The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves To Die (2022)

The Killer: A Girl Who Deserves To Die wastes precious little time on setup - a retired hitman is tasked with looking after the teenage daughter of his wife's friend whilst they go on holiday, she is promptly abducted by a sex-trafficking gang, and he has to keep his promise.

The film gets straight to the action, and rarely rests for long between action scenes, which are choreographed and filmed with style - somewhere between the lean efficiency of John Wick and the blistering speed of Baby Assassins. It's definitely on the shortlist for best action of the year.

The film's subtitle remains mysterious almost until the end - does she deserve to die? Why? Eventually it is given context, only to be rebutted by The Killer's assertion that "There's no one in this world that deserves to die". This seems somewhat hypocritical given the trail of bodies in his wake, but it tells us something about his character - he's no angel of vengeance, no righteous flame of justice, he's just a killer.

The one criticism I have of the film is that he kills people so ruthlessly and dispassionately that he almost seems bored by it, there's no sense of peril. The film loses energy in places as a result (the soundtrack is also implicated). A sprinkling of doubt and peril would have enriched the flavour.