The Killer (2023) / YMMV

Alternative Character Interpretation: In the opening scene, the Killer sees a mother scolding a crying child and noticeably smirks. With his heavily nihilistic narration prior to this in mind, one has to wonder if he's sadistically amused by the kid's pain or just thinks the sight of a mother and child was cute. The latter would definitely be another example of him failing to "forbid empathy".
Magnificent Bastard: The titular "Killer" is a methodical, exacting hitman who may not be as put-together as he initially seems, but hides a devious mind for murder and improvisation behind his facade of normalcy. A successful assassin considered one of the best in his field, the Killer always has a backup plan and an escape route laid out for his hits. When a bystander accidentally interferes with his latest hit, the Killer is targeted by fellow assassins to punish him for the screw-up; though initially willing to simply evade his pursuers, the Killer becomes deadset on revenge when his beloved girlfriend is wounded by his foes. Hunting down everyone responsible for his girlfriend's assault, the Killer uses stealth, combat prowess and genre savviness to take out all of them, adapting on the fly when things get sticky. The Killer ultimately has his revenge and retires in luxury with his girlfriend, accepting that he's now become "one of the many" who simply enjoy life to its fullest.
Memetic Mutation:
- Captioning various other movie scenes that feature music from The Smiths as being from The Killer. A popular one is (500) Days of Summer.
  Summer Finn: I love The Smiths!
- Living amongst the "normies." ^Explanation
Spiritual Successor:
- The globetrotting backdrop for an intricate assassination plot, the Killer blending in and remaining unnoticeable, the codenames for the Killers' targets, their apparent detachment to empathy and their efficiency with weapons — all of this makes the film feel like a Hitman adaptation in all but name. Even the Lock-and-Load Montage at the start is not dissimilar to the sort seen in the trailers for the various Hitman games. That said, that's where the resemblance ends; the Killer themselves is not all that similar to 47, and there are many differences between the two assassins. Sure, they both use social engineering and disguises to stay hidden in plain sight, but the Killer has loved ones (his wife's beating basically kickstarts his revenge scheme; a relationship 47 doesn't really have in the same way with his handler, Diana), the two clothing choices are direct opposites (47 wears suits almost exclusively unless blending in, the Killer wears deliberately chosen tourist-ey clothes), and even the inciting incident of the Killer assassinating the wrong person comes off as them being a showboat and sloppy (the Killer ignored the other, better, windows of opportunity), which is something 47 definitely would not do. Still, the parallels between the two characters and the works are there.
- Many film fans have already begun drawing comparisons to Le Samouraï, from the perfectionist attitudes of their respective protagonists to David Fincher seemingly paying homage to Jean-Pierre Melville's directing style. Some have even gone as far as to say that The Killer might as well be an unofficial remake of Le Samourai.
- Killer's love of pop culture and appearing normal is a lot like Jared from The Pretender, and his dry-witted narration on everything and obsessive routine is awfully similar to Dexter. In fact, so is his desire to look normal.
Squick: During his fight with the Killer, the Brute falls on a table leg and it visibly goes up his ass. Not only do we see him struggling to pull it out, but when we see him under proper lighting in his bathroom, we see that his groin area is dripping with blood.

YMMV / The Killer (2023)

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