‘Boy Kills World’ Review: An Often Hilarious, Weirdly Heartwarming, Violent Dystopia Void of Ideology

Boy Kills World (2024) occurs in an authoritarian dystopian region that the Van Der Koy family rules with an iron fist. The Boy (Bill Skarsgård as adult Boy, Nicholas and Cameron Crovetti as young Boy with Bob’s Burgers and Archer‘s H. Jon Benjamin as Boy’s Inner Monologue Voice) is one of their victims, and he learns how to fight from his Mentor, also known as the Shaman (Yayan Ruhian), under unremitting conditions in the jungle so the Boy can return to the Van Der Koy city to defeat them. Against the Shaman’s wishes, he decides to begin overthrowing the Van Der Koys before his training is complete. As his imaginary friend, Nina (Quinn Copeland), his executed little sister, appears at inopportune times and interrupts his concentration, the execution does not go according to plan. Does she function as his conscience or is there another reason that his subconscious keeps bringing her to the forefront of his mind?

The Boy is deaf and mute, so his character does not talk except through a voice that has an effect as if a voice actor was reading dialogue for a video game, which reflects how The Boy sees his life. Each Van Der Koy member represents a level of the game that he is playing before he can get to the final level, Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen). Skarsgård proves himself to be a great actor with great comedic and physical timing who does not allow such restrictions to limit his performance.

Like the protagonist in Monkey Man, the Boy is stuck in the past. The reality of a violent uprising is not as easy as he imagines. When he executes his plan, he grapples with the reality of encountering people whom he imagined to be monsters. Losing his fervor for brutal enforcement, Glen Van Der Koy (Brett Gelman) is a world-weary figure who runs the streets, prefers writing scripts, and has a soft spot for The Boy. He recognizes that his family is dysfunctional and in need of help but does not know how to break the cycle and seems inclined to let the Boy cook. If there is a favored second generation Van Der Koy, Glen may fit the bill with his penchant for tons of jewelry that make a sound when he moves and long coats with fur collars like a landlocked pirate. He has the most self-awareness, understands that his family is not only bad for society, but bad for themselves and is going through the motions.

Gideon Van Der Koy (Sharlto Copley, who also appears in Monkey Man) married into the family, enjoys the perks, which include killing with no consequences, and acts as the Culling host. The Culling is an annual venue where the “enemies” of the Van Der Koys wear shock collars and face off against people dressed as characters from Frosty Puffs, a cereal company who sponsors the televised event. Gideon’s wife, Melanie Van Der Koy (Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery), is the producer and the one that keeps the family in power since the head, her sister, has turned into a mad, paranoid, reclusive figure unsuitable for public appearances. June 27 (Jessica Rothe) is a mysterious figure who probably looked to The Bride in Kill Bill for inspiration with an expressive helmet that flashes her emotional state or broadcasts lines like a ticker digital sign. She can talk but prefers not to, and she poses the greatest physical threat to The Boy. Even though the Van Der Koys have succeeded at suppressing any effective opposition except the Shaman, they stick to killing people, which includes some of their fans, to create a routine and maintain their reign of terror and control over the masses.

Unlike Dev Patel’s film, despite the oppression, this world seems to be ideologically free except for capitalism. The Van Der Koy family dominates through gratuitous violence like The Hunger Games franchise with a financial interest in leveraging their slaughter for commercial endorsements from kiddie, low-quality cereal sponsors. Everyone seems unhinged and more concerned about blood lust than principles. To be fair, German director and co-writer Moritz Mohr, Canadian co-writer Tyler Burton Smith and German co-writer Arend Remmers are strict about showing everything from the Boy’s perspective. Considering that the Boy was a child when he was last in the city, the focal point of the conflict, and devoted himself in isolation to fighting, it is understandable that he would not grasp the nuances in the conflict between the Van Der Koys and their enemies, but this lack of perspective stands in stark contrast to the Kid in Monkey Man who has an innate understanding of the intersection between government, religion and money as a comparatively younger child. The two movies have different mythologies, but the filmmakers share similar cinematic cultural history.

Perhaps the Boy Kills World filmmakers intentionally made a film that depicts mindless violence on both sides of the conflict as innately dehumanizing and demented, but if so, it is a false equivalency that fails to differentiate how one side, the Van Der Koys, chose to be inherently destructive for self-gain, versus the Resistance, which is reactive, has a right to self-defense and can become monstrous if they use the same methods as their oppressors. The narrative could also unintentionally signal differences in the identity of Boy Kills World filmmakers, who are of European descent, and Patel, who is British with South Asian roots. Filmmakers of European descent may have blind spots when it comes to conflicts involving oppressors and the oppressed by failing to grasp the nature of the conflict from the latter’s perspective. It is an unsurprising choice to centralize a Nordic looking figure of oppression whom they can relate to. They use the violence for humor using a video game format where The Boy must overcome different, colorful obstacles before hitting the ultimate level. While the violence choreography is impressively executed, and as humorous as they intended, it is filmed in the vein of chaos cinema thus the film prioritizes emotional impact over a Fred Astaire approach of savoring the full scope of movement. It can become monotonous, which emphasizes the futility of violent conflict and how damaging it is to the psychological well-being of individuals and families.

If Boy Kills World makes one fatal flaw, it is hiding its light under a bushel and outfitting the Boy in a red vest thus covering the Skarsgård family abs. In addition, the film spends more time introducing and developing each Van Der Koy member, whom they clearly see as damaged but whom they also sympathize with, over the Resistance fighters, who provide comedic relief and are low in numbers. The Resistance aids the Boy in his quest for revenge because they are physically ineffective without him. The cheerful, enthusiastic Basho (Andrew Koji) is a scene stealer with some of the best one-liners. Benny (Isaiah Mustafa) is unintelligible to the Boy who cannot read Benny’s lips. It feels like a Freudian slip that the filmmakers are unable to imagine the only Black character as someone who can be understood on the most basic level—he is not articulate. It is a funny gimmick because it leads to the Boy daydreaming ridiculous capers.

Boy Kills World ultimately comes together in the final act with a plot twist that seasoned filmgoers may see coming, especially if they have a keen eye for spotting child abuse in all its forms regardless of how the act is framed as positive or useful. It gives a satisfying emotional and personal resolution to the Boy’s journey which may be sentimental but ultimately works despite completely forsaking imagining a world of true ideological defiance free of repression and fear. Prioritizing the heart of the story is a sweet and universal sentiment that will leave moviegoers feeling surprisingly warm and fuzzy for a film so bent on brutality. Stay for the post-credits scene reminiscent of The Avengers.

Grade: C+

Lionsgate Films will release Boy Kills World only in theaters on April 26.

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Sarah Vincent

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