There’s a bit of the television series “Kung Fu” (no panda) to the start of this film as we see a young deaf/mute boy being intensively trained by a mysterious and highly-skilled shaman deep in the jungle. Why? Well it turns out that civilisation is being governed by the dastardly, seriously hammy, “Van Der Koy” family and that every year they round up their enemies and kill them all on live TV. Remind you of anything? Our nameless, muscle-bound, hero (Bill Skarsgård) has an axe to grind with them, and egged on by his mentor sets about wreaking revenge on them for killing his family. Sadly, there’s nothing at all original throughout the rest of this pretty dull action thriller that relies too heavily on a slightly comedic narration (his thoughts) guiding us through some set-piece and repetitious combat scenes that after about fifteen minutes left us in no doubt as to the conclusion we were headed for. The more heavily armed soldiers you have guarding something, the easier it is for one man to… The arrival of Michelle Dockery and the sparingly used Famke Janssen add nothing at all, indeed the former is actually pretty terrible and doesn’t become any more menacing just because she takes on a mid-Atlantic drawl. It’s a fight/stunt co-ordinators’ wet dream this film, but for the rest if us it’s “Hunger Games” light. Very light.

Boy Kills World is a mash up of by now well known martial arts action genres.

Perhaps the most obvious nod is to films like “Kill Bill” which in turn is a satirical parody, of cheesy 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, martial arts action films.

Boy Kills World is superficially quite watchable but it feels truncated. This is especially evident in terms of character development and grim comedy.

Had it delved further into its potential for larger than life, well rounded characterisations and better exploited its rather dark humour, it could have become a bit of a cult hit.

By contrast, its, at times, gratuitous violence, like the creative but painfully cringe worthy, cheese grater scene, is something, I personally felt, needed to be dialled down.

In summary, a watchable martial arts action mash up with a cheesy nod to older films, in the genre. Let down a little by missed opportunities for character development and dark humour. Not to mention, at times, over the top violence.

Kill Bill (Male Version)
I love Kill Bill (volume 1, not 2), that’s how I know I would like this movie. And as it turned out, I do like it. The action was cool and the fight sequences are good. And although the story was straightforward, it’s still interesting. Besides, there was a plot twist near the end of the movie. I guessed it right, though. It’s a good twist, but too simple. In the end, it wasn’t a total surprise. Maybe I need to remind you that this is a violent movie. So for those who can’t stomach the blood and gore, don’t watch this movie. The comedy part of this movie made this movie less dark than it actually is. Every time Bennie talks to Boy, his interpretation of Bennie’s speech made me laughed my butt off.

Blood Drenched, Hyper Violent, Intense Action Pic That Plays More Like a Rated M Video Game Than a Film
It’s called Boy Kills World, not Boy Meets World. So as not to get those two titles confused. It can happen, until you sit down to watch this one.

It’s not going to be confused with any arthouse, fancy cinema fare, either.

There is an audience for this and they will be completely entertained and walk out of this experience totally satisfied.

I’m just not a part of that audience.

It’s a decent flick.

Just based on the inspired casting and the look of the whole movie alone, it has to be a six.

But I have to stop there.

If you’re well versed in action films that predate, I’d say, 2010, then you’ve seen this movie before and with better execution and certainly a better, more detailed storyline.

The fight sequences are solid but the rest of it is not.

The protagonist is a deaf mute who’s hellbent on revenge.

Only we hear his inner thoughts.

A lot.

He talks so much in voiceover that it gets old super quick and it never stops.

The whole movie.

A quip here.

A deep thought there.

Thoughts on this. Thoughts on that.

He may be kicking major butts but he’s a regular chatty Cathy on the inside.

Good grief.

There’s still things to love about this movie.

Famke Janssen (Rounders), Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey) two of my all time crushes.

Love them still and love them both here. Lots.

Yayan Ruhian (The stellar Raid films) and Brett Gelman (The Other Guys, Stranger Things) Love those dudes!

And I totally get Bill Skarsgard trying TJ distance himself from It, and rip himself up for this role.

But as good as this movie looks, and everybody in here is good in their parts.

It’s just not a great movie.

It could be great with better writing and less voiceover.

There are far superior movies out there about vengeance.

Boy not only Kills World, he kills this movie.

Oddly enough, as I consumed this film, it reminded me of a few female driven action movies of the last thirty years or so: Tank Girl, Aeon Flux, and Ultraviolet.

I won’t even bother to explain it but it just does.

There is an end scene of some substance that’s worth sticking around for.

Boy Kills World is a mash up of by now well known martial arts action genres.

Perhaps the most obvious nod is to films like “Kill Bill” which in turn is a satirical parody, of cheesy 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, martial arts action films.

Boy Kills World is superficially quite watchable but it feels truncated. This is especially evident in terms of character development and grim comedy.

Had it delved further into its potential for larger than life, well rounded characterisations and better exploited its rather dark humour, it could have become a bit of a cult hit.

By contrast, its, at times, gratuitous violence, like the creative but painfully cringe worthy, cheese grater scene, is something, I personally felt, needed to be dialled down.

In summary, a watchable martial arts action mash up with a cheesy nod to older films, in the genre. Let down a little by missed opportunities for character development and dark humour. Not to mention, at times, over the top violence.

There’s a bit of the television series “Kung Fu” (no panda) to the start of this film as we see a young deaf/mute boy being intensively trained by a mysterious and highly-skilled shaman deep in the jungle. Why? Well it turns out that civilisation is being governed by the dastardly, seriously hammy, “Van Der Koy” family and that every year they round up their enemies and kill them all on live TV. Remind you of anything? Our nameless, muscle-bound, hero (Bill Skarsgård) has an axe to grind with them, and egged on by his mentor sets about wreaking revenge on them for killing his family. Sadly, there’s nothing at all original throughout the rest of this pretty dull action thriller that relies too heavily on a slightly comedic narration (his thoughts) guiding us through some set-piece and repetitious combat scenes that after about fifteen minutes left us in no doubt as to the conclusion we were headed for. The more heavily armed soldiers you have guarding something, the easier it is for one man to… The arrival of Michelle Dockery and the sparingly used Famke Janssen add nothing at all, indeed the former is actually pretty terrible and doesn’t become any more menacing just because she takes on a mid-Atlantic drawl. It’s a fight/stunt co-ordinators’ wet dream this film, but for the rest if us it’s “Hunger Games” light. Very light.

Kill Bill (Male Version)
I love Kill Bill (volume 1, not 2), that’s how I know I would like this movie. And as it turned out, I do like it. The action was cool and the fight sequences are good. And although the story was straightforward, it’s still interesting. Besides, there was a plot twist near the end of the movie. I guessed it right, though. It’s a good twist, but too simple. In the end, it wasn’t a total surprise. Maybe I need to remind you that this is a violent movie. So for those who can’t stomach the blood and gore, don’t watch this movie. The comedy part of this movie made this movie less dark than it actually is. Every time Bennie talks to Boy, his interpretation of Bennie’s speech made me laughed my butt off.

Gory, but missing something
I wanted to like this more than I did.

The fight scenes were fun, and the gore was excessive, but I couldn’t bring myself to care all that much.

I think it might have to do with the mismatch between John Benjamin’s voice and the actor playing the boy.

I couldn’t quite reconcile them as being the same person so it felt like the entire movie was being narrated like MSTK or something.

Also some of the shaky camera fights were hard to make out in between limbs breaking.

I was relieved to see a new IP and it deserves to be supported, but I would say this was more of a rental or even a matinee movie.