'They Will Kill You' review: Hyper action thriller drowns in its own blood and derivative chaos

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

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“They Will Kill You” feels like it was made by someone who has watched “Kill Bill” and “John Wick” on a continuous loop and decided the secret ingredient to great action cinema was simply more blood. The problem is that influence without intention doesn’t create energy, it’s just noise. And this film, directed by Kirill Sokolov and co-written with Alex Livak, is nothing if not a noisy collage of borrowed ideas, stitched together without rhythm, purpose, or any real sense of identity.

Imitation can be a form of flattery. Plenty of great movies remix their inspirations into something fresh (“The Matrix,” “Shaun of the Dead” etc.) “They Will Kill You” never finds that spark. Instead, it stumbles through a bizarre, disjointed structure and an even stranger climax, ultimately collapsing into a tedious exercise in ultra-violence. With thin characters, lame needle drops, and set pieces that feel more like interruptions than narrative drivers, the film turns its influences into liabilities rather than strengths.

The biggest casualty here is Zazie Beetz, an actor who has proven more than capable of anchoring action roles in films like “Deadpool 2” or “Bullet Train.” She brings grit, presence, and a real sense of emotional weight to Asia Reaves, a woman marked by trauma after shooting her abusive father and inadvertently fracturing a relationship with her sister and spending 10 years in prison. Her performance hints at the compelling movie this could have been, had the script offered her anything to work with.

Fresh out of prison, Asia’s fresh start comes via a job opening at the mysterious Virgil Hotel, which might as well be named The Continental Jr. for how blatantly it riffs on “John Wick,” and its reputation precedes it. Soon enough, Asia is fending off a parade of masked assailants, deranged guests, and misfit killers, some played by Tom Felton, Patricia Arquette, and Heather Graham. Arquette, in particular, leans into a thick Irish accent that feels less like character work and more like a discarded Tarantino experiment that accidentally made the final cut.

To the film’s credit, there is one standout sequence early in the film: a brutal, frantic battle between Asia and a group of pig-masked cultists. For a moment, the movie jolts to life. There’s tension and creativity, and you can feel the film reaching for the wild inventiveness it promises. But that glimmer fades once the story reveals its central twist: the Virgil’s staff and residents have made a deal with Satan and are immortal.

At first, it’s a clever enough hook. Then the movie repeats the same idea over and over until it becomes mechanical. Asia kills people. They revive. She kills them again. Repeat. After the eighth or ninth resurrection, the shock value dissolves and all that’s left is monotony. The violence becomes so exaggerated and frequent that it stops functioning as spectacle and starts feeling like someone copied the finishing moves from “Mortal Kombat” without understanding why they’re fun.

The script teases emotional depth by introducing Asia’s sister (played by Myha’la), who has also become trapped within the Virgil’s supernatural labyrinth. But the film makes no effort to let that relationship breathe. Characters get flashy title cards and then mere seconds of rushed backstory before they’re thrown into the next bloodbath.

By the finale, the movie has fused so many mismatched genres, tones, and influences that it collapses under its own ambition. When the big reveal finally exposes the true mastermind behind the satanic chaos, the moment lands not with shock but resignation. You’ve already made up your mind about how you feel, and the film hasn’t done anything to shift you.

It’s not all a wash. The practical gore effects are impressively grotesque, and the fight choreography occasionally pops. But even the bloodletting loses its edge after the umpteenth mutilation. “They Will Kill You” tries so hard to shock you that it forgets to engage you. In the end, the movie doesn’t just fall apart, it loses track of itself entirely.

Grade: D+ 

THEY WILL KILL YOU opens in theaters Friday, March 27th.