Killers Anonymous takes place in a sinister world where self-described killers interact and socialize with each other in a support group known as Killers Anonymous. During the film, the maniacs are meeting quietly in London while the outside world has erupted into chaos over the assassination of a visiting U.S. Senator. With such names as Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight), Tommy Flanagan (Sin City), and Jessica Alba (Machete), Killers Anonymous couldn’t go wrong right…right?
Sadly, Killers Anonymous is a mess of a movie that has little direction and mostly focuses on the killers in the support group, but it in a disjointed way that provides nearly no entertainment value. Don’t get me wrong, there is a way to make people talking to each other in one space exciting (see Reservoir Dogs) but Killers Anonymous does not succeed in that regard.
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There are elements of a John Wick-esque world, but the charm, intrigue, and mystery in the John Wick trilogy is nowhere to be found in Killers Anonymous. Instead, the film seems to be confused about its intentions and end goal. For instance, there is a scene where one of the killers talks about the first time he felt something when killing someone, then the mediator abruptly sends everyone for a smoke break. Later, during a scene describing the assassination of the senator, goofy, jazz music plays during the shot and it comes across as comical, which a little disturbing. This type of music plays again as one character has their hands around someone’s throat and everyone else stands around. It’s hard to say what message director Martin Owen (L.A. Slasher) was trying to send. But, like a lot of the film, it comes across as muddled and unclear.
For the first half of the movie, the plot is all over the place and makes little to no sense. There are events that are supposed to be linked, but do not flow together and seem to be from two different films.
In one scene, Gary Oldman is sitting in a lawn chair with a pair of binoculars drinking a glass of wine appearing to be watching the meeting. However, as seen in the beginning, the meeting of Killers Anonymous is below the street level of a church and thus shouldn’t be visible to onlookers, even with binoculars. So, I suppose Gary Oldman is shown periodically to remind the audience that he is, indeed, in the film, otherwise I do not know what purpose he serves. If all that was not enough Killers Anonymous has a horrifically discombobulated ending that features standoff music with crusader themes. I have no idea how to describe this ending without ruining it, but the denouement does a good enough job being bad all on its own.
Overall, I would suggest that you not waste your time watching Killers Anonymous. The film is a mess that has no direction with a concept that could have been taken in a refreshing direction, but instead shoved a myriad of themes in a blender and made bad movie salsa.
WICKED RATING: 3/10
Director: Martin Owen
Written by: Seth Johnson, Elizabeth Morris, Martin Owen
Stars: Tommy Flanagan, Suki Waterhouse, Jessica Alba, Gary Oldman
Release Date: Available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD August 27th, 2019
Studio/Production Company: Goldfinch, Posterity Pictures
Length: 96 Minutes
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