BOY KILLS WORLD (2024)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Moritz Mohrn
Cast: Jessica Rothe, Bill Skarsgard, Isaiah Mustafa, Michelle Dockery, Famke Janssen, Andrew Koji, Yayan Ruhian, Sharlto Copley, Brett Gelman
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins
Rating: M18 (Violence and Gore)
Released By: mm2 Entertainment
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 18 July 2024

Synopsis: Targeted for death by a cruel totalitarian regime, a boy left orphaned, deaf, and voiceless is rescued by a mysterious shaman who trains him to become the ultimate killing machine.

Movie Review:

German director Moritz Mohr might be a big fan of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill that he made a bloodier, gorier version of it- in the form of Boy Kills World. While it’s true Mohr’s flick is also a blood-soak revenge tale full of pop-culture references, influences of grind house cinema and shot in a frenetic video game style, there’s something lacking in the storytelling that makes it a lot less satisfying than the rousing Tarantino vehicle.

The story is as bare bone as it gets. Instead of the bride, we have the boy (Bill Skarsgard) who lives in an unnamed dystopian city with his mother and younger sister, Mina. Every year, the evil ruler, Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen) gathers twelve people from the city to participate in the culling. Think the Purge or Hunger Games. The boy’s mother and sister ended up dead with the boy being made mute and deaf though he managed to escape from the clutches of Hilda in the end.

Taken under the refuge of a Shaman (Yayan Ruhian from The Raid), the boy took up martial arts hoping to exact revenge on Hilda one day. When the time comes, the boy is joined by two resistance members, Basho (Andrew Koji) and Benny (Isaiah Mustafa) to infiltrate the Van Der Roy’s bunker hoping to take on Hilda and the rest of her evil family members.

Boy Kills World seems rooted in its desire to showcase a nutty blend of fight choreography, severed limbs and countless amount of carnage. Credit needs to go to action designer Dawid Szatarski for staging some amazing fight sequences especially one that made good use of a kitchen grater. Of course, the bloodshed is relentless and Mohr definitely gets too carried away to tell a proper story that it ends up more like a video game.

Another distracting issue is the “voice” of the boy. Strangely, the inner-monologue by the lead character isn’t voiced by Skarsgard but the voice of H. Jon Benjamin (Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers). There’s supposedly a “clever” explanation to it but somehow it takes away the authenticity of the character. Unlike the typical good-looking, toned leading man, Bill Skarsgard possess the x-factor and acting range to impress in whatever characters he is blessed with. Be it Pennywise, the upcoming The Crow and the boy, Skarsgard rules the screen despite the under-developed script and characterisation.

And talking about under-developed script and characters, Sharlto Copley (District 9) appears in an extended cameo role as Glen, husband of the ambitious Melanie Van Der Koy while Brett Gelman from Stranger Things appears as one of the Van Der Koy siblings. And then there is June 27 (Jessica Rothe), a Van Der Koy enforcer who should have a more expansive role.

Furthermore, it’s hard to appreciate the context of the culling or how or why the Van Der Koy ruled the dystopian city with an iron hand. Perhaps the filmmakers feel there isn’t a need to do so. Mohr also stuffed the movie with lots of cartoonish humour that it’s hard to take things seriously. The endless battles between the boy and the Van Der Koy armies led to an overstuffed twisty finale that most will call a fitting end to all the mayhem. Yes it is unbelievable. At the minimum, all of us can finally walk out of the theatres with a closure after watching two hours of insane killings.

Movie Rating:

(A super bloody if not tedious revenge flick)

Review by Linus Tee