The Gist
A young woman takes a job in a mysterious building only to soon find herself battling for her life.
The Review
Every now and then a movie comes along that is so difficult to write about that I actually find myself procrastinating about it when I sit down to write about it. I have certainly found that that is the case for the brand new film from director Kirill Sokolov (Why Don’t You Just Die) – They Will Kill You.
One the surface this isn’t such a bad film – in fact if you like violent action films with a tinge of horror you will probably quite enjoy watching it. The issue here is that while you are watching it you begin to release that there is nothing new or different about the film. In fact it feels like nearly every scene is playing homage to another film or a famous director. Even the entire premise of the film feels like he has taken two Keanu Reeves films – Constantine and John Wick – and blended them together.
The film itself begins with Asia Reaves (Zazie Beetz – Deadpool 2) trying to escape the clutches of her abusive father alongside her sister Maria (Myha’la – Dead Man’s Wire). As the pair are confronted by their father and his friend Asia opens fire shooting her father. The result of that is Maria being forced to go back to her father while Asia goes on the run.
Years later Asia turns up to work at an exclusive high-rise apartment building known at The Virgil. When she arrives she is welcomed by building manager, Lily Woodhouse (Patricia Arquette – Stigmata), but soon she begins to realise that things aren’t as they seem.
First of all the staff seem to be acting weird, then when she steps out of the shower someone has left a cryptic message on her bathroom mirror – “THEY WILL KILL YOU!” Then while she sleeps a group of The Virgil’s residents, led by Sharon (Heather Graham – Boogie Nights) and Kevin (Tom Felton – Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows), break into her room and attack her.
As she fights for her life Asia asks them a serious question – where is her sister Maria? That is when the fight really starts. Asia fights for her life while scouring The Virgil for her sister while trying to outrun those who want her dead.
So far in his career Sokolov has famously emulated his filmmaking heroes with his work but with They Will Kill You it feels like he has gone too far or possibly flown too close to the sun with this one. No matter how much I was enjoying the great battle sequences and creative deaths during the film I just couldn’t get Kill Bill out of my head. As if to cement my suspicions about this being a Quentin Tarantino homage the film even contains a ‘women’s foot close-up shot’ – something that has become somewhat of a trademark with Tarantino’s films over the years.
What Sokolov does have working in his favour though is the skills of Zazie Beetz. With so many similarities to other films Beetz is what makes They Will Kill You memorable. Whether it be the deeply emotional sequences of her begging for the life of her sister or her brilliant ‘combat’ sequences as she goes to war with whatever The Virgil throws at her Beetz (excuse the pun) never misses a beat. Long after you left the cinema it is Beetz’s performance that you will remember whenever someone mentions the film.
Sadly, though she is let down by the screenplay (or lack of) here. Written by Alex Litvak (Predators) the screenplay itself is one of the reasons why They Will Kill You is reminiscent of so many other films. The supernatural element is very similar to Constantine while it feels like some important elements of the ‘realm’ itself are never fully explained.
Then there is the ridiculously over-the-top pig’s head finale which just takes the film into a new level of craziness. When you compare that to how the Satanic worship storyline was resolved in Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come you see just how badly Litvak’s screenplay handled things here.
The Verdict
While there is some creativity with the fight sequences of They Will Kill You largely this feels like a film you have seen many times in the past. While the one-person army revenge flick is the in-thing in Hollywood at the moment they only work if the filmmaker and screenwriter involved have an idea that separates their film from the rest.
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