TIFF 2023: ‘Kill’ Review
Since Gareth Evans’ The Raid: Redemption, every action filmmaker has wanted to take a crack at their own version of the concept. Its impact on the action world has been unmistakable - even if the Indonesian martial arts masterpiece still needs to be put on the radars of general moviegoing audiences. An effect similar to the onslaught of action films heavily inspired by John McTiernan’s holiday action classic, Die Hard, The Raid is a winning formula for a variety of reasons. The economical approach thanks to a single location, helps immensely, but it’s the one-versus-100 that complements the film’s close-quarters combat, providing engrossing thrills and a chance for action directors and choreographers to flex their abilities. It keeps things confined, unlike the John Wick style of action filmmaking that can have cleanly shot fights but whose derivatives always feel like just that.
While The Raid put Indonesia on the map for action fans, India has been having its recent boon in popularity among the same Western audiences with films like RRR and this year’s Pathaan. However, while those films can be brutal in their own right, they rarely meet the bloody and gory bad times that Evans’ film and other Indonesian efforts in recent years have depicted. However, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s KILL is one of those exceptions. Essentially boiling down to “The Raid in a train,” KILL has much more going for it than just a playground for murder. It’s about family, friendship, and love and how that can drive someone to unfathomable extremes.
As an arranged marriage threatens to keep Amrit (Lakshya) away from the love of his life, Tulika (Tanya Maniktala), he is forced to find a way aboard a passenger train to New Delhi and try to rescue Tulika. Alongside his best friend and fellow commando, Viresh (Abhishek Chauhan), Amrit quickly discovers that Tulika and her family are in danger. A family of bandits (literally, it is made apparent this is an extended family bound by blood) led by the ambitious and disobedient son, Fani (Raghav Juyal), have targeted Tulika’s family with the hopes of a huge payout from taking her father hostage.
Typically, the argument against films like KILL would be that the story doesn’t really matter - you’re here for the bloodshed, and while KILL delivers it consistently, it does spend a portion of its runtime setting the groundwork for an emotionally charged killing spree. That is why KILL works better than many other derivatives of The Raid: it makes the journey matter, and as opposed to the story being a roadblock to thrills, every kill is a push towards catharsis. It helps immensely that Fani revels in the villainous role, portraying a character whose angst is only trumped by a violent unpredictability. Daddy issues abound, Fani’s ambitious pursuits within a confined setting let loose a monster that needs to be stopped.
Bhat’s screenplay may seem like it’s putting unnecessary work in for action junkies who are looking for unbridled carnage, but it pays off handsomely very early on and rides that momentum to its final destination. Once Bhat pushes Amrit onto the train and into the heroic role, it’s non-stop bloodshed with surprisingly bleaker undertones than you’d expect. There’s an unflinching mean streak to KILL that gives every blow tremendous weight to it. There’s also a lot of blood and some creatively grotesque maiming that will test even the most desensitized of viewers. While the gore can sometimes be a bit excessive, it’s the punctuation to some delightfully entertaining action choreography from Se-yeong Oh (Snowpiercer) and Parvez Shaikh (War).
The romance and friendship almost take a backseat to everything at a certain point, but it propels Amrit forward as he moves back and forth within the train, and the overall skirmish becomes a nightmarish tug-of-war that tightens in proximity as the body count increases and the arrival to New Delhi looms closer. KILL is one of the most exciting martial arts exports from overseas because of its careful execution of the elements others would trip over to get to the adrenaline. It’s surprisingly funny and understands that audiences always want a little romance (or bromance) to get them to care about what’s happening. A technical exercise can be an exhilarating piece of cinema, but KILL shows why emotion needs to fuel even one of the most insane and bloody action films.
