Directed By John Patton Ford

Starring – Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Ed Harris

The Plot – Disowned at birth by his obscenely wealthy family, blue-collar Becket Redfellow (Powell) will stop at nothing to reclaim his inheritance, no matter how many relatives stand in his way.

Rated R for adult language and some violence/bloody images.

How to Make a Killing | Official Trailer HD | A24

POSITIVES

Serving as a contemporary reimagining of the 1949 British film, Kind Hearts and Coronets, the structural familiarity of that creative outline receives a much-needed updating on the ‘Eat the rich’ narrative that so many movies have adopted over the last decade, except this time it’s the greed from within that sources much of the salacious appetite, in turn solidifying a fiercely cunning and creatively calculating film that fits comfortably under the A24 banner of challenging engagements with an intoxicatingly hip brand of atmosphere. Being that this is a film starring Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley, one would certainly expect it to dominate as a hijinks comedy, by way of Knives Out, however Ford’s single biggest influence in direction can be felt over the gritty and at times ominously enclosing tonal consistency that fleshes such a fantastically enacted concept out with such real world stakes and condemning circumstances, with a combination of the two feeling a lot closer to something like American Psycho, especially for its distinct brand of social commentary towards the depicted upper class elites that make them feel as coldly calculating and emotionless as you would expect from people who make money their everything. To be fair, the movie does pack an underlining punch of caustic wit and dry depravity to the depths of its established humor, with much of the manufactured gags feeling like a litmus test towards the audience, to see if they indulge in the disparity of death being enacted as a gut-punching punchline, complete with impeccably timed editing leading to the same visual being repeated, each time one of this family’s members bite the big one. Ford also pulls double duty with a sharp and snappy screenplay that not only wastes no time whatsoever in putting the movements of the plot to motion, with smoothly seamless pacing that continuously deviates from one arc to the next with the patience of a toddler in church, but also meticulously placed capsules of exposition that rarely ever materialize during the moments and consequences that you might expect from them. Ford’s writing isn’t quite as flawless as his direction, as some inevitable traits of impatience do eventually find their way to the integrity of the engagement, however his charmingly endearing dialogue and insightful advantage to pit the audience constantly one step ahead of its characters in telling the movie from a future-sense perspective, with Powell’s Becket narrating the entirety of the film, effortlessly appraises an imbedded psychology to its protagonist that responsibly illustrates him as a heavily flawed character, but one whose backstory and motivation can certainly be justified by an interpreting audience, making him feel capable of anything, without ever truly sacrificing the integrity of the humanity that occasionally persists from within. It’s also a film that is aided tremendously by the mesmerizing charisma of its two radiant leads, with Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley both attaining an unpredictable mystique about their actions that transcends the conventionalized boxes that we would unknowingly pit each of their characters into. Powell has always had this charmingly suave and sophisticated demeanor about him that fits effortlessly into the confines of a character driven by materialism, but there’s a candid confidence and disarming sense of articulacy to his character’s unwavering poker face that makes him a tough concrete wall to break for those opposing his mission of redemption, and I for one loved seeing him sample a seedier side to characterization that will keep him from the claustrophobic confines of cinematic typecasting. As for Qualley, her character definitely feels like the Devil that is constantly weighing heavily on Becket’s right shoulder to motivate his ulterior actions, with Qualley brandishing such an unflinching and unapologetic honesty that makes her feel like the physical embodiment of greed and materialism, and while her character does unavoidably come across as one-note in her constructive outline, all in ways that the movie requires out of her morally void and emotionally vapid responses, the young actress proves her limitless power on the movie’s influence by frequently stealing the focus away from Powell, each time she periodically pops back into the frame of Becket’s increasingly optimistic life, serving as the unsubtle reminder of the lifestyle that he’s wanted from such an early age, even at the cost of being the puppet that she commands with the strings of history that connect these characters in ways that nobody else inside of this contextual world would understand. Speaking of a lack of understanding, I also commend the ending deeply for taking such an ambitious swing with its ending that inevitably won’t rub off positively with every member of the audience. In keeping this as vague as possible, I will say that the movie definitely deviated on the expectations that I had for its characters and their respective conflicts, which for some might feel like a betrayal to the 100 minutes that they invested in it, but for me, I found it an authentic and even responsible take that it had on the faithfulness of these character outlines, proving that even in growth, money is in fact the root of all evil.

NEGATIVES

As previously conveyed, Ford works overtime on his direction, but isn’t able to properly muster the same kind of consistency to the screenplay, especially one that feels plagued by an abundance of convenience and some framing choices that leave much to be desired about the ways this character journey is explored. On the former, there was plenty of times throughout the engagement where either Becket’s flawless execution of these murders felt free from erroneous execution, or even the police’s investigation of them overlooked glaringly gigantic evidence that should at least serve as a red flag to the ways that they ruled some of them accidents, such as one death involving a boat anchor tied to a victim’s leg, which is ruled a drowning death but not a murder. It’s tough enough to overlook Becket touching so many of the objects on this boat without a glove or some other form of protection, but it’s even worse when this character is able to prepare for such uncontrollable circumstances that work perfectly in his favor, each and every time, and there comes a point in the film when it asks the audience to swallow a lot of illogical aspects, in order to maintain your investment in it, where more error from Becket could’ve resulted not only in more suspense of the ongoing investigation, but also the humanity of his amateur practices towards murder. As for the framing choice that I truly didn’t care for, the movie, like many others before it, repeats the same cliche of the movie beginning after all of the events of Becket’s mission have already taken place, and considering it spoils quite a lot about the eventual outcome of what’s to come, it doesn’t entice me with the kind of uncertainty that would stem from experiencing these moments unfolding in real time, leaving me waiting for the inevitable of what I expect from the movie’s opening shot. Strangely enough, I didn’t have as much of a problem with Ford’s decision to utilize overhead narration throughout the film, as I felt it clued us in psychologically to some of the otherwise cryptic movements of Becket’s mission, however I definitely would’ve preferred that this movie played out in real time, especially since its framing device really doesn’t add any kind of concrete value to the movie’s creativity, instead following a personally unpopular trend that I wish cinema would give up all together. Finally, while it’s undeniably admirable that Ford would even attempt a plot idea that involves such repetition, I can’t exactly forgive the lack of consistency within the ways these murders play out, with some receiving thorough time to flesh out a valuable plot thread, while others come and go so abruptly that they waste away a highly talented supporting ensemble with them. 100 minutes is obviously not a lot of time to give all seven of these deaths the fleshing out that they require, but some are so easily enacted by Becket that it doesn’t result in any semblance of tension or meaningful merit with how he’s able to pull them off, and I think that a plot like this would work so much extensively better with a streaming series, in which each death is given an entire episode to capably conjure.

OVERALL
How To Make a Killing is A fiercely fun sophomore follow-up for John Patton Ford, who not only creatively imbeds an ‘Eat the Rich’ ideal from within, but also a caustically charming and depraved thriller centering around the vulnerabilities of inheritance that substitutes familial trust for financial gain. While the script is frequently subjected to limitless convenience and a flawed framing device free from evading predictability, the film’s wealth is ultimately determined by the sharp and stimulating charisma of Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley’s upper-class performances, allowing A24 another inherited winner that further increases their industrial outlook

My Grade: 7.9 or B-