As a mute avenger against a dystopian tyranny – looking like a lethal Buster Keaton – the actor makes you wish the film itself was as purposeful
Bill Skarsgård – one of eight Skarsgård siblings, six of whom work as actors – has hitherto carved out a bit of a niche as the best one to hire when you need a Skarsgård with a bit of a creepy vibe. He’s played a possibly dangerous stranger (Barbarian), a vampire (Hemlock Grove), delivered an unforgettably nasty Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the recent IT, and is about to star as the titular character in The Crow reboot. In Boy Kills World, however, he proves there’s another string to his bow: bona fide action star.
Rippling with muscles, Skarsgård plays Boy, one of those “I am an instrument shaped for a single purpose” types that thrive in the action genre. The single purpose is a time-honoured one: revenge. In this case it is against Famke Janssen’s Hilda van der Koy, the head of a wealthy ruling family in a totalitarian state which subjects its population to an annual “culling”, during which supposed dissidents and traitors are executed. Having lost loved ones to one of these state-mandated execution sprees, Boy is now out to exact a bit of eye-for-an-eye and, as the title of the movie implies, anyone who presents an obstacle to said quest will be treated as a legitimate target and summarily kersplatted.
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