Boy Kills World
Bill Skarsgård is a regular Gory Matthews in "Boy Kills World."
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I was looking forward to seeing “Boy Kills World” (now in theaters) as I’m often a fan of these beat ‘em up/shoot ‘em up sorta flicks. Perhaps it was at a disadvantage as I was watching it as the back half of a double bill after the truly inspired “Challengers” (review here), but the resulting product would’ve likely came off as cheap and chintzy either way.
Our titular Boy (played in childhood by twin brothers Nicholas and Cameron Crovetti and in adulthood by Bill Skarsgård) witnesses the murders of his mother (Rolanda Marais) and his younger sister Mina (Quinn Copeland) at the hands of the evil Van Der Koy family during their annual Culling (think the Purge but even more exclusive). The Van Der Koys are lunatic leader Hilda (Famke Janssen), her second-in-command sister Melanie (Michelle Dockery), their put upon wannabe screenwriter brother Gideon (the very funny and always welcome Brett Gelman) and Melanie’s television host of a husband Glen (an underused Sharlto Copley).
Boy is inexplicably left alive (but left deaf and mute for his troubles) and saved and raised by a Van Der Koy enemy simply known as Shaman (Yayan Ruhian, Mad Dog from “The Raid: Redemption”). Shaman trains Boy in the ways of the foot, fist and firearm so they can exact their revenge upon Hilda and her whole hellish clan.
Aiding Boy in his pursuit are rebels Basho (Andrew Koji of Max’s “Warrior”) and Bennie (Isiah Mustafa, reuniting with his “It Chapter Two” co-star Skarsgård). Hindering Boy’s pursuit is the helmeted June27 (Jessica Rothe of the “Happy Death Day” franchise), the Van Der Koy’s chief security officer.
“Boy Kills World” is the feature directorial debut of Mortiz Mohr. It’s scripted by Tyler Burton Smith (he’s a video game writer who had a hand in creating “Sleeping Dogs,” “Quantum Break” and “Alan Wake II,” penned 2019’s “Child’s Play” and is apparently adapting the R-rated, live-action “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin”) and Arend Remmers from a story by Remmers and Mohr. I bring up Smith’s video game background as “Boy Kills World” often feels like watching someone else play a video game (not a compliment) and its framing device is often built around the “Street Fighter”-esque “Super Dragon Punch Force 2,” a coin-op game Boy and Mina played as children. (As a cool promotional tie-in, there’s a “Super Dragon Punch Force 3” beta featuring characters from the movie now available on Steam and mobile app stores.)
The central performances are generally pretty good. Skarsgård sells the deaf mute badass Boy with his expressive eyes and impressive physique, though my wife was weirded out by his seemingly elongated torso. (The dude seems a natural for the upcoming “The Crow” remake between this and his previous work in the “It” movies.) Boy’s internal monologue is provided by noted voice actor H. Jon Benjamin (for those not in the know, he voices the titular characters from “Archer” and “Bob’s Burgers”) as his voice served as the announcer of “Super Dragon Punch Force 2.” Benjamin is often able to elevate Smith and Remmers’ jokes (a bit in which Boy’s a bad lip reader and misinterprets what Bennie’s saying as, “dingleberry tramp stamp” is admittedly pretty funny), but their hit to miss ratio ain’t real hot.
“Boy Kills World” is apparently an extension of a short film by the same name from Mohr and Remmers. I could see this material working better in that format as it’s hard to be funny and grisly at the same time for a prolonged period of time and the proceedings often come across as too self-conscious. “Boy Kills World” wears out its welcome with an elongated 111-minute runtime full of computer-generated carnage (Filmmakers, please return to practical effects whenever possible!) and half-baked gags that’ll sooner make you gag than laugh.