There are few genres that can be more wildly entertaining than a well-made action film, since despite not always being at the forefront of good writing and mostly depending on spectacle long before the storyline, there’s something profoundly appealing about seeing a few carefully curated explosions and fight scenes, almost as if they pander to our most primitive sensibilities. In recent years, the genre has undergone a re-evaluation and gained a new sense of respectability, helped by the fact that these films are now being helmed by very creative individuals who consider action filmmaking to be an art, mostly through embracing the work that has been done for decades in other film markets, such as those in Asia and Australia, which have always been firm inspirations to the genre over the years. However, sometimes a director can over-exert their desire to do something so much that it becomes almost parodic, which is unfortunately the case with Moritz Mohr, whose directorial debut Boy Kills World had so much promise, but fell apart almost immediately as a result of a few peculiar decisions that make us wonder whether it was a film that could have achieved the kind of brilliance it was chasing, or if it simply just needed to be entirely retooled for one reason or another. Mohr tells the story of a young man who is left deaf and mute after his family is killed by a brutal dynasty that rules over his post-apocalyptic city, and who sets out to get revenge on them by teaming up with some similarly disgruntled fighters. It’s not particularly original in conception or execution, and it sometimes feels like it meanders to the point of being tedious. Yet, there are a few small elements that are quite promising, even if they don’t do much to persuade us to give the film the benefit of the doubt for the most part.

There is such a narrow boundary between a film that uses violence as a creative device and one that simply uses it for the sake of entertainment, and while there is very little to fault in either scenario, it’s important to remember that it is a tool that needs to be utilised correctly, and it isn’t entirely clear whether or not Boy Kills World is equipped with the knowledge necessary to meaningfully utilize violence as a way of progressing the story. The film is filled to the brim with over-the-top action, and the first couple of scenes are enthralling. However, nothing loses its spark faster than an action film that is constantly repeating itself to the point where the experience becomes exhausting, and the novelty that entertained us at first wears off faster than anything else, which is one of the fundamental flaws we find throughout this film. Mohr seems to fall into the trap of making a film that looks good, but lacks any substance beneath the surface – whatever narrative is present is an afterthought, placed in the film solely as the connective tissue between the fight scenes, which are the director’s priority. It’s understandable to want to focus less on the narrative and more on the action (after all, it’s what we expect from the genre), but to find a film this impoverished when it comes to establishing even the most basic of facts, is quite disappointing, especially considering how Boy Kills World was marketed as some high-concept, complex riff on the action genre. There is an overabundance of exposition (and some of the worst use of a narrator we’ve seen in recent years – when your entire character is defined by the fact that he is a mute, and we only hear his thoughts through the narrator who exists solely for the sake of exposition, there’s clearly a problem), and the film never quite achieves anything particularly remarkable, instead being a jumble of bizarre moments that feel disjointed and frankly quite dull, which is not something we would expect from a film with such a promising set of ideas, and an even better group of professionals working on both sides of the camera.

It may seem like a complaint, but this is said in earnest: few actors have been more manufactured into being a major star than Bill Skarsgård, who has spent the last half of a decade appearing in a range of genre films, most of them being built around his very unconventional style of acting, and well as his genuine talents, both of which have stood him in good stead and made him a very promising actor with a bright future ahead of him. Boy Kills World is another opportunity for Skarsgård to demonstrate his acting style, and in this instance, he is dealing with playing an entirely mute character without a name or clear background, which is a common trope for these revenge films, which focus on a vengeful, almost otherwordly hero that is seemingly indestructible through their constant desire to destroy their enemies acting as something of a shield against efforts to stop their missing. Skarsgård is good but is not a particularly impressive character outside of the fight scenes, which are compelling but nothing particularly revolutionary in terms of his performance. He’s by far the only great performance in the film since everyone else is far less effective. Famke Janssen is a decent villain, but she lacks substance, as do Michelle Dockery, Brett Gelman and Sharlto Copley, who play secondary antagonists and contribute very little other than the traditional maniacal villain archetypes that we have seen dozens of times before. The focal point of the film is Skarsgård, who is good, as well as H. John Benjamin, who does his best as the narrator (which takes the form of the protagonist’s inner voice), but he’s unfortunately saddled with the burden of having to provide all the exposition, a far less enticing responsibility for any actor, and one of the primary reasons the character in this film feels so hopelessly poor, despite the promise of the cast.

There is an argument to be made that what Mohr was hoping to achieve was to make the closest approximation to a live-action cartoon as possible, which is something we’ve seen consistently over the years, ranging from films along the lines of Speed Racer and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and television shows like Squid Game and many other similar programmes. The key to the success of these films is quite simple: bold storytelling, unique framing and distinctive colours are all integral, as is a heightened sense of absurdity, both in the visual and narrative components. Boy Kills World seems like a film made to resemble these existing projects, rather than striving to be original on its terms, almost as if the director was inspired less by the world of cartoons, and more by the canon of successful films that took a cue from the world of animation. The filmmaking here is not necessarily poor, but rather deeply generic and not particularly memorable. A few setpieces are quite good, and the design of a couple of characters does make it clear that there were some very creative minds at work here, but for the most part, Boy Kills World is far too conventional to stand out, and while we can overlook the story being quite mediocre, there’s very little excuse that can be given for uninspiring, flat filmmaking. Understandably, this is Mohr’s first feature-length film, so some grace should be given based on the possibility that he was simply overextending himself for his debut and that a more nuanced approach to filmmaking can be carved out of someone who is a very enthusiastic director. However, taken for what it is, it is difficult to ever fully embrace Boy Kills World, which is largely a middle-of-the-road action comedy, not being flawed in the sense that it isn’t worth our time, but rather it just doesn’t contain any qualities that can maintain our attention, which seems bizarre for a film designed specifically to captivate the audience.

Looking at a film like Boy Kills World as anything more than a bundle of missed opportunities masquerading as an over-the-top action comedy is extremely generous and ultimately overlooks the many shortcomings scattered throughout this film. It’s a muddled, overly dense film that doesn’t achieve even a fraction of the success it seems to be chasing. Instead, it’s a two-hour excursion into the most self-indulgent action imaginable, a film that claims to be trying to entertain, but takes far too many shortcuts to earn our benefit of the doubt, circumventing entire narrative arcs and foregoing character development, all for the sake of getting to the action sooner. As a result, any sense of satisfaction that comes from this film feels unearned, since everything that surrounds it is quite uninspiring and dull. As a whole, Boy Kills World had promise but wasn’t interested in following through on it, and instead chose to cut corners, both visually and narratively, hoping that no one would notice. Unfortunately, its flaws are too big to overlook, and the entire film becomes something of a chore, never being nearly as entertaining or insightful as it claims to be. It is well-made, but only to an extent – there’s only a finite amount of reckless action we can take before it becomes unbearable, and the deficiency in terms of plot and character development quickly envelopes the film, which loses its spark and just becomes yet another moderately entertaining action comedy that will likely not be remembered as anything particularly special, and will instead exist as a mere curio rather than anything that makes much of a difference in terms of the genre or the industry as a whole.