David Fincher’s neo-noir thriller builds to a surprisingly quiet ending…

By Patrick Cremona

Published: Wednesday, 15 November 2023 at 11:59 AM

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David Fincher’s new movie The Killer is now available to stream on Netflix following its theatrical fun.

Based on the French graphic novel by writer Alexis ‘Matz’ Nolent and artist Luc Jacamon, the neo-noir thriller stars Michael Fassbender as a nameless hired killer whose life comes crashing down after he makes a grave error on the job and is forced to deal with the fallout. 

However, the action film leads to a surprisingly quiet and murder-free climax, which may have left you scratching your head.

So, if you’re wondering why Fassbender’s character lets his client, a billionaire hedge fund manager named Claybourne, live, and what it all means, read on for everything you need to know about the ending of  The Killer.

The Killer ending explained: Why does he let Claybourne live?

The film follows the unnamed killer as he embarks on a revenge mission after finding his girlfriend (Sophie Charlotte) has been attacked as payback for a hit he had messed up by accidentally shooting the wrong person.

One by one, he goes after everyone involved in the attack – from a taxi driver who had been an accomplice, to the man who had arranged the hit – and brutally dispatches them in a number of different ways.

After separately meeting and killing the two assassins, a brutish man (Sala Baker) and a more refined woman (Swinton), the killer’s final port of call is the client who had ordered the hit he’d messed up in the first place, who had presumably then ordered the retaliatory mark on the killer’s girlfriend.

The client is a billionaire hedge fund manager named Claybourne, who explains to the killer that he was simply startled after the original hit had gone wrong and had been persuaded to “tie up loose ends” – although he hadn’t known what that would actually entail.

Perhaps surprisingly, the killer accepts this version of events and spares Claybourne, although he does leave him with a warning that he will kill him should he learn of any new attempts on his or his girlfriend’s lives.

Eventually, the Killer leaves and returns to his home in the Dominican Republic, where he is reunited with his now recovering girlfriend.

And in a final voiceover, he declares that he is now “one of the many” rather than “one of the few”, as he had been before.

What does the ending of The Killer mean?

If you’re wondering about the further meaning of the film, then you’re in good company.

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com ahead of release, cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt explained that when he was first sent the script, he was a little unsure about what it all meant.

“To be honest with you, I was a bit confused about what the film was about, initially,” he said.

“I needed some clarification from him [Fincher]. You know, is this about sociopathy? Is it meant to be really exciting? What are we…? And he said, ‘Don’t look for the theme. The film is about process, about process and procedure.’”

Messerschmidt added: “It’s precise when the character is precise, and it’s messy when he’s distraught, and that really intrigued me.

“I think it was just sort of… all of the conversations we had, for the most part, on the movie were about the structure of the scenes, as it pertains to photography of them and where we would put the camera and how we would use the camera, and he was so much about his point of view.

“And, you know, the idea of the kind of… I like to call it the omniscient ghost, that you’re in this room with someone who never lets anyone very close to them, and suddenly you’re in a position to watch their process and they’re not performing the way we do in social settings, he’s just by himself. And that really interested me.”