KILLERS ANONYMOUS / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: MARTIN OWEN / SCREENPLAY: SETH JOHNSON, ELIZABETH MORRIS / STARRING: TOMMY FLANAGAN, RHYON NICOLE BROWN, MYANNA BURING / RELEASE DATE: 26TH AUGUST
Support groups for those battling addictions and illnesses or dealing with the repercussions of trauma have long been recognised as an essential part of the recovery process for many sufferers, and are widely recommended by counsellors and clinicians of different disciplines. It’s less common to come across a therapeutic safe space for assassins and hitmen. This intriguing idea is the premise for Martin Owen’s sassy and stylish new whodunnit, Killers Anonymous; a mixture of crime caper, surrealist thriller and mission-gone-wrong movie motifs. Troubled guns-for-hire and those who kill for pleasure as well as for profit are invited to attend sessions at which these murderers can share feelings and describe their experiences of dispensing death with other practitioners of the art.
The members of the London Killers Anonymous (KA) group assemble on a night when the capital is in uproar. Visiting US Senator and Presidential hopeful John Kyle has been gunned down, and the police are on the hunt for whoever pulled the trigger. But this set of killers, each of whom is seeking some kind of comfort or absolution through meeting with like-minded individuals, are not sure which of their number might have carried out the hit. It’s hardly the ideal session at which to welcome the young and nervous Alice, a first-timer who none of them have met before.
This could all suggest a film with an extremely grim and downbeat tone. But Owen’s script uses this setting as the springboard for a study of an ensemble of larger-than-life characters all of whom are wrestling in some way with the psychological toll of taking life. Tim McInnerny is believably chilling as Calvin, a doctor who hastens the death of his patients, Michael Socha is oddly endearing as a Triad enforcer who turned on his own boss, and MyAnna Buring is brilliant as the unflappable group facilitator (and vicar of the parish) Joanna.
As the group squabble and “share,” their discussions are being monitored by the unnamed mentor of the Los Angeles KA chapter, played by Gary Oldman (who, thankfully, is in restrained less-is-more mode here). It’s Oldman’s character who sets events in motion, through a debriefing session on a botched hit job in a London boozer with the impetuous and impulsive Jade (Jessica Alba on fantastic form, as a transatlantic shooter).
But it’s the richness of Owen’s dialogue, the ensemble of unreliable killers, and the continual surprises and switches which unfold in the confines of the church that give Killers Anonymous its appeal, rather than the star names. In truth, the film doesn’t need the LA connection at all; but this might just be something aimed at boosting its appeal Stateside.
The whole film is beautifully rendered on screen, making the most of what’s clearly a modest budget. The atmospheric lighting and nightclub-style colour palette reinforce the sense that the group are locked away in a backstreet drinking den. There’s an assured confidence and self-belief underpinning everything, and the film is punctuated by some inventive narrative tricks. It’s arguable that the compound revelations of the plot stretch credibility a little too far, but it’s all entertaining stuff.
The film’s violence is surreal and grotesque rather than gory (and is literally cartoon-like in the fight sequence that accompanies the opening credits). And while it might feel inevitable that a showdown amongst murderers (all of whom find pacifism something of a challenge) will be explosive, the film’s endgame remains an entertainingly crafted bloodbath, delivered with a great deal of glee.
