History Film / TheKiller2023

* ExactWords: [[spoiler: Delores promises to give the Killer the information he needs to track down the Brute, the Expert, and the Client in exchange for him making sure her death doesn't look 'wrong'. Once they've gone to her home and she gives him the information he needs, he quickly snaps her neck just as she begins going down her stairway, ensuring that her death will look like nothing more a tragic accident to anyone who finds her.]]

* GreyAndGrayMorality: Nobody is truly good in this movie, but also not wholly evil. Those who could be considered "good" like Delores, Magdala, and Marcus still have some shady aspects to them, considering all three are still complicit to assassinations. Those who are "evil" are shown to have people ([[PetTheDog and animals]]) they care about and are {{Punch Clock Villain}}s who were simply doing a job they'd been hired for.

* ConsummateProfessional: The Killer is a fantastically thorough and precise individual. Which makes the comedic series of failures that throw his life into disarray all the more entertaining.

* DramaticIrony: When a man sees that the Killer (disguised as a sanitation worker) is taking out a recycling bin, he jokes if he needs help getting rid of "the body." Dolores hysterically laughs at the irony, knowing full well that she is being complicit with helping the Killer discreetly carry out Hodges's body inside the bin.

* LeaveNoWitnesses: The Killer disposes of anyone who's even remotely related to the assassination plot, even people like the taxi driver who picked up the Brute and the Expert's fare or Hodges' secretary Dolores (though, in the latter case, he does grant her a death that'll ensure her family can claim life insurance off of it).

* NamelessNarrative: Downplayed. We do get the name of several characters, but the main players tend to be referred to (and are credited as) by their positions ("The Killer", "The Lawyer", "The Client", "The Expert", "The Brute", "The Target") so as to empathize the complete detachment of empathy in the narrative.

* PetTheDog: The one humanizing trait The Killer has is his care for his girlfriend, and her brother. In a more tangential way he also [[spoiler: fulfills Dolores' request to be found dead rather than just "disappeared" like his targets.]] The Brute also gets a literal moment of this as he is briefly seen caring for his dog, Diva.

* ProfaneLastWords: [[spoiler: Despite being shot with the nail gun, The Lawyer still refuses to submit to The Killer's demand for the names of the hitman and utters a defiant "Fuck you" with his dying breath.]]

-->'''The Killer''': ''There are more than fifty thousand storage facilities in the U.S. I have units in six. I like to imagine, once the automatic payments have dried up, the episode of ''Series/StorageWars'', where they cut the lock on one of mine, and get a look inside.''

- ->'''The Killer''': ''There are more than fifty thousand storage facilities in the U.S. I have units in six. I like to imagine, once the automatic payments have dried up, the episode of ''Series/StorageWars'', where they cut the lock on one of mine, and get a look inside.''

** [[spoiler:When Killer fights Brute, Brute has height, weight, reach, and a home-field advantage. It's not an even fight like Jason Bourne vs another Treadstone agent. Brute beats Killer like a bongo drum. Killer can barely stay alive, and even then only by improvising heavily.]]

* VillainProtagonist: It's explicit in the film's title.

* CulturedBadass: Played with. The Killer has a very philosophical worldview and seems to be pretty well-read (e.g commenting on Dylan Thomas and commenting he used to study Law) but he's not as well-read as he thinks he is, such as thinking of the phrase "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" but failing to remember who said it (despite this being a very famous quote by Creator/AleisterCrowley).

* AuthorAvatar: Various reviews have concluded that the titular Killer is one for Creator/DavidFincher himself. Much like Fincher, the Killer is a noted perfectionist and, much like Fincher's films, has a rather nihilistic and cynical attitude about life and the world. However, it's also subtly SelfParody on Fincher's part, considering how despite the perfectionism, the Killer screws up quite a bit in the movie, and his FilmNoir inner monologue ranges from poetic and observant to hilariously edgy, pretentious, and unfocused.

** [[spoiler:Brute invaded Killer's home and sexually assaulted his girlfriend. When Killer invades Brute's home, Killer knocks Brute onto a table leg in an.. uncomfortable area. Also, about five seconds after Brute uses his brain and realizes who Killer is, Killer shoots Brute dead. From Killer's own bedroom.]]
** [[spoiler:Expert manages to psychologically unbalance Killer, and tries to trick him by playing on his feelings, but he quickly and professionally caps her in the head.]]

** [[spoiler:Unlike Bond, Killer's clever kill is out of extreme desperation and a guess, and doesn't come with a BondOneLiner.]]
** At the end of the film, [[spoiler:the Client sees Killer in his apartment. He's on the phone, so he says he's gotta go. And the other person refuses to let him. He's also some random guy, not a big evil mastermind.]]

!!''The Killer'' contains examples of:

** Dolores alternates been begging for her life or killing her in a way that her insurance money will be left behind for her family. She gets a NeckSnap.

*** The Client [[spoiler:says he had no idea what Hodges would do. Killer decides to believe the Client, says he wants to be left alone, and walks away. This is one of the rare times someone managed to persuade a vengeful killer in a film to do just that.]]