From The Hollywood Reporter · Jourdain Searles · · 1m 20s
The assassin who wants a family
A crime film asks whether a man who kills for a living can build a life worth coming home to.
In brief
A crime film asks whether a man who kills for a living can build a life worth coming home to. The film's real subject isn't the killing, it's the impossible math of going home afterward. Originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Mahershala Ali carries it
Ali plays the lead in a crime film that trades shootouts for ache. The performance is the reason to show up.
“Mahershala Ali Is a Marvel in a Gripping Crime Film With a Big, Aching Heart”
The killer works alone
Movie assassins are built for solitude. The job fills the hours, and every extra person in the room is another way things go wrong.
“In cinema, the life of an assassin is often a solitary one.”
Fewer people, fewer mistakes
Isolation isn't loneliness here, it's risk management. Keep the circle small and tragedy has less to grab onto.
“The fewer people around him, the fewer chances for error or tragedy.”
Can a killer nurture
The film keeps circling one question. How do you take part in life when death is what you do for money?
“How can one participate in life when your occupation is death?”
Veterans come home too
The same problem follows soldiers back from war. Killing abroad, then dinner at the table, with no clean way to switch between them.
“These questions also haunt our veterans, coming home to their families after killing abroad.”
Murder is still hiring
Settling down gets harder when money is thin and jobs dry up. The world keeps getting more violent, and that trade never runs short of work.
“As the world becomes more violent and less hospitable, the business of murder endures.”
The headline
The film's real subject isn't the killing, it's the impossible math of going home afterward.
