Big Picture Big Sound

David Fincher's cold, fun and stylish "The Killer" is a great movie about process. Coming from the infamous master of 100-plus takes on set, it's not surprising Fincher was attracted to a story about a hitman who has every moment of his life planned with precision. But, what happens when preparedness falters? "The Killer" isn't about perfection; it's about fallout.

Michael Fassbender stars as The Killer, who does not have a credited name, instead going by numerous different aliases throughout the movie. The movie opens with him in an abandoned WeWork space, where he sits idly on top of a table looking at the building across from his. Via voiceover narration, he explains his process through mantras and his anticipation of what will happen next. The Killer has been here many times before and speaks about his business with detached ease. Looking through a scope of a gun is just another day at the office for him.

When his target arrives back to their lavish Parisian apartment, something happens to The Killer that seems like has never happened before: he misses the target and shoots someone else. He allows himself a brief moment of shock, then immediately packs up shop and flees his hideout because he knows immediately that he just set fire to a stack of dynamite. When he arrives back at his home, his girlfriend has been brutally attacked, which sets the movie's globetrotting plot in motion.

The fun thing about "The Killer" is soaking in the style of it all. Fincher doesn't necessarily wring any new insights out of the job-gone-wrong narrative, but watching Fassbender move around the world to cover his tracks and try to get ahead of the people chasing him is often thrilling.

We aren't meant to know much about The Killer because he goes to painstaking lengths to fade into anonymity. He's not supposed to be a deep character because he lives to exist on the surface and blend in with everyone else. Even so, it gets frustrating when the majority of the movie is told through voiceover and The Killer rarely speaks himself (though a showdown with Tilda Swinton's character makes for a chilling scene). The reason for the device is clear; we are watching a man who lives a life alone and on the run and doesn't want to risk engaging with anyone else. But, it occasionally feels like "The Killer" would have been more effective as a silent movie.

When a revered artist releases a new work, it's often unfairly - but inevitably - compared against their previous catalog. In that conversation, "The Killer" plays like mid-tier Fincher. It's fun and slick, but occasionally empty, and depends on the style to do all of the heavy lifting. But, given the career he has had thus far, mid-tier Fincher isn't anything to complain about.