The Killer’s Game – Dave Bautista can do romance as well as he does action (and everything else)

The Killer’s Game – Dave Bautista can do romance as well as he does action (and everything else)

The cool thing about living in a post-John Wick world is that even the smallest action movies have to step up their fisticuffs (and light them in neon colors). The not cool thing about living in a post-John Wick world is that all of its knock-offs are sure to pale in comparison. There’s just no touching what the John Wick series (and before that, The Raid) were able to accomplish, but if their influence pulled the genre away from the shaky-cam era spawned by Paul Greengrass and his Bourne sequels, I’m into it. 

The latest in a long line of bobo-Wick movies is The Killer’s Game, a Dave Bautista-led actioner that unspools much like a video game. Bautista, easily the best actor to ever come out of wrestling, plays Joe Flood, a veteran assassin who, much like John Wick, is the best in the business. Even his enemies (all of whom are part of an underground community of assassins, like in John Wick) can’t help but to respect the man. He’s that good. 

During one job he crosses paths with a dancer named Maize (Sofia Boutella), and long story short, the two fall madly in love. Maize is unaware of Joe’s…skills, and he’d like to keep it that way. Like John Wick, he wants out of the business. Per his handler (Ben Kingsley), this shouldn’t be a problem (unlike in John Wick), but just when everything seems to be going smoothly, Flood gets a terminal diagnosis (like John Wick’s wife). Defeated as he is by this cruel turn of events, Flood decides to do one last good act: put a hit out on himself (like Bulworth), and route his life insurance payment to Maize. 

But then he finds out that the doctor screwed up. He’s not going to die after all. Well, not unless one of the many hitmen/women he recently hired completes the job. Rules are rules, and the hit cannot be cancelled, and now, just like John Wick, Joe Flood has to kill everybody.

No dogs die. 

What follows is a rousing and colorful shoot ‘em up, featuring a few notable names in martial arts cinema, including the legendary Scott Adkins and Marko Zaror, both of whom steal their scenes with charismatic ease (and both of whom appeared in John Wick: Chapter 4). As Flood bounces from location to location, so too does Lovedahl (Terry Crews), a fellow hitman who, although reluctant to fulfill the contract against Flood, can’t turn down such a large payday (sorta like Mark Dacascos in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum). Crews is fun, as always, but boy oh boy does his character make some baffling decisions. Then again, most of the logic in this film is pretty flimsy, with situations arising solely to make way for the action, which, as previously indicated, is solid enough. 

There’s an over reliance on CGI blood that proves distracting in its lack of artistry. It’s not an inherently bad technique (the John Wick movies use it seamlessly), but here it’s too cartoony and rubbery to work properly. It’s not that The Killer’s Game has to adhere to the rules and physics of the real world — it’s as far fetched as movies come — but the way the blood effects aren’t congruent to the film’s established reality. It almost feels as if the filmmakers never intended for it to be there, and only decided to make it all so bloody after the fact. Respect for trying, but it registers as a lack of vision or perhaps a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. 

One area that works unexpectedly well is the romance between Flood and Maize. Bautista plays the damaged tough guy well, and Boutella’s affection for him has a lived-in sensibility that works way better than I ever would have expected. It’s not that there’s a wealth of material on the page — it’s a pretty bare bones script — but more that their chemistry is off the charts. Impossibly so. It speaks highly of both performers that they’re able to create an honest, shippable romance even when we don’t really ever get to know that much about the characters as individuals. 

The sweetness that defines their relationship is something that pervades the film at large, and it’s perhaps its strongest element (decidedly unlike John Wick). Be it Maize and Flood, the loving marriage of Flood’s handler, or even the paternal relationship the latter and Flood share, this light, positive energy is infectious and fun, and it’s the element that separates this from just about every other Bobo-Wick movie. I’d even call its non-cynical nature refreshing. 

So no, The Killer’s Game is not going to change the game, nor is it going to knock your socks off with wild action, but it will keep you cheesing for just short of two hours, further cementing Dave Bautista as one of the most reliable and reliably interesting performers working today. He’s a leading man, through and through, and I look forward to the next stage of his career. 

Directed by J.J. Perry

Written by James Coyne, Simon Kinberg, Rand Ravich, based on the novel by Jay Bonansinga

Starring Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, Pom Klementieff, Shaina West

Rated R, 104 minutes