Mini Film Review – Boy Kills World

Yesterday I watched Boy Kills World; and it’s quite possibly, the weirdest action film I have ever seen! Directed by Moritz Mohr, and starring Bill Skarsgård, Jessica Rothe, and Famke Janssen, and featuring the voice of H. Jon Benjamin; Boy Kills World is a dystopian action comedy film, about a deaf-mute boy, whom after seeing his family get executed by the head of the state (Janssen), is trained up by a mysterious shaman, to get his revenge. Right…where to start with this one. There are two possible ways to explain this film in simplest terms. It’s either like watching Deadpool 2 through a kaleidoscope, or like watching John Wick: Chapter 4 whilst on psychedelics. It’s a madly weird film. It’s set within a dystopian matriarchal society, in which all the main heads of state have their own personal cult of personality’s. And every year, they hold an event called ‘The Culling’, where they take several people from the general populace, and execute them on a very strange TV show. In to this setting, we have the lead character, who has lost his ability to speak and listen, and has been trained up with the plan to bring it all down. In a basic nutshell, that’s what this film is.

I am trying hard not to turn this review into one with several paragraphs, as there is a lot to unpack. So let’s try and keep it simple. The overall plot is a little flawed, as details are rather lost between the fight scenes. A lot of dialogue from form core characters is rather lost, due to a lack of elocution. And the world the film is set in, has not been set up all that well. However…I quite liked it. Yes some major details are missing, which reduces the level of understanding the full picture, but the film is so weird, you can’t help but pay attention, especially when things get even weirder.

Basically; Boy Kills World is what happens when you cross The Hunger Games, with Squid Game (and I do not say that lightly). The Culling is like The Hunger Games itself, but due to all the strange set-up, and even the kids tv show costumes, it’s like watching Squid Game for the first time; and you can’t help but raise an eye-brow. Plus the film is occassionally funny (but not as much as I expected it to be), there’s an earth shattering twist towards the end, and the fight scenes are rather epic (although it is rather disappointing, that you have to wait to the very end to see Yayan Ruhian in action, especially as it’s on par with both of his fights in The Raid). It’s weird…but it’s a good kind of weird!