With How to Make a Killing and No Other Choice hitting the cinema recently, there’s a clear trend in terms of the whole ‘kill lots of folks and win big’ kind of narrative at the moment. That trend’s been hopping about a fair bit on TV too. So I thought I’d do a ranking of some of the biggest satirical slaughters that have hit the screen in recent times.
9 How to Make a Killing
The weakest joint of the bunch, and proof that a good cast doesn’t make a great film. And proof that the OG (you know, Kind Hearts and Coronets) is superior. That’s not to say How to Make a Killing is an absolute stinker, it’s just that Glenn Powell’s heavy exposition dialogue hopping in all the time gets a bit jarring, and his backstory just isn’t that compelling. Or maybe it’s more that I just don’t find Powell that compelling in a leading man role. I know he’s being groomed to be the next Tom Cruise and all that, but I’m not feeling it.
8 The Running Man (OG)
I know lots of people have a soft spot for this one, but Arnie turns on the Arnie meter a bit too hard for my liking. I know, a flimsy excuse, but I just didn’t get much entertainment value out of this lad. Plenty of heavy satirical elements, no doubt, but nothing really made much of an impact. Just ‘avin my say, y’know.
7 Kind Hearts and Coronets
Remember that bit at the start where I mentioned I’d be talking about recent films in this kind of genre? Well, this ain’t recent, but it is one of the founding fathers of this kind of ‘kill everyone and win big’ schtick. And it’s what How to Make a Killing is directly based on. I’ve only watched it a couple of times, but the first time made a bigger impression, probs because a family member introduced it to me when I was having chemo in hospital. A rogue choice, perhaps, but an infinitely better choice to watch in hospital while undergoing life-saving treatment than, say, Mamma Mia (note: I hate you Mamma Mia, and I always will). My main memory of Kind Hearts is a guy putting a knife into some kind of butter substance which leads to a big explosion. And big explosions were my thing back then (see: SpongeBob SquarePants). Lots of fun, and Alec Guinness does a lot of good work playing multiple Alec Guinnesses.
6 The Hunger Games Trilogy
The first film was really good and Catching Fire was great. Sure, Mockingjay was a bit of a letdown, but not enough of a letdown to decrease the quality of the first two. These films had characters you cared about combined with some impressive set pieces and special effects. And I got to meet Josh Hutchinson at some point due to the connections of a certain house member. Weird flex? Sure.
5 The Running Man (Modern)
Lots of people hated on this one and said it was a weak Edgar Wright entry. Well, here’s a whacky take for ya. Spaced was the finest Edgar joint. The MO. Sean of the Dead was great, but not quite as good as Spaced. Hot Fuzz was also great, but not quite as good as Sean of the Dead. And every Wright joint since then has been varying degrees of poop. BOOM. Except this one, which was surprisingly entertaining. And proof that Powell can actually do quite well as the main man, maybe just not so much in How to Make a Killing.
4 Squid Game
This one made Netflix an absolute shedload of dollar and ignited plenty of gameshow spinoffs (contestants weren’t actually killed on those, as far as I’m aware). The first season had it all, crazy cool visuals that inspired countless Halloween costumes, a solid cast of plays to love and hate plus a proper everyman to root for among the gruesome and creative deaths. It’s not getting a higher ranking because the second and third seasons (which should have been one whole season, if original creator Hwang Dong-hyuk had his wish) were slightly lacklustre after the novelty of the original entry. Still, a phenomenal show that became a pop culture phenomenon like no other. Obviously like no other, otherwise it wouldn’t have been a phenomenon. But, uh, yeah, you get it.
3 No Other Choice
While I still prefer the top tier craziness of Oldboy and The Handmaiden, No Other Choice is nonetheless a top tier edition to add to Park Chan-Wook’s stellar CV. From the trailer, I thought this would be going in the same direction as Kind Hearts and Coronets, but it takes much more unexpected twists and turns. And it’s got a nice kind of Parasite vibe to it without riffing on Parasite too much. The capitalist satire hits nice and hard, and the dark comedy is pretty darn sublime. Bravo.
2 Jeopardy!
A weird one to get this high a position, I’m sure. But I decided to watch this one out of the blue and just had a jolly good time. It’s got a pretty similar premise to The Running Man, in that you’ve got to survive getting killed by all of the other contestants, except this time…everybody else in the whole area’s a contestant. So everyone’s trying to kill you. But the whole thing is injected with a large of goofy humour courtesy of John Cena, who further proves who can big comedic roles (see: The Suicide Squad). But it’s worth remembering he does good small comedic roles too (see: Barbie). Anyway, lots of action with surprisingly minimal kills. Low on the gore, high on the laughs.
‘Fifteen Million Merits’ (Black Mirror, S1)
Another rogue entry, maybe, since it’s not strictly under the ‘murder to win’ umbrella, but this early Black Mirror entry marked an early banger that signalled a long career of bangers for Daniel Kaluuya, casting a cynical eye on the evils of the entertainment industry. No, it’s not quite the same thing of one person competing against everyone else for the prize, since nobody’s getting killed, per say, but the satirical game show element is nonetheless alive and well. This episode depicts a world where folks work on spinning machines to buy basic necessities, with some hoping to save enough merits (see: episode title) to get a chance to compete in a hellish X Factor-style contest and hopefully gain enough recognition from the judges to get out of their monotonous lifestyles. Kaluuya’s onstage act ends on a shocking moment with an even more depressing final sting. One of Charlie Brooker’s first episodes in the now-iconic series, before it gained a hella lot of funding from Netflix, ‘Fifteen Million Merits’ is raw, shocking and soul-crushing in equal measure.