[TIFF 2023 Capsule Review] BOY KILLS WORLD

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, BOY KILLS WORLD being covered here wouldn’t exist.

BOY KILLS WORLD is an action-based thriller in a dystopian world where a tyrant holds total power over a terrified populace. If you are a fan of action movies with a lot of hand-to-hand fighting scenes or Bill Skarsgård, I know those two things don’t initially seem to go together but trust me, in this case, they do. The fighting (and killing) is what brings the excitement, but there’s more to this than just murder and cool fight scenes. In his feature debut, director Moritz Mohr does a really nice job of balancing the tone and making the film fun to watch. BOY KILLS WORLD is produced by Sam Raimi, which is always a good recommendation.

The synopsis is pretty simple. BOY KILLS WORLD focuses on a boy whose parents were murdered by the local despot, Hilda Van Der Koy, is found by a shaman who trains him to be a killing machine for the purposes of getting revenge for his family’s deaths and stopping the leader’s reign of terror.

What BOY KILLS WORLD has over a lot of these kinds of movies is the cast. A very sympathetic and childlike Bill Skarsgård as the Boy and the incredible martial artist Yayan Ruhian (The Raid films, Skyline franchise, John Wick) as his mentor who torments him as a way to turn him into a killer. I would watch a film with just these two playing off each other.

The rest of the cast is very entertaining and sympathetic, even when some of them are evil: Jessica Rothe as June 27, Isaiah Mustafa as Benny, Andrew Koji as Basho, Famke Janssen as Hilda van der Koy, Brett Gelman as Gideon van der Koy, and a hilarious Sharlto Copley as Glen van der Koy. In addition to all the action, violence, and some light gore, there’s a lot of comedy going on. In particular, Shartlo Copley, Isaiah Mustafa, Andrew Koji, Jessica Rothe, and Brett Gelman work hard to keep the light and satirical overarching comical tone going. Famke Janssen gives off one vibe, and it turns different once you get to the third act. I’m trying to avoid spoilers, but she also did interesting (as in good interesting, not bad interesting) work.

I have to say, as an aside, I love District 9. Shartlo Copley was very good in it, but I think his talents really lie in comedy because in BOY KILLS WORLD and Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, his work really shines, and he seems to really be enjoying himself. But all of the actors that I mentioned did good work with the comedic aspects of the film.

BOY KILLS WORLD is a martial arts comedy/thriller hybrid that really works. I wasn’t sure what to make of the opening, but once the idea settled in, and without saying too much to spoil the proceedings, I had a great time watching it. It is enjoyable, with just enough violence to give pathos to the thriller aspects but not enough to make the proceeds overly downbeat.

BOY KILLS WORLD had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2023.

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Dolores Quintana

Dolores Quintana is an actor and writer living in Los Angeles. She has written for blogs as diverse as Buddyhead, Pocho.com, and The Theatre @ Boston Court. She works as an actor in independent film and both immersive and traditional theatre with Alone: an Existential Haunting, Screenshot Productions, and Native Voices at The Autry.

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