Moritz Mohr’s feature debut Boy Kills World may provide some fun, but can become very grating very quickly.
What in the World is Boy Killing?
Boy Kills World follows Boy (Bill Skarsgård), a deaf and mute instrument of death trained by the legendary Shaman (Yayan Ruhian), as he seeks revenge for the death of his mother and little sister at the hands of the fascist Van Der Koy family.
His main goal is to kill Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Jassen), the eldest sibling of the bunch, who serves as the dictator of a city (not entirely sure how much power they wield) and the one who carries out the yearly event known as The Culling. During this journey, Boy joins forces with Basho (Andrew Koji) and Benny (Isaiah Mufasa), the latter of which is responsible for one of the funniest running gags in the whole film.
An Instrument of Death
Much of the movie consists of action, which of course is expected in an action movie. There are many inventive kills and some fun set pieces, one of which involves murderous henchmen in cereal box character costumes. One of the main drawbacks to the film is that it almost feels like it has three third acts to it. Multiple times it felt like the movie was going to wrap up, and then it sends you off to another set piece. After a certain point, it all got a little tiring.
Bob Kills World
Skarsgård, despite having zero lines himself, is able to convey a lot with his face and he is doing very good here.
However, H. Jon Benjamin has a major role in this film. Since the character of Boy is mute and deaf, the entire movie has voice over from Bob Belcher, the titular character of the hit show, Bob’s Burgers. This may seem very humorous at first but it becomes very stale fast. Since the in-universe reason for this voice is that it comes from Boy’s memory of an arcade machine, you can bet on hearing tons of “Player 1 defeated”-type lines, which makes for many eye-rolling moments.
Twisting the Knife
Keeping things spoiler free here, the movie tries to throw one twist at you that is utterly stupid right before the final fight. While I clocked part of the twist literally as one of the characters was introduced in the first few minutes of the film, nothing was able to prepare me for the true twist of the film.
Overall, the film was a convoluted mess in terms of plot, but I did find some enjoyment out of the action sequences and such. This is like the fast-food hamburger of films, kinda tasty but definitely not nutritious.
Boy Kills World is now in theaters and stars Bill Skarsgård as Boy, Jessica Rothe as June 27. Michelle Dockery as Melanie, Famke Janssen as Hilda, Sharlto Copley as Glen, Brett Gelman as Gideon, Isaiah Mustafa as Benny, and Andrew Koji as Basho. The film was directed by Moritz Mohr.
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