miceligonzalo I had high hopes for this movie because all the good reviews I saw, but it wasn't that good. I really enjoyed the cinematography and the dialogues but something I really disliked was the background voice explaining everything like if we were dumb. The acting was good but the story not that much. Also the ending felt kind of rushed and dumb but it made me laugh.

Anssi Vartiainen A film from the early career of one Stanley Kubrick. You might have heard of him. And to be fair, the early nature of the film from such a unique director certainly shows. Because Kubrick is very much known as a visionary. His movies are art, every frame a painting. Whereas The Killing, while certainly well-made, is not. There are hints of the kind of films Kubrick would end up making in it, but as a whole you wouldn't be able to tell it for a Kubrick if you didn't know.This is not to say it's a bad film. Quite the opposite, actually. The story is about a horse track heist, an ageing criminal looking to pull one last job with the help of a carefully chosen crew. Unfortunately the greenest, but also one of the most essential, members turns out to be a bit too loose-lipped with the secret and the whole plan starts to unravel.The film jumps around in time and place a lot, telling the story in small segments. And yet the storytelling is tight enough that it's never hard to follow. The characters are all interesting and the heist itself is very complicated, which in real world would be a huge problem, but which we allow in a film because it makes it more interesting.And then there's the ending. Kudos for Kubrick, because it's one of the finest I've seen in a while and certainly nothing you'd ever expect.All in all an interesting experience. A look into the growth of a great director and a good film in its own right.

Dario Vaccaro "The Killing" is the first film by Stanley Kubrick that was financed entirely by others believing in his talent, and we could not hope for more. The film is thrilling and follows the classic Hollywood gangster story, but with the touch of the genius: as always in his pictures, the characters are watched from a distance, a sneer that knows their efforts to make things go their way is useless, as the world works in mysterious ways, such that a series of small accidents can destroy the "perfectly" planned robbery. As usual nobody gets what they wanted in a Kubrick film. The time labyrinth through which the viewer is introduced to the events is also a feature that will come back in an even more complex way in the author's mature works.A fantastic noir/gangster movie, filled with Kubrick themes.

TheLittleSongbird As someone who considers Stanley Kubrick one of the greatest directors who ever lived, 'The Killing' is not one of his very best (his masterpiece being '2001').This said, 'The Killing' is a big step up from the still solid if flawed 'Killer's Kiss' and especially the very poor (for me his only misfire) 'Fear and Desire', which only had the camera work and use of light and shadow going for it.My only two complaints with 'The Killing' are with the ending and the narration. The ending was rather rushed and anti-climactic, ending on too much of an abrupt note. The narration poses more of a problem, apparently it was forced into the film and the tacky execution really shows, it is annoyingly cheesy, over-explanatory and overused and the film would have fared much better without it like Kubrick intended.However, 'The Killing' looks great, complete with brilliantly evocative camera work/cinematography, atmospheric use of light and shadow and suitably claustrophobic sets. The music score is a marked improvement over the music scores for 'Fear and Desire' and 'Killer's Kiss', it's not perfect with parts that are a bit too loud and intrusive but here it is not inappropriately jaunty, it has its haunting and tense moments without being too obvious and unlike 'Fear and Desire' it doesn't sound like a bad Bernard Hermann imitation.Also significantly improved is the dialogue, excepting the narration. Here the script is witty and deliciously sardonic, providing some really enjoyable chemistry between the characters and actors. Kubrick directs with a masterly touch, with much more of his own style coming through (one can say that he had not found it with 'Fear and Desire', was starting to find it with 'Killer's Kiss' and found it with 'The Killing). The story is ground-breakingly non-linear but tightly paced and with some genuine suspenseful tension and moving poignancy.Of a strong cast, yet another big improvement, standing out are Sterling Hayden, Marie Windsor and Elisha Cook Jnr, who are all excellent in roles perfectly tailored for them.In summary, while not one of Kubrick's best (he went on to do even better, with his first masterpiece being 'Paths of Glory') it is his first "very good" film. 8/10 Bethany Cox