts each of which bleed into the others in some very interesting ways but are nonetheless quite distinct from each other in both tone and content. In the first act (the aforementioned dinner scene from Hell) we’re introduced to the main protagonists while the second act focuses almost entirely on Jay and Gal as they carry out the job. There’s only one moment within the first act that suggests the movie is going to drift into horror territory. The hints become more forceful during the second act courtesy of some truly chilling moments that provide an indication of the dark undercurrents that are threatening to drag our two oblivious "heroes" down. With the third act we’re deep into genre territory as events take a nightmarish turn that forces our protagonist (and the viewer) kicking and screaming in the direction of one of the most nihilistic, distressing conclusions I've experienced.  In the last five minutes of Kill List director Wheatley delivers a viscerally shocking, punch in the gut ending that is as pulverisingly bleak as it is emotionally excoriating.

Another feather in Kill List's cap is that it's not dumb. The movie is a knotted perversion of the King Arthur legend and throughout the run-time there are a number of little clues scattered throughout like Easter eggs that allude to the story of the once and future king. It’s yet another layer to a movie that already has quite a lot going on thematically. Add to this the almost total lack of exposition, a practice for which director Wheatley evidently has a close to zero tolerance attitude, and we have a movie that challenges the viewer to fill the blanks and gaps. It’s an interesting storytelling decision that proves as effective here as it did in Wheatley’s brilliant debut Down Terrace (review here).

Another plus that Kill List shares with Wheatley’s debut is DOP Laurie Rose. Rose brings a sheen of quality to the production that’s purely instinctive. This is an astonishingly well shot movie. Even in its ugliest moments it's beautiful to look at.  As with Down Terrance it was mostly shot in a handheld fashion using the Red One camera which given the unwieldy nature of that beast of a unit makes Rose's achievement here all the more impressive. The camerawork coupled with the movie’s threatening score which is delivered courtesy of Jim Williams, another Down Terrace veteran, contributes to the palpable sense of constantly escalating dread that builds throughout until it crescendos in the movie’s majorly fucked-up payoff.

Down Terrace cemented Ben Wheatley’s reputation as a talent worth watching. With Kill List he delivers on that early promise and proves also that he not only understands how to make an effective horror movie but is also entirely capable of throwing different genre stylistics into a melting pot and cooking up something unique (Kill List is as much a drama as it is a crime movie as it is a horror movie) to stirring effect. It’s the juxtaposition of these various elements that makes his movies so unpredictable and it’s this unpredictability that gives them their edge. Kill List is not only one of the best crime movies of recent vintage but also one of the most shattering, brutally effective, troubling horror movies I've seen in quite some time. The horror element of the movie is so well conceived that I almost wish Wheatley would turn his hand to delivering a straight up genre movie. He’s one of the most interesting film-makers dabbling in the darker corners of cinema today. It’s easy to determine what movies and directors influenced his vision here (The Wicker Man, Race with the Devil and any number of great UK crime movies). That he managed to deliver a finished product that not only bears comparison to these movies but also achieves the lofty goal of being compared favourably with them is quite an achievement.

Steve's score:

Director Spotlight: Ben Wheatley - Down Terrace Review

After their release from prison, Bill (Robert Hill) and his son Karl (Robin Hill) head home to Down Terrace in Brighton. Bill decides, with the help of his wife Maggie (Julia Deakin), to identify the rat in his criminal operation and a tale of recrimination, betrayal and murder ensues.

Down Terrace, which is the 2009 feature debut of Kill List director Ben Wheatley, represents one of the most exciting calling cards from an emerging talent in recent years.  The last time I saw a director come out the gates with something this strong it was Shane Meadow’s with the brilliant Twenty Four Seven.  Wheatley actually shares with Meadow's an innate ability to balance brittle comedy with shattering moments of violence (both physical and emotional).

The movie was shot over eight days with a small cast and crew (sneeze and you’ll miss the end credits) on an equally tiny budget in the family home of two of its lead actors which is located on the titular Down Terrace in Brighton.  The story meanders from scene to scene in a fashion that shows a marked lack of respect for conventional plot development and pacing instead favouring a jigsaw puzzle approach with pieces that other film-makers would explore deliberately missing.  This perhaps suggests a criticism that the movie has little respect for traditional storytelling and requires the viewer to not so much read between the lines as invent for themselves something to fill that void.  In practice it all comes together beautifully. Down Terrace is more interested in exploring the characters in the moment than revealing all of the mental strings that are pulling them in one direction or the other.  By surgically removing most of the boring and, in this case, unnecessary exposition that can often drag a movie down into the realms of the banal Wheatley succeeds in conjuring up an enigmatic air.  Just what exactly is the criminal business that Bill is involved in?  What was the crime that landed them in jail?  So what if there are some gaps in the narrative. It’s a ploy that works in Down Terrace’s favour by reducing the viewer’s ability to anticipate the sequence of events to come.  It’s a clever tactic and a large part of the reason the movie feels so unique.

