TL;DR – A taut action film, which has some of the most succinct worldbuilding in the business, in-between all the creative carnage chaotically clamouring betwixt cleaved clavicles.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

They Will Kill You Review Introduction

Today, we look at a film that is a very odd juxtaposition of extremes. On one hand, this is one of the tightest, stylish action films I have seen in an age. On the other hand, it suffers from a repetitive nature that it can’t seem to escape. A lot of highs, some lows, and enough fake blood for a blue whale to swim through.  

So, to set the scene, Asia Reaves (Zazie Beetz) has had a troubled life and is haunted by a choice in her childhood when she ran and left her sister behind. Living in the margins, Asia takes a housekeeping job in the luxurious Virgil apartments. Here, Lilith Woodhouse (Patricia Arquette), the superintendent, shows Asia to her rooms, a place of safety from the storm outside. However, as she sleeps, a masked man enters her room through a secret entrance, armed for violence. For the Virgil is not just an apartment block for the rich; it is a Satanic Temple, and each year they must sacrifice one soul to their god, and tonight it is Asia on the chopping block.

First Blood

Where They Will Kill You shines in the build-up and the execution of the first fight. You don’t need to know anything about the film; that first pan down the Virgil tells you immediately that this is a place of evil. So, right from the second those metal banisters lock down, you are on edge. The film manipulates that tension perfectly. Each odd comment or overly friendly parishioner becomes another notch on the level. Thus, the moment the door handle shakes at 3 a.m., you know something bad is about to go down.    

This leads us to our first action sequence that shows off several factors. The first is the kind of style the filmmakers wanted to go with. This is a very anime-inspired visual tapestry, with a lot of deliberate insert shots that layer the action and its build-up. I did like the way they used negative space when filming the setup. It is in the same ballpark as The Invisible Man in a couple of places. It also has a blood fake-out that was quite interesting. At one point, you wonder if this was a PG-13 action film that you just walked into and then after they wait for a beat longer than you expect, the blood fountains and the film exponentially ratchets up the carnage.

Predator or Prey

The main conceit of the film, which I may have purposely obfuscated in my TL;DR, is that Asia knows something is rotten in the state of Denmark and comes prepared because she is there looking for her sister Maria (Myha’la) who had gone missing. Asia is not as helpless as the others think she is and has been hardened by years of brawls in jail. The only problem is that the other side is not playing fair. Thus, most of the film is this tug between moments when who is the prey and who is the predator shifts, sometimes multiple times as the scene is playing out. This dichotomy makes the first act of this film one of the most electric action films I have seen in a long time.

There is a righteous anger to most of the proceedings, a lot of which comes down to the intensity that Zazie Beetz brings to the role. I knew from films such as Deadpool 2 that they could handle themselves in an action setting. However, I was not prepared for the ferociousness that they brought to this role. There are moments when you feel she is almost like a lion that has been backed into a corner, ready and willing to strike out and draw blood.

There and Back Again, and Again, and Again.    

It is wild how tight the storytelling is in this film. It doles out narrative backstory with a wild efficiency that cuts to the heart of the matter. It helps keep the ferocious pace of the film raging forward. However, that intensity becomes the film’s Achilles heel because you can’t pour forward with that intensity without switching things up, because it will, at best, lose its impact, or worse, disconnect the audience from the film. An audience will inevitably fatigue if a film goes hell for leather for its entire runtime. This is the reason films such as Mad Max Fury Road have moments of rest.   

Unfortunately, several creative choices almost assure that this happens. The first was making all the floors of the Virgil feel same-y. Look, I know this was a budget issue, but if your premise is that you are moving through the layers of hell, you need to show this. Then there is the central premise that means that we only see the same bad guys recycled over and over again. If The Bride in Kill Bill fought O-Ren Ishii over and over again, it would lose its impact. Finally, the action set-pieces don’t change up the formula that much, and there is only so much that copious blood spray can cover; it’s not ivy growing over an ugly building.      

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend They Will Kill You? While the chaotic carnage creates one of the best first acts in the business, it sets a pace I am not sure the film had the ability to meet. Almost like a candle being burnt from both ends. If you are a fan of action films, especially ones with a real style to them, then this will be the one to check out. If you are not a fan of blood, this is not the film for you.

Have you watched They Will Kill You? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked They Will Kill You, we would recommend Ready or Not to you because it also is tight concept with interesting action scenes with a female lead carrying the film on her shoulders.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of They Will Kill You
Directed by – Kirill Sokolov
Written by – Kirill Sokolov & Alex Litvak
Music by – Carlos Rafael Rivera
Cinematography by – Isaac Bauman
Edited by – Luke Doolan
Production/Distribution Companies – New Line Cinema, Nocturna, Universal Pictures & Warner Bros Pictures.
Starring – Zazie Beetz, Myha’la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, Patricia Arquette, Angus Sampson, & James Remar
Rating – Australia: MA15+; Canada: 18A; Germany: 16; New Zealand: R; United Kingdom: 15; United States: R