Moritz Mohr, in his feature-length debut, directs this script he co-wrote with Tyler Burton Smith and Arend Remmers about “Boy” (Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti when young, Bill Skarsgård as an adult), whose mother and sister are murdered during “The Culling,” an annual event where Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen), the ruler of the dystopian city they live in, chooses 12 citizens to murder on live television. Boy is rendered deaf and mute and left for dead during the execution, but he’s nursed back to health by “Shaman” (Yayan Ruhian), who over many years trains Boy to become an unbeatable assassin to exact revenge on Hilda and her entire family.
This is another one of those bat-shit crazy action flicks that goes beyond excessive. Lots of fighting, lots of splatter and gore, and lots of plot holes. If you’re into a film like this, you’re here for the spectacle, not the logic of the story.
Skarsgård is a beast, and though he’s non-verbal, we know his thoughts thanks to voice actor H. Jon Benjamin’s narration. There’s a lot of dark humor in this unhinged, demented action flick, and it’s certainly an impressive debut for Mohr. Me likey! (111 min.)
—Glen Starkey
This article appears in Dec 26, 2024 – Jan 5, 2025.