REVIEW: ‘Boy Kills World’ Gets Lost In Its Gimmicks

Brutal action, vibrant cinematography, and a stellar score should be the makings of a top-tier actioner—but Boy Kills World gets lost in the genre. Directed by Moritz Mohr and written by Mohr, Tyler Burton Smith, and Arend Remmers. Boy Kills World has a pretty stacked cast with Bill Skarsgård, Yayan Ruhian, Andrew Koji, Famke Janssen, Jessica Rothe, Isaiah Mustafa, and Quinn Copeland.

The film follows “Boy,” a man who has vowed revenge after his family is murdered by Hilda Van Der Koy (Janssen), the deranged matriarch of a corrupt post-apocalyptic dynasty. Orphaned, deaf, and voiceless (yeah, it’s one of those stories), Boy learns how to survive after being taken in by a shaman (Ruhian). The shaman trains Boy to be the perfect instrument of death and prepares him to be set loose on the eve of the annual culling of dissidents.

Only, Boy isn’t some heartless killer. Nope, he’s innocent to the world with no idea what it all really means outside. Seeing many of his moments of violence as video game moments, there is a kindness to Boy that offers the perfect amount of tonal difference to make most fights as comedic as they are aggressive. Driven by his inner voice, one which he co-opted from his favorite childhood video game, Boy takes on the psychotic dynasty, amassing allies along the way—all while the ghost of his rebellious little sister haunts him.

The action is the strongest element of Boy Kills World. When the dialogue is too much, or the humor misses the mark, the innovative violence on display makes you stay invested. The entire cast has a unique style of fighting that lends to thoughtful choreography.

For June 27 (Jessica Rothe), she’s a brawler. Pushing back against the typical expectations of female fighters in action movies, June 27 isn’t all leg grapples. She’s all headbutts and rapid kidney punches. Aside from her stellar character design with costuming and humorous helmet (the best-executed humor in the film), June 27 is allowed to be the exact kind of brutal that the men around her are. While this is often not the case in Western action films, June 27 blows this role out of the water, wearing her bruises and fighting to the end.

Andrew Koji’s Basho is more weapons-focused. His crazed and chaotic expression is absolutely opposite from what we’ve seen in his previous roles, like Ah Sahm in Warrior. He is a maniac with a propensity for crazy plans, and his crazier reactions to the world are an injection of adrenaline that pays off when he’s on screen.

And then, of course, there is Boy. While his voiceover gets grating after 20 minutes, watching Bill Skarsgård fight is something I could do for hours on end. Mimicking a style usually used for smaller framed fighters, Skarsgård’s large frame makes every fight interesting regardless of opponent. Visually, the manipulation of other people’s weapons and his raw hand-to-hand work is something that the best action movies are made of. Skarsgård was made to fight. He’s dang good at it, and he looks great to boot.

The best fight in the film comes from the finale, between the six-foot-four-inch tall Skarsgård and the five-foot-two martial arts icon Ruhian. Watching Ruhian and Skarsgård is an art. While the Shaman does away with June 27 with much ease, his fight with Boy is intricate. Clearing using the same style and seeing it mapped across two drastically different actors is excellent in every way. It’s the film at its best.

Boy Kills World is absolutely stylish, with a cartoon aesthetic and clear nods to anime sprinkled throughout. However, the film uses too many gimmicks too often. The humor becomes frustrating instead of endearing the longer it goes. The dialogue itself struggles to piece together some of the larger emotional beats that should amplify the comedy. Primarily between Boy and the sister he is hallucinating.

The most egregious use of Boy’s identity as a Deaf and mute man comes in the second half of the film when we’re introduced to Bennie (Mustafa). One of the most distracting and frustrating gimmicks the film uses is that Boy can’t understand the only Black character in the ensemble. While there are funny moments garnered from Boy imagining the completely misinterpreted instructions, it comes across as insulting at best and racist at worst.

As a dystopian sci-fi narrative, it never really comes together. Large concepts like a culling of random people, secret children, weird tech, and all of it being televised never really come together. They feel like concepts splattered at a wall rather than a solid narrative bolstered by its action. On that front, Boy Kills World is extremely weak. The humor wavers between satire and seriousness and never really finds the middle ground where it should thrive.

That said, for those who love bloody actioners you’ll find that violence is Boy Kills World’s redeeming quality. Truthfully, though, I have absolutely no way to describe this bonkers movie. It’s bloody and violent and, at many times, erratically incoherent. The camerawork doesn’t always do its best to highlight the sleek fight choreography, but the bright colors and high aesthetics actually make it a fun watch.

I wouldn’t call it good, but for those action fans looking for the next “what the hell” movie to watch, Boy Kills World fits the bill.

Boy Kills World is in theaters now.