One-man killing machine brutally violent, kind of cartoonish
“Boy Kills World” feels less scripted than genetically engineered to appeal to every actionmovie junkie raised from birth on a steady diet of video-game violence, martial-arts mayhem and eye-rolling snark.
It’s as if someone said, “Hey, what if we smashed ‘Deadpool’ and ‘John Wick’ and ‘The Purge’ together with a touch of ‘Hardcore Henry,’ and got Sam Raimi ("The Evil Dead”) to produce, and one of the actors from the cult-hit martial-arts TV series ‘Warrior,’ and another from the cult-fave martial-arts franchise ‘The Raid,’ and yet another who is going to star in the upcoming ‘Crow’ remake? And do the whole thing with tongue firmly in bloody cheek? Plot? What plot? As long as we have some killer kung fu, we’re all good.”
That’s probably not how the cartoonish and gleefully frenetic “Boy Kills World” came about, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it did. And as a feature-film debut for Moritz Mohr, it’s an impressively kinetic calling card with a head-slamming, skin-shredding climax so violent that it could even make Quentin Tarantino say, “Dude, you might want to dial it back a notch or three.”
It’s perhaps no surprise then that Raimi has said he had trouble cobbling together the money for “Boy Kills World” because some investors thought it too outrageous and violent. It could have been called “Boy Overkills World.” (Don’t believe it? Check out the red-band trailer.) Ultimately, he found sympathetic investors in Cape Town, South Africa, where the movie was filmed.
Bill Skarsgård, from “John Wick: Chapter 4” and the star of the new “Crow,” is the nameless Boy, a young ruffian living in the forest of a country that is a “totalitarian hellhole” with his scraggly trainer/mentor Yoda, known as The Shaman (Yayan Ruhian, “The Raid”).
Boy was orphaned years prior when he believes his sister and mom were killed by the murderous regime of the Van Der Koy family in an annual ritual called The Culling, in which several citizens are selected to be slaughtered on live TV as a way of keeping the population in line.
Unsurprisingly, Boy — who’s now deaf and mute in the wake of his trauma — is plotting revenge against the Van Der Koy matriarch, Hilda (Famke Janssen), and her entire clan.
In addition to the fighting skills learned at the flying feet of The Shaman, he gets help in his quest to be a oneman killing machine from his vivid imagination in the form of apparitions of his sister (Quinn Copeland) and the running commentary in his head that just happens to sound like the voice from a classic video game he used to play in happier times. In the real world, he’s aided by a demented Basho (a surprisingly goofy Andrew Koji, playing a very different character from his stoic hero in “Warrior”) and his ragtag gang.
Where “Boy Kills World,” based on a script by Tyler Burton Smith, Arend Remmers and Mohr, goes may be totally predictable, but it’s how it gets there — through Skarsgård’s intensely physical performance, the spine shattering stunts from fight coordinator Dawid Szatarski and fluid camera work, all spiked with a snarky (and sometimes sophomoric) sense of humor — that gives the film its lethal kick.
“Boy Kills World” takes awhile to get going and, at just under 111 minutes, it’s about 15 minutes longer than it should be. But, man, the fight choreography in general and that final confrontation in particular are worth the wait.
And, yes, there is a very brief coda after the credits. Does this mean there might be a “Boy Kills World 2: Electric Boogaloo”? A Boy can dream.
Here are the major films being released in theaters this week:
‘Boy Kills World’
This violent, tongue-in-cheek, martial-arts action-thriller stars Bill Skarsgård as a young man living in a dystopian America and seeking revenge on the murderous regime that he believes killed his mother and sister.
Rated R. Opens today throughout Houston.
‘Cash Out’
John Travolta and Kristin Davis star in a heist thriller in which a thief gets stuck inside the bank and the lead negotiator is his former lover.
Rated R. Opens today at Studio Movie Grill Pearland.
‘Challengers’
The latest from director Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name”) is set in the world of tennis. Zendaya plays a coach who finds herself torn when her tennis player husband goes up against her former boyfriend.
Rated R. Opens today throughout Houston.
‘Cinderella’s Revenge’
Instead of accepting her fate at the hands of her evil stepsisters, this Cinderella seeks revenge in this horror-thriller.
Unrated. Opens today throughout Houston.
‘Dancing Village: The Curse Begins’
Indonesian-language horror film from Indonesia.
Unrated. Opens today throughout Houston.
‘Escape from Germany’
A group of 85 American missionaries in Germany in 1939 as the country is closing its borders must flee.
Rated PG. Opens today at Cinemark The Woodlands.
‘Gabru Gang’
Hindi-language family drama from India set against the backdrop of a kite competition.
Unrated. Opens today at AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land.
‘Rathnam’
Tamil-language action-thriller from India.
Unrated. Opens today at Cinemark Katy; AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land; Cinemark Katy.
‘Ruslaan’
Hindi-language thriller from India.
Unrated. Opens today at AMC Gulf Pointe 30, Houston; AMC First Colony 24, Sugar Land.
‘Unsung Hero’
Faith-based film based on the true story of the Australian family that launched the Christian music group For King &
Country.
Rated PG. Opens Friday throughout Houston.
‘We 12’
Cantonese-language action-comedy from Hong Kong about a crime-fighting group.
Opens today at AMC Loews
Fountains 18, Stafford.
‘We Grown Now’
Acclaimed coming-of-age story set in 1992 at the Cabrini-Green housing complex in Chicago. The film has been a big hit at film festivals.
Rated PG. Opens today throughout Houston.