Boy Kills World review

BOY KILLS WORLD: 

A BLOODY BILL SKARSGÅRD ACTION MOVIE WITH AN INNER MOLOGUE BY COACH MCGUIRK? THIS IS WHAT CINEMA WAS MADE FOR!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

LIONSGATE AND ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS

Bill Skarsgård in Boy Kills World

 

            No, this is not the R-rated reboot of Boy Meets World where Will Friedle’s Eric Matthews goes on a bloody manhunt…sadly! Instead, Bill Skarsgård (It: Chapters 1 and 2, John Wick: Chapter 4, The Crow (2024)) as a deaf martial artist kills a bunch of criminals to avenge his family’s death with a hilarious inner voice from H. Jon Benjamin (Home Movies, Archer, Bob’s Burgers) in the new action film, Boy Kills World which is the directorial debut of Moritz Mohr and is produced by Sam Raimi (Evil Dead franchise, Darkman, Spider-Man trilogy). 

            Ever since I heard about H. Jon Benjamin’s involvement, I was immediately onboard for this movie as I think he has one of the funniest voices in animation. So, to hear that his voice is being utilized for live-action (And an over-the-top, bloodbath action movie at that) was an instant sell for me. 

            Upon seeing it…yeah, this movie’s f*cking great, screw the professional critics and mixed Rotten Tomatoesscore. I had a blast watching it, laughing along with H. Jon Benjamin’s voice, basking in the blood-drenched carnage during the action, and best of all I was invested in the story and character’s journey. 

            The film follows an unnamed protagonist simply known as Boy (Skarsgård) who lives in a city ruled by the Van Der Koy family that once a year hosts an event known as The Culling where they pick 12 people from the city and kill them on live television, Boy’s family happened to be some of those unfortunate souls when he literally was only a boy and rendered him deaf-mute during the attack. 

            Now with an inner voice derived from a childhood video game (voiced by Benjamin), the ghost of his deceased sister by his side, and martial-arts training by a Shaman (Yayan Ruhian-The Raid 1 and 2, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Beyond Skyline), Boy becomes a fierce killing machine and begins his campaign of vengeance against the Van Der Koy family and their matriarch, Hilda (Famke Janessen-GoldenEye, X-Men franchise, Taken trilogy) for murdering his family. Bullets, blood, and bodies fly as Boy slaughters through hundreds of Van Der Koy enforcers in order to bring this ruthless family down, avenge his family, and end The Culling for good. 

            The film also stars Jessica Rothe (Wolves, La La Land, Happy Death Day 1 and 2) as enforcer June 27, Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey, Non-Stop, The Gentlemen) as Melanie Van Der Koy, Brett Gelman (Stranger Things, Fleabag, Strays) as Gideon Van Der Koy, Isaiah Mustafa (Horrible Bosses, Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, It: Chapter Two) as Benny, Andrew Koji (Warrior, Snake Eyes, Bullet Train) as Basho, Sharlto Copley (District 9,Elysium, Chappie) as Glen Van Der Koy, and François Chau (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, Lost, The Expanse) as Shaman’s voice. 

            Overall, Boy Kills World is pure, blood-soaked madness with hilarious commentary by Coach McGuirk, Sterling Archer, and Bob Belcher throughout…and I love it because of that. The action is very kinetic and energized with satisfyingly brutal hits and similar to The Raid movies, each action scene builds on top of one another, getting bigger and bigger, and culminating in a glorious shower of blood and bodies. 

            It’s one of those action movies that utilizes shaky-cams without being distracting, at least for me. I personally prefer sweeping camera shots or continuous shots in my action scenes, but the shakiness did help enhance the intensity of what was going on and I was able to make it out. 

            Bill Skarsgård is magnificent here and unlike his other roles, he can only act with his facial expressions and body movements and he does it with such ease. Even if you took H. Jon Benjamin’s voice out, I would still be able to know what kind of person he is and understand what’s going on in his head, easily one of my favorite performances of his. 

            H. Jon Benjamin’s voice as the inner monologue is hilarious which you should probably know by this point because I’m constantly bringing it up and praising it throughout this review. He’s the one who provides most of the laughs in the movie and hearing his voice accompanied with these gruesome and violent action scenes is glorious and might even give Quentin Tarantino’s dark humor a run for its money, I was laughing constantly at just about everything he said in the film and now I want him to voice every action movie character from this point on. 

            I also found the story, while predictable in certain areas very engaging and there were times where I didn’t know where it was going. Specifically, during the climax where Boy realizes what actually happened to him and it was something I didn’t see coming during my viewing. 

            I will admit some of the side characters aren’t quite as memorable as Boy, but a good chunk of them manage to be endearing enough and I did enjoy their chemistry with Boy. I mean, when you have a movie where H. Jon Benjamin voices an inner monologue for a deaf man out for blood, it’s rather difficult to have equally strong supporting characters. 

            Boy Kills World is a gloriously brutal and hilarious action-comedy with over-the-top kills, outrageously funny dialogue from H. Jon Benjamin on top of a brilliantly cast Bill Skarsgård, and even a surprisingly compelling story with some heart. It also just makes you want to binge Home Movies, Archer, and Bob’s Burgers after watching it as well as the Family Guy and The Venture Bros. episodes featuring his voice…and I am perfectly okay with that.