The Killer Ending, Explained

The filmography of David Fincher includes some of the finest thrillers in modern history. His second film was Seven, and he continued the masterful tradition with Gone Girl just nine years ago. Fincher forged an exclusive deal with Netflix a few years ago, and his output on the service maintains his high-quality standard. The Killer is his latest offering, and it’s a piercing picture of an assassin’s shattered life and the lengths he’ll go to set it right.

Fincher is known for shocking twists. Many of the go-to examples of famous spoilers were popularized by his work. He owes much of that to the cerebral stories he adapts, but his delivery makes them endlessly memorable. As The Killer reunites him with Seven scribe Andrew Kevin Walker, fans were expecting to be shocked.

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What is The Killer about?

The Killer follows Michael Fassbender as an unnamed assassin who runs afoul of his handlers. The credits call him The Killer. He’s on the job in Paris, waiting for an unspecified target to enter a luxurious hotel room. He passes the time eating McDonald’s, listening to The Smiths, and practicing yoga in the abandoned WeWork room he’s made his temporary office. The Killer finds his opportunity and misses the shot. His employers dispatch assassins to his secret home in the Dominican Republic. When they can’t find the Killer, they beat his girlfriend within an inch of her life to extract information. The Killer finds his lover, Magdala, in a local hospital, where she assures him she told them nothing. Magdala offers every detail she can remember, leaving the Killer to travel the globe and eliminate those who dared to make things personal.

What is The Killer based on?

The Killer adapts a French comic book of the same name by Matz and Luc Jacamon. The long-running series premiered in 1998 and spawned a sequel that released its latest issue last month. Matz also writes screenplays for video games, including V.I.P. starring Pamela Anderson, the Game Boy port of Rayman 3, and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. The Killer was his first comic released in English, and though it took time to garner attention, it became a hit in the late 2000s. The series is available in six collected editions.

The Killer follows an initially unnamed assassin as he struggles to extricate himself from the consequences of his actions. The film is a more straightforward narrative. The comic jumps around, depicting new and old stories only pages apart. Fassbender’s Killer is more erudite. He articulates his thoughts on class, work, and music through the textured language of a law school dropout. Neither Killer is much for emotion, but the comic’s iteration of the character seems to see himself as no different from a plumber or a truck driver. He views his murder-for-hire gig as an improvement on 9-to-5 employment. Fincher tells a more direct story, exploring the Killer’s quest for revenge rather than the wide-reaching effects of his life.

How does The Killer end?

Two assassins attacked the Killer’s lover. To track them down, he’ll hunt the man who hired him. The Killer finds Hodges, his handler who works as a lawyer and sneaks into his office dressed as a sanitation worker. He destroys Hodges’ laptops, erasing all records of their working together. He kills Hodges with a nailgun, accidentally letting him bleed out before he can reveal critical information. Hodges’ assistant gives the Killer his targets’ identities in exchange for a merciful death staged to look like an accident. The Killer tracks a man he calls the Brute to St. Petersburg, Florida. He drugs the Brute’s attack dog and breaks into his home. The Brute strikes, but after a vicious hand-to-hand brawl, the Killer executes his target and burns down his house.

The Killer leaves for New York, where he finds the other assassin, the Expert, in a luxurious restaurant. He sits with her while she enjoys a few final drinks and shares a dirty joke. He leads her outside as she laments her awareness of her fate. The Expert’s heel breaks and the Killer shoots her as she asks for help. A small hidden dagger reveals her intention to stab him. Finally, the Killer tracks down the client who hired him. He’s a wealthy venture capitalist named Claybourne who lives in Chicago. The Killer clones his security keycard at the gym and breaks into his penthouse apartment. Claybourne explains he’d never hired a hitman before and agreed to clear up loose ends without knowing what that would entail. The Killer spares him, promising to eliminate him if they cross paths again. The Killer returns to his home in the Dominican Republic to relax with Magdala, settling into an early retirement.

The Killer is a beautiful film about the grim day-to-day life of a hired assassin. The revenge plot is straightforward, but the fascinating element of the narrative is in the how instead of the why. The absence of a big twist is compelling, leaving an uncomplicated experience more about the process than the result. The Killer is available now on Netflix.