REVIEW:
They Will Kill You was absolute blast! That’s the simple truth. This movie was style and atmosphere and humor and choreography cranked up to eleven. Now, this is most definitely not a movie for everyone. It’s a very niche, specific type of movie that goes for a hard R. This is horror-action-comedy taken to the extreme. We’re taking about buckets of blood, but in more of a comedic way than a gross way.
The influences on this movie are very clear, which is to say that we’ve definitely seen things similar before, only these occurrences have been rare enough that we can easily pin point exactly where they come from. This is Kill Bill meets the Evil Dead 2. Combine those two movies, and put it in a mansion setting for one night of murder and mayhem while a ferocious storm rages outside, in the background, and you’ve got this movie in a nutshell. At least in terms of style and feel. This movie definitely knows what genre it’s playing in, and how to get all of the hallmarks of that genre right… Keep it to all one night, keep it all to one building, make sure the rain is a major component. It’s not a mansion this time, which is often the go to for this genre, but a hotel, and it works just as much if not more.
Exactly one week ago, the movie Ready or Not 2: Here I Come came out, and the storylines between the two flicks are way two similar.. Both involve two sisters who have had a falling out, after one left the other for a numbers of years, causing the one who got left behind to feel betrayed. In both movies these two protagonist sisters haven’t seen or spoken to each other in years. And in both movies the two women are being hunted by a devil-worshipping cult. Even the location is the same. Both movies take place in a hotel. That’s right. The exact same setting. Only They Will Kill You knows how to use the setting right. It lets us feel like we are actually in a hotel, exploring the different rooms, for instance. (Neither movie ever takes a trip down to the hotel pool, which would have been a great setting for an action scene, but otherwise, this movie pretty much does everything right, whereas that one completely dropped the ball in its attempts to differentiate itself from the original film.
What works about They Will Kill You is the way it combines action with humor and oozes style. Now this is very much inspired by Tarantino movies. Kill Bill is the most obvious reference, with its samurai wielding protagonist on a mission of vengeance, but there are Tarantino trademarks all over this. From the way our character talks tough after finishing a fight, to the sudden loud rap music choices as she walks down a hall, to the way blood spurts out of wounds like it is shooting out of a garden hose. Even the rapid fire zoom ins on characters faces or eyes, and the way the movie does flashbacks to reveal back stories on characters accompanied by title cards that announce what it is about to show…, all right out of the Tarantino playbook. And it’s all really cool, because even though we’ve seen it before in other movies, we’ve never seen it in this genre before. We’ve never seen it quite done like this.
The story is about Asia Reeves (Zazie Beatz,) who is on the run with her sister, from an abusive father. When the father catches up with them in a convenience store, in the opening scene, Reeves shoots him. And so she is arrested, leaving her sister in his care. This is her legitimately leaving her sister in a bad situation, as opposed to Ready or Not 2 which makes a point to explain that the younger sister was left with foster parents who were actually good to her. And yet she still acts betrayed. In They Will Kill You, we pick up with Reeves ten years later as she gets a job as a maid in the hotel on a dark and stormy night. She’s there to find her sister, whose last whereabouts were going into the hotel for work.
Patricia Arquette plays the hotel staff manager, and as an actress she’s never been better. Or more memorable. She dons a thick Irish accent and really commands the screen as she takes Reaves on a brief tour of the hotel and leads her to her room. That’s where Reaves plans to spend the night before continuing the tour in the morning. Only that night a group of pig-mask wearing killers break into her room and attack. And Reaves is ready.
We suddenly get the best fight in the movie as Reaves emerges from a closet fully armed. The camera work here is sensational as it tracks alongside characters while they’re fighting and whips back from time to time, allowing us to feel like we are really there, in the space with them. This movie definitely took notes from the way John Wick shoots action scenes, and it works. So does the use of computer effects and way they are married with practical effects so that nothing ever looks too fake even when you know it is. Computer effects are used only to enhance the choreography, the same way that director Matthew Vaughn uses turn in his Kingsman movies, and boy does it look cool. On top of that, each action scene features Reeves using a different weapon, which goes a long way. This is especially noticeable in a ballroom scene where she kicks ass while welding an axe while it is on fire.
While the action and way it is shot might be similar to John Wick, the tone of this movie hardly exists in the realistic world the way those movies do. This one is about the supernatural. There are tons of resurrections. Theres even a lengthy sequence involving a moving eyeball (an Evil Dead 2 reference.) It’s a blast.
This movie spares no expense when it comes to cool ideas. At one point, for example, we learn that each floor has a different theme. For example, one of them is the sex floor. I wonder what the others are, and on a rewatch that’s definitely something I’m hoping to find out. Overall, this is a very cool movie that gets all the staples of the genre down perfectly. It seamlessly combines humor and action to give us a full, fun, and wildly entertaining experience.