In domestic release, 'Boy Kills World' is a comedy action film produced by Sam Raimi and starring Bill Skarsgård. Why you shouldn't miss this attraction of unrestrained violence — in our review.

The events of the film 'Boy Kills World' take place in a totalitarian city-state ruled by the Van Der Koy dynasty. To intimidate the population and maintain the status quo, the family annually holds a show called 'The Culling,' a kind of gladiatorial battle involving twelve random citizens. The matriarch Hilda (Famke Janssen), who heads the dynasty, killed the protagonist's (Bill Skarsgård) sister and mother years ago, and also deprived him of the ability to hear and speak. By a twist of fate, the latter ends up in the jungle, where he is trained by a hermit Shaman (Yayan Ruhian).

Debut work by Moritz Mohr cannot boast a unique and multi-layered plot: the story of revenge for the family is predictable from its very premise, and the dystopian setting not only blatantly echoes 'The Hunger Games' but also lacks proper detail. And, believe it or not, there isn't even some kind of . But the content here is far from the main thing.

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'Boy Kills World' relies on memorable visual images, even if most are borrowed from pop culture works. The world surrounding the hero looks extremely grotesque, if not 'cartoonish.' The same applies to the weapons and costumes of the characters. The riot of colors, combined with brisk clip-style editing and inventive cinematography, gives the film a dynamic rare for modern action movies. This is precisely why the entire plot is reduced to conventions: it serves only as a backdrop for bone-crushing and unjustifiably brutal action, the concentration of which is higher than in Ilya Naishuller's 'Hardcore Henry.'

The film gains points for its unseriousness and even occasional trashiness. For example, one of the villains played by Michelle Dockery complains during a battle that it was very difficult for her to persuade a cereal company to sponsor a mass murder, and a few minutes earlier the viewer could see the frighteningly cute mascots of this brand cold-bloodedly butchering people. And there is plenty of this in the film! The creators particularly successfully played on the protagonist's deafness. His inner voice amusingly comments on what is happening, addressing either the viewer or the ghost of his deceased sister. Perhaps the best joke of the film is related to this: according to the plot, the Boy, forced to read lips due to his condition, meets a character who has problems with facial expressions.

Summing up all of the above, 'Boy Kills World' can hardly be called an innovative action movie. It lacks unconventional formalist solutions, like, say, in John Woo's , or the scope of the 'John Wick' quadrilogy — from this perspective, it is completely ordinary. But at the same time, Moritz Mohr's film, like a mechanism made of already proven individual parts selectively extracted from teen franchises, graphic novels, Hong Kong action films, arcade fighting games, and anime. And this seemingly chaotic mixture perfectly fulfills its main task — it entertains!

Vitaly Gizatullin

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