Boy Kills World-A Flawed But Stylish and Entertaining Action Film

For most of its runtime, Boy Kills World is a simple but effective revenge action film with stylistic flourishes. The film explains its story and world-building in the simplest of terms. It explains that this world is a violent, totalitarian society and shows that our main character is training himself and going on a brutal and bloody quest for revenge. And minus the witty H Jon Benjamin voiceover narration and the occasional dip into absurd or psychedelic imagery, the film sticks to that simplicity for most of its runtime.

It all works because the writing and action are pretty fun. Your mileage may vary, but I found the film's overly profane, ridiculous dialogue and the unique H. Jon Benjamin voiceover quite funny. The film does admittedly go overboard with the humor, leading to an incredibly tonally inconsistent film. But when the humor worked, I found it quite hilarious.

The action here is also beyond impressive. The camera swooshes and sways throughout the action, using techniques like drone shots and handheld camerawork to allow the camera to go all over the place, leading to some impressively staged action sequences. The action choreography feels equally fluid and brutal, and combined with how the film relishes in over-the-top gore, I found the action to be a total blast.

Where the film falters is in its final act. Conceptually, the film introduces an incredibly compelling final twist, and I admittedly found myself admiring it a bit at the start for just how much of a bold swing it was for the story. However, by the end, I felt this twist's dramatic and emotional beats never felt entirely earned. Plus, the twist takes a film I enjoyed purely for its simplicity and unnecessarily complicates it. As I said, the film can also be incredibly tonally inconsistent, leaning too much on the humor, sometimes leading to some tonal whiplash during the more emotional moments.

The film is undoubtedly flawed, and I can understand the mixed and overly negative response many may have. Many may find the action excessively stylized. I also understand why many people do not enjoy the film's juvenile, humorous tone. But it's for all those reasons and more that I also found the film, while flawed, pretty entertaining. While the film lost me by the end, I found the first two acts enjoyable because they leaned more towards its humor, simplistic story, and world-building.

Now Showing in Theaters in the U.S.