The Killer’s Opening Scene Brilliantly Copies 51-Year-Old Assassin Movie’s Most Iconic Sequence (With 1 Key Change)

Warning: Major spoilers for David Fincher’s The Killer below!The Killer’s extended opening sequence pays homage to a classic Charles Bronson thriller from 1972. On the surface, David Fincher’s latest may have looked like a typical hitman thriller, but his Netflix movie is really a dark comedy. Michael Fassbender’s titular assassin may think of himself as a sleek killing machine, but he makes constant mistakes and miscalculations throughout the story that make his situation even worse. Some critics have read The Killer as a parody of Fincher’s own reputation as a perfectionist, with Fassbender’s character having to live with the consequences of only having one chance to get things right.

The Killer was adapted from a French graphic novel, but stylistically, Fincher’s adaptation harkens back to the thrillers of the ’70s. It’s not hard to see the influence of directors like Don Siegel (Dirty Harry) on it, though it constantly subverts expectations about what a hitman thriller is supposed to be. This is best displayed in The Killer’s opening, where after spending 20 minutes watching Fassbender’s killer methodically setting up a kill, he messes up the shot.

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David Fincher’s The Killer And Charles Bronson’s The Mechanic Have The Same Extended Opening

The 1972 and 2023 thrillers have virtually identical intros

This is like the payoff to an extended gag, and it works beautifully. What’s interesting about The Killer’s opening is how much it resembles Charles Bronson thriller The Mechanic. This 1972 film cast Bronson as the titular hired killer, who arranges his killings to look like accidents. The movie’s famous, dialogue-free opening sees Bronson’s character watching a target from a window across the street, and waiting for the right moment to strike.

Even over 50 years later, this sequence is a uniquely cinematic one. It tells viewers all they need to know about Bronson’s character Bishop before he utters a word. Audiences see his patience, the way he works and his preparation, and placing The Killer and The Mechanic’s intros side by side, it’s apparent the Michael Winner film was a key influence on Fincher.

David Fincher Cited The Mechanic As An Influence On The Killer’s Assassin Story

He also cited Charley Varrick

In a BFI interview for The Killer, Fincher talked about several films that he pulled off. This includes 1973’s The Day of the Jackal, Siegel’s crime classic Charley Varrick and finally The Mechanic. These were the kind of films Fincher was watching as a teenager, but in comparison to the more bombastic action movies that arrived in the ’80s or ’90s, the ’70s were more patient. They often took time to explore their characters, and in the case of films like The Mechanic, it looked into their processes too.

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The tension would usually be relieved by a sudden burst of violence or a chase scene, but they typically made viewers wait for it. Fincher’s Netflix opus follows similar rhythms, but while the director claims to almost always helm B-movies – which could be said of everything from Seven to Gone Girl – he doesn’t seem keen to deliver on traditional genre expectations either.

The Key Difference Between The Killer And The Mechanic’s Opening

One of these assassins is better than the other

Another case in point would be the big difference between The Killer and The Mechanic’s openings; in the latter, Bronson’s hit goes without a hitch. He sets up his plan, viewers follow him through it and when it’s done, the killing looks like a tragic accident. In Fincher’s film, Fassbender’s character narrates his thoughts about the job and his lifestyle, but for all his supposed pieces of wisdom, he still messes up.

It appears the idea with Fincher’s Killer is that it follows an assassin who was once the best in the game, but is starting to slip up. The killer himself doesn’t think that, but the sheer amount of silly errors on his part argues otherwise. Bronson’s hitman is what Fassbender’s assassin strives to be; emotionless, cool under pressure and able to execute a job flawlessly. If The Killer was a more standard action flick, it would have opened with the character pulling off the opening snipe with zero problems.

The Mechanic is one of Bronson’s best movies and while it’s never better than its opening, it’s a very entertaining thriller. After decades of films that have told the story of a weary/retiring assassin in cliched ways, Fincher’s The Killer injected the subgenre with something fresh.