In David Fincher's "The Killer," we see the titular character, a cold-as-dry-ice professional hitman who is never named, preparing to assassinate his latest victim.
The assassination is going place in Paris, and the target is some type of powerful corporate magnate about whom neither we nor the killer know anything.
His flat takes up the full penthouse floor of one of Paris's opulent block-long apartment buildings. The killer, played by Michael Fassbender,
Has set up his sniper's nest across the street in an empty, gloomy WeWork space.He's got his massive black telescopic weapon on a table whose height he can adjust.
The gun fires huge gold rounds that can pass through glass without changing course. The murderer has nothing to do but wait for the target, and throughout that time,
He communicates to us through the music, discussing his methods, philosophy, and the fact that if you don't like waiting around, this work is probably not for you.
"The Killer" turns out to be a film about people waiting to be killed. Fassbender talks in a low, emotionless drone, stating things like
"On Annie Oakley jobs, distance is the only advantage" or "No one who can afford me needs to waste time winning me over to some cause" or
"Most people refuse to believe that the great beyond is anything more than a cold, infinite void." He sounds as tense and in charge as Martin Sheen in "Apocalypse Now"
when he says, "Never get out of the boat." "You are absolutely correct." Committing a hit may be largely about counting down the minutes and hours, but Fincher constructs the scene with the deftness of a professional suspense filmmaker.