The Killing 4K 1956 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

Ex-convict Johnny Clay plans a robbery at the racetrack, hoping to make a $2 million fortune. To carry out his elaborate plan, he enlists four other men - a cashier, a corrupt cop, an ex-alcoholic, and a bartender. But things don't go according to plan, because one of the accomplices decides to make his own changes.

Review 4K Movie

Since Stanley Kubrick is my favorite director, I couldn't get past his first big film success, which was followed by Space Odysseys and other Barry Lyndons. And I must say that Kubrick has already shown himself as an outstanding director, because "Murder" was not just a good or good, it is a first-class, first-class movies.

It is almost documentary style. The author is so pedantic to sort out every little detail, that at times you even feel as if you are in front of a reconstructed police chronicle, where no detail, each event in its little episode becomes central. Such a dry, inhuman and completely lifeless, but incredibly strong on the heat of the narrative, as if time does not spare anything and anyone, blowing everything like a piece of paper in the wind. Well, and the ironic ending, from which most of the guardians of law and order would come to a complete delight, the slogan "Law and Order" would be quite appropriate. Apparently Kubrick was filming for the government (just kidding).

If we proceed from the plot, at first glance there is nothing original in it. A former convict, just out of prison, whips up a couple of three guys for the same deal. Naturally, each of them performs his specific work, and at exactly the right time. Very reminiscent of "Ocean's Eleven." But Kubrick's movie goes much further, depriving its characters of the halo of gentlemen of fortune, he fully mocks his characters with special irony, pitting them against each other, to see what will come of it. And it all boils down to a frightening ending, acting almost on a hypnotic level, where Kubrick has made law enforcement almost a Cerberus to the gates of hell, saying, you've committed a crime... then we're coming to you.

Of course, the film covers a lot of different themes, be it greed, avarice, heroes' selfishness, or excessive sensitivity (always stick to the plan), but the main thing to learn from it is "all evil comes from women" (of course, I'm exaggerating, but if you've seen it you'll understand). There are two representatives of the fair sex, one of them is the main representative of the noir genre - the femme fatale who brings us all the trouble. And the other one is the exact opposite of her. But jumping ahead I'd say that Kubrick spared no one, and with such a sweep that one is tempted to think of the films of Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, but there they were comedy action films (sort of...), here it is almost like in "Magnolias" - "a ruthless form of incredible coincidences".

By the way, it's not for nothing that they say that Tarantino took a lot from this film for "Mad Dogs." Of course it is the theatricality, the construction of the action and the pitting of some characters against others. But the main similarity is that neither Kubrick nor Tarantino are interested in making money, the bling and moneybags are just an entourage for something more important. In the case of Tarantino, it is emotions, the psychology of human behavior in non-standard situations, that are in the foreground. In this respect Kubrick is more restrained, and in fact the film would not benefit from excessive impulsiveness, the genre is wrong. In his film the film is dominated by the inner struggle of man against wealth, a kind of personal game of human vices, on a profound existential level.

From a technical standpoint, I think the film is superior even to what is being made now. It brings to mind Citizen Kane. Of course, on a technical level the film does not reach the level of the Welles film, but the picture looks incredibly ingenious. And this despite the fact that the film was made with no special effects, only the camera work and the power of editing. That I understand, this is the old school...

To be honest, I expected a lot from this movie, the director's surname obliges me, so I set the bar very high even before watching it and I must say that the film satisfied all my expectations. It's really a classic, and classics, as you know, don't get old, whether they are fifty or five hundred years old.