Having recently suggested to my readers to try out some of the unhyped films that are coming to our cinema screens this summer, I’m now going to add a qualification: Caveat emptor. Not everything is worth your time and money. Fortunately, I’m here to tell you which films are and which ones aren’t, and if you haven’t yet subscribed to my site, now’s a really good time to do so. One such film that you’d be well advised to tread carefully with is BOY KILLS WORLD by first-time feature director Moritz Mohr.

Set in a dystopian world, Boy and his younger sister Mina like to play arcade games and draw pictures of their future together. Ruling over their city is Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen, the original X-MEN films), a brutal leader who, once a year, along with her brother, Gideon (Brett Gelman, THE DISASTER ARTIST; TV’s STRANGER THINGS), and brother-in-law, Glen (Sharlto Copley, MONKEY MAN), gather a dozen people from across the city and kill them on live TV in an event known as The Culling. This year, Boy, Mina and their mother are selected for execution. Boy manages to survive and he runs into the forest where he meets a shaman (Yayan Ruhian, THE RAID films). Deaf and mute from his trauma, Boy creates an inner voice for himself based on his favourite arcade game. Over the years, the shaman teaches Boy (now played by Bill Skarsgård, JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4; the IT films) how to fight. Even though the shaman doesn’t think he’s ready, Boy decides to return to the city to exact revenge on the family who took his own family away from him.

BOY KILLS WORLD is exactly what you think it’s going to be — a one-man wrecking crew who wreaks vengeance on those who destroyed his life. Unfortunately, the story’s gimmick of Boy being a deaf-mute doesn’t hold and the inner voice thing wears thin very quickly. There are a few scenes where people who are talking to Boy are either facing away from him or they’re in dark quarters together. Although Boy carries a card that says he can read lips, it would seem that he can also read minds. There’s just no way he’d be able to know what people are saying to him otherwise. Then there’s the plot twist, which even a blind person would see coming. How it unfolds completely defies logic.

Mohr shows his inexperience directing action scenes relying heavily on shaky camerawork and editing them to death. He was smart enough to hire Ruhian but then fails to take advantage of the martial artist’s full potential.

The film has some redeeming qualities though. Skarsgård gives a totally committed performance and if anything is going to keep you interested in watching BOY KILLS WORLD all the way to the end, it’s him.  Michelle Dockery (the DOWNTON ABBEY franchise), who plays Hilda and Gideon’s ruthless media whore sister, Melanie, is equally entertaining. Both Dockery and her DOWNTON ABBEY husband, Dan Stevens, continue to show audiences how wonderfully talented they are.

BOY KILLS WORLD opens in Hong Kong on Thursday (May 30th). You can safely save your quarters and skip it.

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