Step aside John Wick, Boy has entered the building!
After watching Keanu Reeves get all the action glory in last year’s John Wick: Chapter 4, Bill Skarsgard is now showing off his own action chops with Boy Kill World.
In the action-comedy, the It star plays the titular Boy, who has spent years in the wilderness becoming a killing machine with the help of a mysterious shaman (Yayan Ruhian). His practice is for one purpose – to destroy the Van der Koy family, who run his city’s totalitarian regime.
Every year, the corrupt, power-hungry family – led by Hilda van der Koy (Famke Janssen) – hold The Culling to kill their supposed enemies to keep everyone in line. Boy vows to seek revenge after some of his loved ones are killed during The Culling.
Boy is mute and deaf but his inner monologue is communicated to us by voice actor H. John Benjamin (who voices Bob in Bob’s Burgers).
Benjamin adopts the voice of Boy’s favourite arcade game, Super Dragon Punch Force, and it is hilarious hearing these internal thoughts throughout the film because his voice is so different to Skarsgard’s. Also, his dialogue is laugh-out-loud brilliant and his line delivery paired with Skarsgard’s facial expressions seal the deal.
While the film has a solid sense of humour, its greatest asset is the ultra-violent action sequences. The fight choreography is extraordinary, the body count is super high, and many of the injuries and kills are gross, bloody and gnarly.
Skarsgard gives his brother, The Northman’s Alexander Skarsgard, some competition in the physique department with his insanely ripped body. He convincingly looks like a killing machine! He aces the stunts and conveys so much without dialogue.
Michelle Dockery, best known for playing Lady Mary in Downton Abbey, plays against type as the psychopathic Melanie van der Koy, the brains of the family operation. She seems to having a ball alongside Janssen, Brett Gelman and Sharlto Copley as other members of the family.
The main downside is the plot – audiences just want a straightforward “boy kills world” storyline and nothing too complex. The narrative becomes a bit overcomplicated towards the end with a few too many flashbacks and revelations. The reveals weren’t bad in themselves but they were detrimental to the momentum in the third act.
Want silly comedy and gruesome kills? Boys Kills World is exactly what you’re looking for.
In cinemas from Friday 26th April.
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