Boy Kills World asks, “What's so fun about video game movies?”

The most important things you need to know when starting an action thriller boy kills world That means there will be an incredibly bloody battle scene at the end. In brutal, prolonged throws, faces are shattered, fingers dig into deliberately opened wounds, and combatants slowly drag sharp objects into each other's bodies, cracking skin and muscle with tactile squeezing sounds. tear up. It's a battle so grueling and brutal that even action movie veterans might grit their teeth and grumble in reflexive sympathy.

But while hating viewers will want to know how confusing the movie is and be able to get away with it, others will want to know who to expect what. boy kills world Otherwise, it seems too weightless, goofy, and detached from reality, lacking serious combat stakes. Director Moritz Mohr uses his video game as a reference to describe the combat with a smirk, adding voiceovers such as “Deadly!” “Player 2 wins!”—the combatants’ pain doesn’t matter in any meaningful way, and it doesn’t exactly prepare the viewer for a showdown in which the characters appear to actually be hurt.

But that final battle boy kills world It has more weight than the rest of the running time, opening the film up to fans of action and martial arts who might be put off by the film's harsh, referential humor. This movie is primarily made strictly for fans of a specific brand of video game movies. It's a checklist of retro fighting game references and comedic tropes that some audiences will inevitably find broad, over-the-top, and offensive. Some may feel playful and energetic.

This is not Edgar Wright. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a pop-up “Pow!” will be displayed. and “Curve Blam!” blockbuster animation effects, or the adversary exploding at the end of every battle to earn coin-drop victory rewards. But it's just as stupid and superficial, the world-building just a shrug of indifference, and the plot mostly ranging from goofy humor to surreal mind games to a surprisingly serious battle at the end. , has become an excuse for a creatively staged fight.

Bill Skarsgård is a tragic victim, a comically hapless fool, and a world-class combatant whose skills were honed by years of jungle training with The Sherman (martial arts film stalwart Yayan Ruhian). He plays an unnamed boy who is a member of the group. raid redemption and The Raid 2). Boy is by no means intelligent, painfully naive, and fully committed to the mission given to him by Sherman: to defeat Hilda van der Koy (Famke Janssen), the master totalitarian who rules the country. We are working.

Image: Roadside Attractions/Everett Collection

Naturally, she has a small army of armed mooks and a terrifying family. The boy must survive her battles while climbing the ladder to take revenge on her family that she took away. Among them is his deceased sister Mina (Quinn Copeland), whom he vividly remembers, hanging around him as a hilarious hallucination, leading him to a grueling fight for revenge. , which she sees as a fun adventure in which she dresses up as a ninja butterfly.

Boy's tongue was cut out and his eardrums burned as a child, part of the legacy of atrocities in a fascist state that is vague and full of clichés. His hearing loss is played for unpleasant laughs. All the dialogue heard throughout the movie is stylized as what he gets from lip-reading, so when he meets someone he can't clearly interpret, they seem to spout gibberish, which Boy vividly interprets literally visualizes. And thanks to the wall-to-wall narration by his H. John Benjamin, who did his best in Mortal Kombat, his muteness is played even more as comedy.–The announcer's bass voice blares and tells the boy what he thinks.

The narration was taken from Boy's favorite childhood video game. super dragon punch force 3, a fictional game that gets its own release as a tie-in project. And it's a determining factor for success. The boy kills the world. Anyone who doesn't find Benjamin's constant stream-of-consciousness chatter entertaining will find this movie unbearably unpleasant. Mina's caustic comments about the violent misfortune of Boy's assassination are similarly intrusive. He knows his girlfriend isn't actually there, but that doesn't stop him from arguing with her and fighting to save her from her danger, which leads to even more slapstick. It's causing it. The culmination of an already absurd action.

Image: Roadside Attractions/Everett Collection

boy kills world For anyone who considers themselves a fan of video game movies, it feels like a litmus test. It's a worksheet-style experience where anyone can add up the elements that this movie does and doesn't share with other movies in its subgenre and calculate what actually makes it a video game movie. can. as a video game movie for them. boy kills world There are no specific recognizable characters. Nostalgia element. Or the cultural fame of Sonic, Super Mario Bros., or Minecraft movies. There's a tongue-in-cheek attitude here, that fistfights are less serious fun, and that we're all aware of the metaphors and references that come with them. While not as immersive or experiential, it follows the escalating dynamics of Franky, mini-bosses, and boss fights familiar from many games.

Character takes extreme damage and eats something to shake off the damage? yes. A cutscene in which the story progresses while the main character waits without being able to do anything? Yes. Ridiculously colorful antagonists, including a woman (Jessica Rothe) whose LED-enhanced motorcycle helmet visor spells out insults and commands in combat? check. Improbable weapons, from improvised stabbing devices (carrots in one case) to brass knuckles and gun combinations? I agree. A power fantasy in which one man can use his superior skills to cut through an entire oppressive government, one battle at a time? Of course. A story built around elaborate battle sequences? Sure.all boy kills world What's missing are collection mechanisms for upgrades, loot drops, inventory exchange, and crafting. (Don't laugh, some movies inspired by video games emphasize such mechanics.)

Image: Roadside Attractions/Everett Collection

These do not specifically define a video game movie. More specifically, it doesn't define a deliberately satirical action film like a particular video game subgenre of his works. Rather, it's all about the game of understanding metaphors and jokes. The boy kills the world. Mr. Mohr knows exactly the audience he is targeting, and it is quite specific and narrow. It's not enough to know what kind of game he's satirizing, have a strong love for it, and a penchant for gore and gore. He doesn't have to play seriously.

And while it's not enough that Benjamin is endlessly funny, it certainly helps. boy kills world Viewers need to thread Boy and a few other supporting characters through a certain needle of caring enough about their goals and feelings, but not caring too much about the many holes in this world. The film, which requires no prodding or questionable squinting along the way, revolves around several white characters on both sides of the conflict between good and evil slaughtering a field of people of color.It's a strangely special movie, with amusing cult following gags and annoying nonsense like Guns Akimbo or Crank — At least, until that final battle suddenly starts taking the story seriously.Still, it's best to watch boy kills world The rest of the runtime encourages a similar sarcastic indifference.

boy kills world It will be released in theaters on April 26th.