My Review of Boy Kills World (2024)

 

Written by Tyler Burton Smith And Arend Remmers And Moritz Mohr

Directed by Moritz Mohr 

Boy (inner voice): "Insert crazy action montage!"

I'm genuinely curious when this movie was pitched (based on a book of a similar name) to a studio were there comparisons to both Kill Bill and The Hunger Games made? That's exactly what this movie feels like. That's not a big criticism by the way.

Anyways our protagonist happened to be a hunky mute young man called Boy (Bill Skarsgard), who we learn early in the movie lost his sister to a barbaric system called The Culling, spearheaded by the Van Der Koy family and their paranoid matriarch, Hilda (Famke Janssen). The event is literal with the twelve unfortunate people selected routinely killed in public.

Of course, Boy grew up, trained like a deadly killing machine at the hands of the Shaman (Yayan Ruhian/Francois Chau) and needless to say, he's out to avenge his sister's death. Boy might not speak but he's got H. Jon Benjamin as his inner voice when his sister isn't also distracting him from his mission.

As the movie went along,Boy found himself sneaking into a mock up dinner party of the Van Der Koys, killing the pretentious Glen (Sharlito Copley) and taken prison by Gideon (Brett Gellman). There was also the other head of the family, Melanie (Michelle Dockery) and the mysterious enforcer June 27 (Jessica Rotherham) who have their own way to deal with their mute adversary.

On the plus side, at least Boy had some allies with resistance members Benny (Isaiah Mustafa) and Basho (Andrew Koji) and there's a very Quentin Taratino style fight sequence as the three do their best to stop this year's culling event. Of course, it's Boy's eventual confrontation with Hilda that managed to impact the movie.

As a villain, Hilda's a solid action movie baddie and the reveal of her being Boy's actual mother along with June 27 being his sister Mina. It did make for a solid ending as this family reunion took a very bittersweet and bloody turn of events. 

- Despite it's atrocious box office numbers, an animated spin off for this movie is in development.

- A post credit included Boy and his sister eating cereal at the breakfast table.

- Standout music: El Michels Affair No Friends, Butterflies and The Boy's Lament.

- Chronology: It's a dystopian future setting for this movie. June 27th was also the date that Boy and his sister, Mina lost each other.

Boy Kills World might have failed to set the world alight and as an action flick, it's a bit too throwaway for it's own good. Saying that, there's some good action scenes and Bill Skarsgard looks hot from start to finish. Overall, not too shabby, just average at best.

Rating: 6 out of 10