It's been a decent 2024 so far for action movies with the likes of Monkey Man and The Beekeeper bringing the goods on the big screen, while Badland Hunters and Sixty Minutes have impressed on Netflix.
And now Boy Kills World is here to put its own weird and gory stamp on the genre. Like its protagonist Boy (Bill Skarsgård), the movie might be a bit rough around the edges, but when it clicks, it's extremely effective.
When we first meet him, Boy has not had the best life. His family were executed when he was a child by Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen) and ever since he's been training with an enigmatic shaman (Yayan Ruhian) to seek revenge.
Yes, that means the first act has a lot of training montages, but there's a surreal twist as Boy has frequent drug-fuelled visions, such as long conversations with his dead sister (tremendous newcomer Quinn Copeland).
The fact that Boy is deaf-mute adds another element, with Skarsgård relying on excellent facial expressions alone. He's not totally mute though as his inner monologue is delivered in terrific fashion by H Jon Benjamin, inspired by Boy's favourite childhood arcade video game.
It's an engaging first act, capped in fine style with a bloody, kinetic action sequence as Boy's first attempt at revenge doesn't quite go to plan. He teams up with rebels Basho (Andrew Koji) and Benny (Isaiah Mustafa) – who, in a hilarious running gag, Boy is unable to lip-read – and resolves to take down the Van Der Koy crime syndicate once and for all.
From this point on, Boy Kills World doesn't stop moving and plays like a video game, with Boy working his way up to boss level with various members of the Van Der Koy family, including TV producer Melanie (Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery as you've rarely seen her).
Whenever the bullets are flying and the cheese graters are grating (skin, not cheese), Boy Kills World is an enormous amount of fun. It's just a shame that as it nears its third act, it adds in an unnecessary plot development that grinds things to a halt.
Things pick up for a solid final battle which does at least manage to showcase the talents of Yayan Ruhian. But the momentum is gone and you start to feel the length of its 110-minute runtime, which also leaves the movie on more of a downer than its supremely enjoyable and inventive first 70 mins or so deserves.
Either way, it's a promising calling card for first-time feature director Moritz Mohr, and a brilliant action showcase for Bill Skarsgård ahead of this year's The Crow.
Boy Kills World might not be a flawless victory, but action fans will still get a kick out of it.
Boy Kills World is in cinemas now.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
