The Kill Room review by Bobby Blakey
Shout Factory has been bringing their own films to the masses under their Shout Studios brand. Their latest film, The Kill Room features a great cast including Uma Thurman, Joe Manganiello, Samuel L. Jackson, Debi Mazar, Maya Hawke, Dree Hemingway, Amy Keum, Candy Buckley, Larry Pine, Jennifer Kim, Matthew Maher, Tom Pecinka, and Alexander Sokovikov from Friendsgiving director Nicol Paone. Could this film bring the bloody art it promises, or will it be too rare to care?
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The Kill Room follows an art dealer who teams with a hitman and his boss for a money laundering scheme that accidentally turns the hitman into an overnight Avant-Garde sensation, forcing the dealer to play the art world against the underworld.
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Going into this film I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a heist comedy or something more serious. It is in fact all of those things with a dark undertone and inside look to the insanity of the art world. While not a perfect film, I was pretty impressed how this film was crafted and ended up enjoying it.
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The story is just deep enough to keep you interested without ever getting too heavy. Initially it seemed like this film was going to be focused on the criminal underworld, but this is Uma Thurman’s film all the way and the art world being the primary back drop, more accurately the art gallery. This sets a tone of seeing the ridiculous nature of how some art becomes so famous in all its crazy thought processes and not just how good the art actually is.
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When the two worlds collide it creates and interesting depiction of how people see art and things that would usually be horrific but others see something more.
Seeing it then explode and the ins and outs of how they push and convince people that is something that it is not makes for a fun and interested direction.
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This might have been enough for the film, but then add some fun twists and turns to the mix and you have a fun flick that stands out more than I expected. The cast are all great and seem to be having fun. Jackson brings his usual swagger confidence to the role to perfection. Thurman brings it making for another great performance and reminding us we just don’t get enough of her and Manganiello is the strong silent type perfectly casted.
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This is a simple film that does limp along at times, but overall delivers a fun dark comedy that I hope finds the audience it deserves.
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Decide for yourself and check out The Kill Room on digital and On Demand now from Shout Studios.