The Killing Blu-ray Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov, July 26, 2011

A group of men decide to rob a heavily guarded race track. If all goes well, they estimate that they will be able to walk away with approximately two million in cash. After they split the money, the men do not plan to see each other ever again.The leader of the group is Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden,), a fast talking perfectionist who has thought about everything. This would be the biggest job he has ever done  and his last one. After it, Johnny will retire.Track cashier George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr.,) is one of Johnny's men. His life has been a disaster, but he has been lucky to share it with a beautiful woman, Sherry Peatty (Marie Windsor,). George is in this deal for Sherry. With his cut of the money, he will finally be able to give Sherry the type of life he always felt she deserves. What George does not know is that for quite some time Sherry has been seeing a younger man.Mike O'Reilly (Joe Sawyer,), the track's bartender, has failed his seriously sick wife Ruthie  the two never had the life he promised they would when they first met. Mike feels that it is time that he finally delivered on his promise.Patrolman First Class Randy Kennan (Ted de Corsia,) has agreed to help Johnny because he desperately needs money to cover his rather big gambling debts. One of his creditors, Leo (Jay Adler), has just given him two weeks to settle his obligation to him. According to Leo, this time he cannot afford not to.Marv (Jay C. Flippen,) is an old-timer looking for some excitement in his life. He has loaned Johnny a large sum of money to cover various expenses. Marv's apartment is also where Johnny's men discuss their preparation efforts.Maurice (Kola Kwariani) is a former bouncer with a long record. He is hired by Johnny to take care of "half a dozen private dicks". Nikki (Timothy Carey,), a lonely bachelor, is also part of Johnny's team. He is a terrific shooter who can keep his mouth shut.On the day of the robbery, a minor detail goes wrong. Johnny's men are forced to improvise and everything starts to fall apart.Stanley Kubrick's, adapted from Lionel White's novel(with dialog from Jim Thompson), is a strong noir piece that works with familiar for the genre ingredients  transgressive behavior, fatalism, and brutal realism. It is a fast and well calculated film that often feels like a raw documentary.Though Kubrick immediately makes it clear that the main protagonists in the film are doomed, their actions are fascinating to behold, and the finale quite surprising. The narrative is fractured into brilliantly scripted episodes that allow the film to move at an incredible pace, never dragging or overenhancing looks and moods.Black humor, which is a key element in Kubrick's body of work, is everywhere in the film. It is, however, kept in check and effectively used. Naturally, the film never comes close to being a parody of sorts.The acting is excellent. Hayden is brilliant as the perfectionist whose impeccable plan suffers a blow. Sawyer and Windsor are also very convincing. From the supporting cast, however, it is Kwariani who shines as the former bouncer.A lousy New York City boxer (Jamie Smith,) falls in love with a beautiful nightclub dancer (Irene Kane,). They plan to leave the city and settle down in Seattle, where the boxer's uncle has a horse ranch. But the singer's boss (Frank Silvera,), an aging gangster, decides to keep her for himself. When she tries to get the money he owns her, all hell breaks loose.is not so much about the boxer and the nightclub dancer as it is about the underbelly of New York City. It is raw, notably dark and moody, at times overflowing with melancholy. The film has its fair share of flaws, but it offers an interesting look at the evolving style of a young and obviously tremendously gifted director.