THE KILLER’S GAME – MOVIE REVIEW

March 6, 2025

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“The Killer’s Game” is a 2024 action-comedy film directed by J.J. Perry, based on Jay Bonansinga’s 1997 novel of the same name. The movie stars Dave Bautista as Joe Flood, a seasoned hitman who becomes the target of his own profession after a series of life-altering events.

Joe Flood, a seasoned and highly efficient hitman based in Budapest, is on a job during a dance performance. After executing an assassination, he notices a fallen dancer named Maize and helps her escape the ensuing chaos. Although Maize tries to thank him, Joe is suddenly overwhelmed by a severe headache and departs abruptly.

Later, Joe returns to Maize’s dance studio to return a lost phone. This encounter sparks an immediate connection, and the two quickly fall in love even though Joe hides the truth about his deadly profession. Soon after their budding romance, Joe is diagnosed with a terminal illness (a condition akin to Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease), with doctors warning he has only about three months to live. Determined to secure Maize’s future, Joe concocts a plan: he intends to “order his own death” by hiring fellow assassins to kill him. His hope is that, upon his death, Maize will receive a hefty life insurance payout ensuring her financial security.

Joe first approaches his trusted handler and friend, Zvi, to arrange the contract. When Zvi refuses to place the hit on Joe, Joe turns to another handler, Marianna Antoinette—an assassin whose own past is intertwined with Joe’s (her father once mentored him before he was killed by Joe). Marianna agrees to the contract and arranges for Joe to be assassinated at midnight that very night.

That same night, Joe publicly breaks up with Maize and leaves behind a drunken voice message detailing his grim diagnosis. Just minutes before the fated hour, however, Joe receives a call from his doctor, who explains that there was a mix-up in the lab tests, Joe has been misdiagnosed and is, in fact, perfectly healthy.

Despite the revelation, it’s too late to cancel the hit. At midnight, a well-organized wave of assassins hired under Marianna’s orders descends upon Joe. First, a Korean hitman named Goyang and his gang attack, but Joe dispatches them with swift efficiency. Next, the Hungarian Langos brothers, riding motorcycles, charge at him; Joe again overcomes them. Marianna, refusing to cancel the contract, escalates the situation by contacting every available hitman across Europe and doubling the bounty from $2 million to $4 million. Even Creighton Lovedahl, who had initially declined the assignment, now joins the hunt. Additional assassins include Scottish brothers Angus and Rory Mackenzie, a pair of British “Party Girls” (Ginni and Tonya), and a uniquely styled dancing assassin known as Botas.

Seeking a momentary respite, Joe visits Zvi and his wife, Sharon (who helps alleviate his headaches and vision problems). Determined to take matters into his own hands, Joe sets a trap at a nearby castle, luring many of the incoming hitmen and dispatching them one by one. Meanwhile, Lovedahl, together with an eager, upstart assassin called Money, tracks down Maize at her apartment and captures her to use as leverage against Joe. Through Maize’s phone, Lovedahl forces Joe to meet at a nearby cemetery. During the confrontation, Maize manages to break free stealing Lovedahl’s car, she collides with him and then drives off with Joe. As Joe and Maize attempt to escape, a hit squad led by Marianna’s right-hand man, Max, ambushes them. In the chaos, Lovedahl calls Marianna, demanding the contract be upped to $6 million.

In a tense car sequence, Joe finally confesses his true identity to Maize revealing that he is an assassin and explaining the misdiagnosis while also declaring his wish to retire from the life of killing to start a new future together. In a heartbreaking twist, Maize reveals that she is pregnant and confesses that she’s conflicted about raising a child with a murderer. Soon after, a stray bullet from Max grazes her shoulder, and she begins to lose consciousness.

Joe rushes Maize to a nearby church where Father O’Brien grants them sanctuary. While tending to her wounds, Joe proposes marriage, vowing to leave his violent life behind. Their intimate moment is shattered when Max and his men burst into the church. A ferocious battle ensues, Joe manages to fend off most of the attackers. In the melee, Lovedahl gets pinned under scaffolding. When Max makes a final lethal attempt on Joe, Maize, gathering her courage, takes a decisive headshot that kills Max.

Amid the chaos, Joe escapes with Maize and leaves an injured but still alive Lovedahl behind. Separately, Zvi confronts Marianna at her compound. In adherence to the strict code of conduct among assassins, Zvi executes Marianna for breaching their professional rules. In the aftermath of the carnage and high-octane violence, Joe and Maize are reunited.

They eventually get married. Although Joe vows to retire from his assassin career, Maize cautions him reminding him that the life they now share comes with heavy consequences and that he may need to maintain some ties to his former life in order to protect their future.

Thus, The Killer’s Game concludes on a bittersweet note, blending explosive action and dark humour with a story about love, redemption, and the inescapable pull of one’s past.