A fever dream action film that follows Boy, a deaf person with a vibrant imagination. When his family is murdered, he is trained by a mysterious shaman to repress his childish imagination an... Read allA fever dream action film that follows Boy, a deaf person with a vibrant imagination. When his family is murdered, he is trained by a mysterious shaman to repress his childish imagination and become an instrument of death.A fever dream action film that follows Boy, a deaf person with a vibrant imagination. When his family is murdered, he is trained by a mysterious shaman to repress his childish imagination and become an instrument of death.
- Awards
- 1 win & 3 nominations total
- Boy
- (voice)
Featured reviews
Bill Skarsgård proves he doesn't need dialogue to communicate. He can do so much with just his eyes and the fact that it all syncs up really well with H. Jon Benjamin's suitably over the top voice over is just a bonus. Plus he has an adorable rapport with Quinn Copeland. Andrew Koji isn't given a chance to show off his physical prowess but is given the time to show how surprisingly great he is at comedy.
Mortiz Mohr's direction nails the balance between self awareness and sincerity, translating some of the language of video games to cinema effectively. With cinematography by Peter Matjasko, the camera moves with the action rather than against it. It's always fluid and bloody inventive, saving the best fight for last. It's the kind of final fight where the choreography is impeccable, the blows are nasty and it goes on for so long it's exhausting in the best ways.
The fight scenes were fun, and the gore was excessive, but I couldn't bring myself to care all that much.
I think it might have to do with the mismatch between John Benjamin's voice and the actor playing the boy.
I couldn't quite reconcile them as being the same person so it felt like the entire movie was being narrated like MSTK or something.
Also some of the shaky camera fights were hard to make out in between limbs breaking.
I was relieved to see a new IP and it deserves to be supported, but I would say this was more of a rental or even a matinee movie.
This is what Archer would be if it was a little more dramatic and a lot more bloody.
Oldboy if it were half as brilliant with a little bit of slapstick thrown in.
The Hunger Games if it didn't treat death and murder was all that bad - like it was written by a gamer of the FPS variety.
Did I cringe at the squelching bloody noises? Yes. Did I laugh out loud in the theater? Also yes. Was the revenge story worthwhile? I think so. Outside all of the action, the story was not terrible, and the characters had character. Worth a watch, but doubt it'll change anyone's life.
Did you know
- TriviaA previous version of this film had Bill Skarsgard providing his own voiceover for his character in the style of a Mortal Kombat announcer before H. Jon Benjamin was cast for the final version; the trailer featuring Skarsgard's voiceover has mostly been scrubbed from the internet. In the original concept trailer, Boy's inner voice is taken from a cigarette commercial, with a voice similar to Sam Elliott's.
- GoofsAfter Hilda arrives at the culling party, the downward total shot at 44:15 with Boy and Mina on the landing has exactly the same number and arrangement of macarons on the two plates between them as the shot from the same angle a minute earlier (43:27), even though Boy has in the meantime stuffed himself with macarons taken from those plates.
- Quotes
Gideon Van Der Koy: Of course, if someone takes a big steamy shit in the sink, I'll stop doing the dishes.
- Crazy creditsAfter the credits there is an extra scene with the brother and sister sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast cereal.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Project: Episode dated 3 May 2024 (2024)
- SoundtracksNo Friends
Written by Leon Michels, Homer Steinweiss, Nick Movshon, Paul Castelluzzo
Performed by El Michels Affair
- How long is Boy Kills World?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $2,626,127
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,682,525
- Apr 28, 2024
- Gross worldwide
- $3,269,468
- Runtime1 hour 51 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39:1