The Killing

Vom Kontext her finde ich The Killing noch schlimmer als Der Tiger von New York, denn das war wenigstens eine geradlinige Geschichte, das hier ist einfach nur verzweifelt und verkrampft. Extreme Arbeit mit der Musik, ein parodistischer Erzähler, wahnsinnige nicht-schauspielerische Leistungen... (04.05.2013)

A great noir-heist film with a devastating twist. The non-linear narrative that was a huge influence on Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs is something unheard of in a 1960s film, but then so was Stanley Kubrick. The portrayal of the characters is austere but sufficient, the actors are great and the dialogues are brilliant. There’s brutal black humour in unexpected places, and the ending is great. (02.01.2023)

I can't help it, but when I watch something by Kubrick, I watch such a film without moving, I want to know what will happen in the next scene. It's incredibly visible here how much he managed to control the performances of the actors and make sure that everyone does exactly what he wants. He constantly continues with densely detailed shots of faces and can properly build up every scene, including the scene during the horse races, which most creators would take for granted. I quite like that Kubrick continues to use voiceover narration. Weaknesses are visible in violent scenes, but even that gradually improved, as "A Clockwork Orange" can attest. This "Killing" is truly killing. (27.03.2014)

Kubrick is God and I've made sure several times that I can get everything from him. While the trio The Shining-Odyssey-Full Metal Jacket is far superior to his other films and represents for me the pinnacle of cinema as a whole, even the lesser known The Killing clearly shows the director's immense talent and incredible precision. The story is extremely fast-paced, the retrospective narrative is done to perfection and the final half hour or so is like a balm for the soul of all genre connoisseurs. Together with Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, it's the best film-noir I've seen so far. (29.01.2013)

If it weren’t for the bothersome and absolutely inappropriate music, I would have no fundamental objections. A clever story, a cold atmosphere, with an overall feeling of cynicism. But I would really like to know why the barman became involved when the task of smuggling in the package could have easily be taken by George. Taking unnecessary risks doesn’t suit such an otherwise perfect plan. P.S.: And reading other reviews, I see that I’m not the only one to be surprised by that. (17.01.2009)