Killers: Morbidly fascinating, historically significant thriller.

 

My choice of movie for this particular blog post just so happens to be the 2014 movie, Killers. I figured that it was an appropriate choice considering the fact that I had just covered both of The Raid movies and that this had connections to those in the form of actors as well as Gareth Evans in a co-producing role. 

Killers generated a great deal of buzz in at least the Indonesian and Japanese market, although if you lived in another part of the world at the time you might not have heard anything about it which is a shame. The reason behind the hype for the movie was due to the fact that it marked the very first collaboration between the  Indonesian and Japanese film industries. As previously mentioned, two actors from the Raid sequel also lead the movie, Kazuki Kitamura and Oka Antara respectively. Upon learning that Kitamura was starring in the movie, I became intrigued and optimistic as he's an underappreciated actor whom rarely puts in a bad performance and often pops up in great movies and dramas. Then, of course was the fact that Gareth Evans was on board. His involvement in the project brought the fanbase he had acquired over from his work on The Raid or at least that was what the movie makers hoped. Nevertheless, it was a timely collaboration so soon after the release of his movies. Lastly, there was also hype generated in regards to the fact that the movie was being directed by The Mo Brothers. At the time they had released the well received horror movie, Macabre and fans of that movie had high expectations for their follow up. 

As far as strong openings go, Killers ranks amongst the strongest to date. We see Kazuki Kitamura as Nomura Shuhei, a charismatic, immaculately groomed, well liked, young executive, based in Tokyo. We soon learn however, that Nomura has a dark side that makes him somewhat comparable to Patrick Bateman of American Psycho fame. Unlike Bateman however, Nomura posts videos of his murders online for the world to see. We get a look at one such murder as he brutally hammers away at a helpless woman. I love this opening as it shows that no punches will be pulled and that Nomura doesn't kill out of a twisted sense of justice but rather simply because he wants to. 

After witnessing Nomura's murder and it's subsequent upload to the internet, we are then transported to Jakarta, Indonesia where we meet the closest thing to this movie's protagonist, Bayu Aditya. The opposite of Nomura in almost every way, Bayu is a divorced, disgraced, struggling and unkempt journalist. He is obsessed with uncovering the case of a politician named Dharma and it's consumed him to the point of collapsing his career and marriage. Bayu happens to see Nomura's videos online and follows along as almost an unwitting fan. The journalists story takes a turn as we witness him pushed to the edge by a couple of thugs. Inspired somewhat by Nomura, he decides to kill out of a sense of twisted justice, making himself a rogue vigilante. His first kill actually comes as a form of self defence inside a taxi cab but, he still uploads his kill to the internet. 

It is here that Bayu and Nomura's stories begin to somewhat intertwine. Bayu and Nomura connect over the internet. As they correspond with one another, Nomura begins to develop a sort of dark mentor role to the journalist, coaxing him into the path of serial killing. The fact that they have to connect in broken English might negatively impact the way viewers may see the effectiveness of these scenes. I'd like to point out the fact that this is possibly more realistic than them both magically understanding each others' respective languages. Granted, you could make he case that both of them might require the other's language for their respective fields of work. Nomura is able to take advantage of Bayu's precarious and declining mental state in a most wicked way. Eventually, this leads to a morbid game of cat and mouse as the two compete for notoriety and it becomes evident that they'll eventually have to face off in a confrontation of killers. 

The level of polish that has become expected of Merantau films is present. Production values are top notch, camera work is top notch as shots are framed expertly and there's some awesome set pieces. However, I have to call attention to a particular scene for it's poor handling in the choreography department. The scene in question is a shootout between Bayu and several bodyguards within a hotel corridor. He somehow seems to be able to momentarily defy logic and reality as he all but crowd surfs the lot of them and not one manages to even wrench his gun away from his hands. Everything else is fine, but this sequence was certainly a head scratcher. 

I've seen many reviews for this movie argue that it and the Mo Brothers have a lot to say in regards to how humanity has become desensitized to violence thanks to movies, tv shows and video games depicting it frequently. Also, the disconnection to violence thanks to the usage of social media which I can kind of see and somewhat agree with in regards to Killers but, it's trending on established ground in a fun and unique new way. 

Where Killers succeeds is in it's attempts at not glamorizing the titular killers. That would have been a disastrous mistake and it's rare to find sympathetic serial killers. Dexter is an outlier in that regard. Nomura is clearly a sick, twisted individual and that's made apparent from his very first appearance on screen. The man kills for the fun of it and posts it online in an almost braggadocios manner. That's not the behaviour of a pleasant individual. We aren't meant to empathize with him and that's a good thing. Bayu on the other hand is a little sympathetic, at least at the beginning of the movie. He does some good deeds such as rescuing a poor boy from a child predator, albeit inadvertently. It does become obvious that the journalist is swiftly losing his mind as he walks the path of a killer. It's a nihilistic look at the darkest side of humanity with very little rays of sunshine in site. It's compelling and morbidly fascinating to witness the journey of two very different and yet similar individuals of poor morality collide. 

As stated in the top of this blog post, Kazuki Kitamura being involved in one of the lead role's got me interested and optimistic about the movie and he didn't disappoint. His portrayal of Nomura is absolutely brilliant, as he brings a certain amount of believability to the twisted serial killer. This isn't any sort of a surprise as he brings his A game every time he's cast whether it be in a big budget action franchise such as Rurouni Kenshin, a video game adaptation such as Ryu Ga Gotoku or a small scale tv series. Oka Antara is shockingly good in his portrayal of a mentally declining journalist turned serial killer. He was great in The Raid 2 but, his performance in Killers is amazing. 

All in all, I believe that Killers is an effective thriller that takes the viewers on a nihilist ride through the darkest depths of humanity whilst remaining entertaining in a morbidly fascinating way. I'd also recommend for it's sheer historical significance as the first ever collaboration between the Indonesian and Japanese movie industries.