‘Killing Gunther’ is the feature film directorial debut from SNL cast member Taran Killam. He also wrote this film which is a mockumentary about a group of quirky assassins who come together to accomplish their most ambitious goal; to kill the best, most elusive hitman out there known as Gunther. I watched this film without looking in to it first and that made it all the more enjoyable – especially when Gunther was revealed, and I had no idea who to expect to play him. Killam also stars as Blake, one of the hitmen, and does prove to be quite cool and charming protagonist. There are also some other names from SNL involved in the film and a lot of the comedy comes from their reactions to each other rather than individual talent.
This film has seemed to have a lot of negative reviews but personally I think some critics have been a bit harsh. Maybe the comedy won’t work for everyone, and it has been criticised for being lazy by using the mockumentary format, but it does work for the film. I imagine Killam didn’t have a huge budget to work with and it should be okay for filmmakers to be able to use this format if it’s less of a strain on the budget. Maybe it’s overdone, but ‘Killing Gunther’ had great style that I knew I liked from the opening scene, which felt like first person perspective. And as I mentioned, it probably didn’t have a huge budget, but the special effects were convincing for the most part despite that, with one scene in particular that had tons of explosions standing out.
My main gripe about the film is that Cobie Smulders, Killam’s real-life spouse, should have been in it more as Blake’s ex-girlfriend Lisa. It would have been interesting to see them in more scenes together or at least had more of their backstory. Most of the film is dedicated to seeing the group of assassins come together and their plans to kill Gunther, so it could have been padded out a bit by adding more to this subplot.
Overall, I had a great time watching ‘Killing Gunther’ – it’s ridiculous and that works in its favour. It has a fun style and uses the mockumentary format quite well. There’s a lot of things in this that makes it incredibly impressive that this is Killam’s first time directing; the ensemble of actors, as well as the action scenes, and I hope he goes on to write/direct more productions in the future.
This film has seemed to have a lot of negative reviews but personally I think some critics have been a bit harsh. Maybe the comedy won’t work for everyone, and it has been criticised for being lazy by using the mockumentary format, but it does work for the film. I imagine Killam didn’t have a huge budget to work with and it should be okay for filmmakers to be able to use this format if it’s less of a strain on the budget. Maybe it’s overdone, but ‘Killing Gunther’ had great style that I knew I liked from the opening scene, which felt like first person perspective. And as I mentioned, it probably didn’t have a huge budget, but the special effects were convincing for the most part despite that, with one scene in particular that had tons of explosions standing out.
My main gripe about the film is that Cobie Smulders, Killam’s real-life spouse, should have been in it more as Blake’s ex-girlfriend Lisa. It would have been interesting to see them in more scenes together or at least had more of their backstory. Most of the film is dedicated to seeing the group of assassins come together and their plans to kill Gunther, so it could have been padded out a bit by adding more to this subplot.
Overall, I had a great time watching ‘Killing Gunther’ – it’s ridiculous and that works in its favour. It has a fun style and uses the mockumentary format quite well. There’s a lot of things in this that makes it incredibly impressive that this is Killam’s first time directing; the ensemble of actors, as well as the action scenes, and I hope he goes on to write/direct more productions in the future.
RSS Feed
