'How To Make a Killing' Delivers on its Premise
Glen Powell is one of the luckiest actors in the world. He’s not particularly engaging in the films he’s cast in. Especially the newest Running Man. He’s a star with good looks and talent at the keyboard. Look no further than his collaboration with Richard Linklater on Hit Man, a devilishly funny thriller with a role the star writes himself in. How To Make a Killing isn’t written by Powell, but the role grants him the similarity pass. I know nothing personally of Glen Powell, so pass no judgment. Yet GP is probably fully aware of a possible public perception of him as just being a pretty boy and uses it creatively in well-written roles to his advantage. That’s how you survive in Hollywood. Luck, connections, smarts, and talent. This picture makes his character a blast to watch.
How to Make a Killing is a cynical, “would you do it if you were them?” film. Becket Redfellow is a man of unfortunate circumstances. His mother is cut out of the astute Redfellow family fortune, leaving her to struggle in the grime herself. For reasons made unclear other than pure cruelty, Whitelaw Redfellow (Ed Harris) relinquishes his own daughter and grandson into the streets without batting an eyelash. Leave it up to Ed Harris to once more play the angry psychopath to a tee. To this day, he can send a shiver down the audience’s spines. Becket doesn’t live the best life. He resides in a squably apartment, hoping to go from rags to riches by the luck of getting his family’s inheritance. There’s only one thing in the way. His seven relatives.
The movie isn’t a deep psychological dive; would you do it? It’s more of a satire on fortune bringing happiness. Which, by Becket Redfellow’s theology, it unequivically does. Is that true? Like always, the answer is more complicated than a yes or a no. If you’re a murdering psychopath like Becket is, then indeed it is. Upon his first killing, Becket is neither gleeful nor startled. We all like to think we don’t have the capacity to kill until we’ve done it. A normal person would feel pain, grief, agony, or guilt after the act. Let alone being nuts enough to perform it. Unless they’re in a war or acting in self-defense. But to outright murder and just go “huh, well that was easy” paints a picture of a person who is not well.
Sadly, we live in a culture that doesn’t thrive on community. It embraces materialistic values. Something this movie does a much better job at representing than Materialists. A good, if not preachy film. This movie does preach to an on-screen priest, yet when it comes to guilt or regret, Becket feels none, challenging the priest’s belief in his own goodness. How to Make a Killing is a dark mirror of society shot through the lens of comedy. Becket Redfellow is not a character to cheer on or aspire to. He’s a smug sociopath who has something dark hidden underneath his constant smile. But we like him because Glen Powell is a likeable guy. Writer/Director John Patton Ford establishes a comic world populated by believable characters.
Every member that Becket offs is a sideshow cartoonization of evil trust fund kids. They’re interchangable from any Knives Out character. The evil one percenters are the cannon fodder, like scream queens are to slasher flicks. Except the rich kids are more like people the audience actively hates. So why not love the guy who had to scrape for himself? The underdog who makes his way to the top? Even his childhood flame treats him like dirt when he’s on the bottom, only liking him when he’s doing well for himself. Margaret Qualley plays Julia Steinway, a seductress who’s missing a heart. Something she has down to a tee in this film.
Everyone is very well cast in a picture that feels almost like a stylistic spiritual successor to Hit Man. The narration gives off the Goodfellas aesthetic, breaking the fourth wall at moments. It’s unnecessary, yet it works. The film says it’s a tragedy. If you’re in the audience hoping for Becket to get away with everything, then yes, it is. Does he win, or doesn’t he? Isn’t the answer you should be looking for. The one you should be asking is, “Why do I want him to win?” There’s no way to understand evil other than to look at the values we hold and why we betray them. It’s the best comedy so far this year. Or should I say tragedy?
