My quick rating – 7.0/10. Boy Kills World is a loud, bloody, and frenetic action movie that gets you on the same page as to what kind of experience you are in for immediately. It is a film that is fueled by excess – be it in terms of violence, style, or a ridiculously exaggerated sense of mayhem that borders on cartoonish. Adrenaline, yes, but subtlety is a hell no.
The movie kicks off with a comedy-packed flashback that promptly establishes the tone by combining black humor with graphic violence. This is when we meet Boy (Bill Skarsgård), a deaf-mute who has a rather vibrant imagination that’s brutally disrupted when his family is slaughtered before his very eyes. After that, a revenge-based origin tale follows as it’s presented through the channel of surrealistic visuals and over-the-top martial arts performances. Boy goes AWOL into the jungle when he meets a shaman who takes away his imagination to transform him into a killing machine.
Skarsgard gives a total commitment to the part, including a physical as well as facially detailed performance that drives a lot of the movie. Skarsgard doesn’t have to give much spoken dialogue since a lot of the necessary communication comes from bodily expression, which does indicate innocence as well as rage. Jessica Rothe and Brett Gelman do the rest to make the bad guys more unpredictable by carrying out suitably nutty performances that do add a lot to the unstable atmosphere that permeates most of the movie.
Where Boy Kills World really rocks is in its action scenes. The fighting is top-notch all the way around, but the final battle is phenomenal, featuring some of the best hand-to-hand fighting in recent action films. There is a level of brutality and attention to detail in each and every physical battle that is apparent, and the physicality is first-rate. There is a tremendous amount of blood spilt from the opening to the closing frame in this film. It’s not for those faint of heart and never attempts to claim otherwise.
On the visual side, the film is a display of colors and frenzied shots that manage to reflect the troubled psyche of Boy. There is a frenzied style at work here that simply throws us straight into the midst of this strange world. Although the plot takes a second seat to the visual feast and the action scenes, the elements associated with loss and change are enough for the flick not to be shallow.
Boy Kills World won’t be for everyone, but for fans of stylized, ultra-violent action films with memorable fight choreography, it delivers exactly what it promises. And then some.
