In The Killer, Michael Fassbender’s main character is so very, very dull – but maybe that’s the point

Michael Fassbender’s character in The Killer doesn’t have a name. The character – a professional assassin credited only as “the Killer” – doesn’t have all too much of a personality, either. His thoughts simmer beneath much of the film’s action, expressed via occasionally sardonic, often mantra-filled voiceovers. He speaks to himself in platitudes (“Vigilance is essential.” “Trust no one.” “Empathy is weakness”), and listens to The Smiths on repeat. The Killer, in other words, is a deeply tedious person to spend time with.

And yet, The Killer, directed by Fight Club’s David Fincher and released last Friday on Netflix, never lets you leave this character’s head. The story follows the hired gun as he deals with the aftermath of a botched assassination, with hunter becoming the hunted, and then switching back again – more turned tables than a western saloon shootout. The character, both as written and in Fassbender’s measured, dispassionate performance, is a cypher, a man whom we cannot understand any more than he understands himself. On paper, this makes for a profoundly uncompelling protagonist. But with The Killer, you can’t help but suspect that the emptiness is rather the point.

Part of this, perhaps, is the baggage we bring to the film. With films such as Zodiac, The Social Network, and Gone Girl, Fincher has long established himself as one of the most technically assured American directors currently working. His works have often weaved elements of satire and social critique into more conventional genre narratives; in some ways, the joyless, gig-economy-driven world of The Killer updates and builds upon the anticapitalist message of Fight Club. In other words, the character’s utter lack of conventional appeal isn’t a failing, but a deliberate choice. This is something substantiated by Fincher himself, who told a press conference in Venice: “As you can imagine, sympathy was the last thing on my mind, as it relates to this character. We wanted somebody who didn’t need to be frightening, the mundanity of evil. My hope is that someone will see this film and get very nervous about the person behind them in line at Home Depot.”

Much of the meaning of The Killer can be derived from the disconnect between the man Fassbender’s killer thinks he is, and the man we see on screen. His inner monologue frequently contradicts his behaviour. In his own head, the Killer is assured, collected, ruthlessly efficient. His voiceovers often border on the cerebral – he quotes everyone from Popeye the Sailor to 20th-century occultist Aleister Crowley. In his actions, though, he proves to be a vapid, self-deceiving bungler.

We can see this disconnect in the film’s opening 20-minute stretch, which sees the character stake out a target’s hotel. The sequence is patient, almost to the point of tedium. We see the Killer put in an earphone, and start playing The Smiths. As the viewpoint switches between shots of the street and shots of Fassbender gazing out, the sound changes too. As we look at the street, we hear what he hears: Morrissey’s maudlin caterwauls, Johnny Marr’s jangly guitar riffs, full blast. As we look at Fassbender, we hear from the perspective of an outsider: tinny sounds bleeding from his headphones, amid the chill quiet of an empty office space. The effect is curious, a jarring reminder of changing perspectives – that the Killer’s perspective is at odds with the outside world.

It’s no surprise that The Killer has been met with a mixed response. Some critics have pronounced it one of the year’s best films, a major work from a major filmmaker. Others were left cold. (The Independent’s Geoffrey MacNab awarded it three stars, describing it as “slickly made” but unexceptional.) As hitman films go, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more cynical dissemblance of the “ruthless pro” myth. It’s a movie that seems to ridicule these tropes even as it’s indulging them. But that’s the problem with giving viewers so little to grab onto – many people are going to simply slide right off.

‘The Killer’ is streaming now on Netflix