Another thing the movie gets right is the extent to which it embraces improvisation as a means of ensuring the dialogue feels unforced.  There’s a natural flow to the conversations throughout Down Terrace that lends the movie a feeling that we’re not watching actors reciting a script but instead makes the viewer feel more like a fly on the wall witnessing real conversations and real drama unfold.  It borders on cinéma vérité at times.  It helps that the movie is cleverly shot in a hand held fashion by the insanely talented Laurie Rose who after this movie has served as DOP on every subsequent Ben Wheatley film.  It’s easy to see what the attraction is.  This is some of the finest hand held camera work I’ve seen.  The way he glides around the actors pulling them into focus on the hop is truly graceful and without him Down Terrace wouldn’t be half the film it is.

With a cast made up of a peculiar mix of comedy actors and people with little to no acting experience at all its remarkable how assured the performances are from all involved.  Everyone is exceptional but the real standout is Julia Deakin as the matriarch of the dysfunctional family at the heart of the movie.  Having only previously seen her in Spaced (where she was brilliant) her performance in Down Terrace is something of a revelation.  Throughout the movie she shifts gears so subtly, with a performance that is at times heart-breaking, at times terrifying (sometimes both at once) but never less than utterly convincing.  Even in her moments of silence her face and eyes speak volumes.  Robert Hill and Robin Hill are also wonderful as Bill and Carl.  The fact that they are father and son in real life lends their relationship in the movie a sense of abject realism.  They feel less like characters and more like living, breathing human beings with all the history and failings that delivers.  Michael Smiley, who like Julia Deakin appeared in Spaced, is great fun as an incredibly ineffective hitman who turns up for a job with his baby in tow (a sneaky nod to Lone Wolf & Cub).  All the actors deliver here with not a single bum note to be found.

Something I’ve not mentioned yet is how funny Down Terrace is.  It’s a humour that comes out of the situations rather than something that feels forced.  There’s a natural flow to the dialogue that comes out of the movie's exploration of the already mentioned improvisation and much of it is funny.  And the humour isn’t limited to only the dialogue.  There are a number of very funny moments including a few inspired moments of violence that border on slapstick.  But beneath the humour and the violence there’s a real feeling of a family destroying itself from the inside and pulling anyone who enters their orbit down with them.  It’s some time into the movie before Wheatley assembles all his chess pieces on the board but once he does the movie enters into a downward spiral of mistrust, betrayal and errors in judgement that drive the narrative towards an utterly satisfying conclusion.

The movie is largely scored with folk music; some played and/or sang by the cast within some scenes whilst other pieces provide a haunting musical backdrop to a scene.  This is another area where the movie really scores by doing something quite unusual that ends up being entirely appropriate and is yet another reason why this movie feels so different and special. Particularly effective is a scene near the end where a revelation results in Robin Hill's character having a total breakdown.  His mother as played by Julia Deakin comforts him by holding him close and singing a lullaby.  It's a moment that is both sad, beautiful and as a result of the hurtful nature of the secret that is revealed, an emotional punch in the gut.  This isn't the only scene that is elevated by the use of music.  The movie is shot through with such moments and the choice of song or musical passage is never less than profoundly affecting and stirringly effective.

Down Terrace is a remarkable debut.  A happy accident that could so easily have gone very wrong if Wheatley hadn’t gotten lucky with the cast and crew he assembled.  With a slightly left of centre mood from start to finish and a narrative that isn’t afraid to follow the odd digression to consistently entertaining effect this stands as one of the most interesting British crime movies not only of the last ten years but of all time.  It also manages to juggle what is at heart a grim story of betrayal, mistrust, familial turmoil and murder without ever becoming the overly serious, depressing kitchen sink crime drama it could have been.  It may be a bit rough around the edges but this is more of a byproduct of the low budget and is a criticism that's easy to dismiss given everything it does right.  A lot of people discovered Wheatley either via Kill List or Sightseers.  I would recommend that anyone who enjoyed his later movies seek out Down Terrace.  I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Steve's Score: