The Killer (2023)

Michael Fassbender: The Killer

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Quotes 

• The Killer : Of those who like to put their faith in mankind's inherent goodness, I have to ask- based on what, exactly?

• The Killer : Of the many lies told by the U.S. military-industrial complex, my favorite is still their claim that sleep deprivation didn't qualify as torture.

• [recurring narration] 

  The Killer : Stick to your plan. Anticipate, don't improvise. Trust no one. Never yield an advantage. Fight only the battle you're paid to fight.

• The Killer : My process is purely logistical, narrowly focused by design. I'm not here to take sides. It's not my place to formulate any opinion. No one who can afford me, needs to waste time winning me to some cause. I serve no god, or country. I fly no flag. If I'm effective, it's because of one simple fact: I. Don't. Give. A. Fuck.

• The Killer : The need to feel secure. It's a slippery slope. Fate is a placebo. The only life path, the one behind you. If, in the brief time we're all given, you can't accept this, well maybe you're not one of the few. Maybe you're just like me. One of the many.

• The Killer : My camo is based on a German tourist I saw in London, a while back. No one really wants to interact with a German tourist. Parisians avoid them like the rest of the world avoids street mimes.

• The Killer : [watching Florida thugs horsing around on a lawn]  Ah. The Sunshine State. Where else can you find so many like-minded individuals, outside a penitentiary? Hope they're not planning a sleepover.

• The Killer : Who needs a Trojan Horse, when you've got Postmates. Cause everything's airtight till the billionaire wants densuke watermelon.

• [first lines] 

  The Killer : It's amazing how physically exhausting it can be to do nothing. If you are unable to endure boredom, this work is not for you.

• The Killer : Somehow, jobs that are designed to rattle a cage are always the most tedious. I've actually grown to appreciate proximity work. Staged accidents. Gradual poisonings. Anything with a little creativity. When was my last, nice, quiet drowning?

• The Killer : There are more than fifty thousand storage facilities in the U.S. I have units in six. I like to imagine, once the automatic payments have dried up, the episode of Storage Wars, where they cut the lock on one of mine, and get a look inside.

• The Killer : A hundred and forty million human beings are born every year, give or take. Worldwide population is approximately 7.8 billion. Every second, 1.8 people die. While 4.2 are born into that very, same, second. Nothing I've ever done will make any dent in these metrics.

• [recurring narration] 

  The Killer : Forbid empathy. Empathy is weakness. Weakness is vulnerability.

• The Killer : [sizing up The Client's driver outside the gym]  I don't think this guy's Mossad. I know he ain't Mensa. Good luck with the Wordle.

• The Killer : Leave nothing for the elves, with their tweezers, forensic baggies, DNA kits. And avoid being seen, which is impossible in the 21st century. So at least avoid being memorable. Keep calm. Keep moving.

• The Killer : It's the idle hours that most often lead a man to ruin. It's not Dylan Thomas, but it oughta be.

• The Killer : I need that information, Edward, and you are running out of time.

  The Lawyer - Hodges : [gasping]  Fuck... you.

  The Killer : [voiceover]  Three 9-gauge nails. Early middle age, non-smoker. About a hundred and eighty pounds. Should last six, seven minutes?

  [Hodges expires] 

  The Killer : Shit.

• The Killer : [tossing ground beef over a fence]  Caution: contains diphenhydramine. Do not take if you're allergic to diphenhydramine. Contact your veterinarian if you experience vomiting, diarrhea, or excessive fur loss.

• The Killer : Vigilance is essential. Even the most disciplined mind can become weary. Impatient. Hurried. Sloppy.

• The Killer : Take comfort in the fact that seventy to eighty percent of wrongful convictions are the direct result of eyewitness testimony. Still, only takes a few episodes of Dateline to know there are countless ways to trip oneself up. If you can think of a dozen, you're a genius. I'm no genius.

• The Killer : I've come to realize that the moment when it's time to act, is not when risk is greatest. The real problems arise in the days, hours, and minutes leading up to the task, and the minutes, hours, and days, after. It all comes down to preparation. Attention to detail. Redundancies. Redundancies. And redundancies.

• The Client - Claybourne : [the Killer slides a card on the table]  Alright. There's an address. It's 3 Rue du Gre- I'm still not...

  [look of dread slowly washes over] 

  The Client - Claybourne : Oh. Ohh... Wait... You. I didn't realize... please hear me out. To answer your question, we have no problem. I harbor no ill will about anything that may have happened, or not happened. Let me make that crystal clear. Right after the uh, incident, I received a phone call. I was told that things had gone sideways. My response was, "Nobody's perfect." Now I did, I admit, inquire as to what is normally done in these circumstances, and they- he, the lawyer fella, Hedges, suggested that in this very rare case, I might wish to arrange for insurance, to prevent any *blowback*. I remember thinking, "Now why in the world is this liability mine?" I mean, you have to please understand this enti... I was very new to this kind of thing. I bled a little ink- so yeah, selfishly, I didn't want any blowback, and so, eventually, we agreed that for an additional 150k, the trail could be scrubbed. That was literally all I was told. Cleanup on aisle three! His words, not mine. And so, I made sure there was enough in escrow and never thought about it again... until... What I'm trying to say here, and I can't express this strongly enough, I have no issue with you. Zero. As far as I'm concerned, we're good.

  The Killer : I'm curious. I break into your home in the middle of the night, with a silenced pistol, and you have no idea, why I might be here? If I have to come back, maybe a radioactive speck on the lip of your favorite coffee mug. A slow death, mind you, from painful facial necrosis. Or a tragic misstep into your penthouse elevator shaft. But I promise, I'll find something fitting.

• The Killer : From the beginning of history, the few have always exploited the many. This is the cornerstone of civilization. The blood in the mortar that binds all bricks. Whatever it takes, make sure you're one of the few, not one of the many.

• The Expert : This could have been a hit-and-run, carjacking, me falling on the ice, and yet, here you are. If I screamed, right now, I'd still end up dead. You would make it out, most likely. But not clean, you wouldn't. Why take this risk?

  The Killer : Desperate for conversation?

  The Expert : I'm flattered, but no. You're here, because you couldn't help yourself. You expected to sit across from me and feel nothing but reassured, like that recent day when you shouldered your weapon, and somehow, missed.

• The Killer : [assembling rifle]  When it comes to bystanders getting involved, everything becomes a blur. Combat veterans call this "tunnel vision". I call it "occupational good fortu-

  [alerted by the sound of a digital door lock] 

• The Killer : [tails The Brute and his bros to a strip club]  Maybe a mandatory thirty-day waiting period for creatine's not a bad idea.

• The Killer : Paris awakens unlike any other city. Slowly. Without the diesel grind of Berlin or Damascus. Or the incessant hum of Tokyo.

• The Killer : I've done my ten thousand hours, beyond which I'm aided and abetted by law enforcement fatigue. Sheer caseload.

• The Killer : At this range, a subsonic round's drop is not an issue. I just need a pulse rate under sixty, and a measured squeeze, so vintage glass can't alter trajectory.

• The Lawyer - Hodges : You went home. How could you have, realizing my hands wer... you had to have known, you must've, that I had no say in the matter going forward and still you went home?

  The Killer : Who were they?

  The Lawyer - Hodges : Who were they? First of all, who cares? I barely glanced at the invoice, which if I may say, is very much beside the point. The consequences, when someone's wide of the mark, are automatic. However regrettable, they're an obligation to client and calling. I was forced to make amends to a very angry, very powerful man. Never in my wildest imagination did I think you'd actually go home. Not in a million years.

• The Killer : Each and every step of the way, ask yourself, "What's in it for me?" This is what it takes. What you must commit yourself to. If, you want to succeed. Simple.

  [effects unintentional action] 

  The Killer : Fuck!

• The Killer : Skepticism is often mistaken for cynicism. Most people refuse to believe that the Great Beyond is no more than a cold, infinite void. But I accept it, along with the freedom that comes from acknowledging that truth.

• The Killer : Well, this... this is new. WWJWBD. What would John Wilkes Booth do?

• The Killer : Ah, New Orleans. Lovely, humid, New Orleans. A thousand restaurants, one menu. Where good old Professor Hodges convinced me to quit studying law, and try skirting it.

• The Killer : Ted Williams batted 0.344 lifetime. I'd be batting a thousand, since I won't take credit for watching some mob bookkeeper drop dead of a coronary. The only time nicotine, red meat, and marital stress did the hard part for me.

• The Killer : I find music a useful distraction. A focus tool. Keeps the inner voice from wandering.

  [cues up "How Soon Is Now?"] 

• The Killer : Consider yourself lucky if our paths never cross. Except, luck isn't real. Nor is karma. Or sadly, justice. As much as I'd like to pretend these concepts exist, they just don't.

• The Killer : Ask yourself, "What's in it for me?"

• Dolores : I'd beg if I thought it would do any good. I have the names you're looking for. I know who they were. But, before I give them to you, I want something in return. I know what you're capable of- how you can... make things seem... I will give you those names, but promise me you won't leave things looking the wrong way. Please. I can't just disappear. My children need my life insur-

  [sobbing] 

  The Killer : [voiceover]  Forbid empathy.

  Dolores : I guess I am begging.

  The Killer : Empathy is weakness. Weakness is vulnerability.

  [cuts Dolores' zip tie] 

• The Killer : On Annie Oakley jobs, distance is the only advantage. Everything else- the popping sound like fireworks, breaking of glass, the screams, all disadvantage.

• The Killer : [from trailer]  Stick to your plan.

• The Killer : I blame you, Leo, for having to bring work home.

• The Expert : When, for example, was the last time you bothered to ask yourself why someone in your sights was so thoroughly despised?

  The Killer : The less you know, the better.

  The Expert : One man's cruelty is another man's pragmatism, that old chestnut.

• The Client - Claybourne : Well what is it exactly I can do for you?

  The Killer : I came to show you how easily one might get to you, Mr. Claybourne. And to ask, do you and I have a problem?

• The Killer : Leo told me she looked like a Q-tip. He wasn't far off.

• The Killer : The thing about real wealth, the more you've got, the harder it is to fade into the wallpaper. Of course, vanity plates don't help.

• The Killer : Popeye the Sailor probably said it best: "I am what I am." I'm not exceptional. I'm just... apart.

• The Killer : There are fifteen hundred McDonald's in France. A good enough place to grab ten grams of protein for a Euro. Alongside the other forty-six million they serve each week.

• The Killer : I used to book a lot through Airbnb. Not anymore. Those Superhosts love their nanny cams.

• The Killer : So... here you are. Vigilant. Narrowly focused. How's "I don't give a fuck" going?

• The Killer : [watching The Lawyer's office from a van]  Dolores. Miss me? CCTV and a 1980s deadlatch lock. Outmoded solutions to real security problems.

• The Lawyer - Hodges : Hello? You still there?

  The Killer : It's been five days. I'll give it today and tomorrow.

  The Lawyer - Hodges : Fair enough. I needn't remind you, if we don't meet our commitment...

  The Killer : We?

  The Lawyer - Hodges : Yes, frankly. We don't invoice, we eat the expenses to date. Just... call if the next twenty-four hours pass... uneventfully. We'll go from there... hello?

  [the Killer hangs up, drops the phone, stomps on it and sweeps it off the curb] 

• The Killer : Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, murdered at least forty-nine women over two decades. He couldn't spell "cat", if you spotted him the A and the T. But he was conscientious.

• The Lawyer - Hodges : [startled by The Killer firing nails into two laptops on the desk]  The fuck? That's just... juvenile. Though, it's not too late. Even this entire debacle can be salvaged, but only if you disappear. Which is what I assumed you'd already done. You've got more money than you could ever spend, thanks in no small part to me. So why aren't you already on the other side of the globe under any number of aliases spending it. You don't believe me. Don't feel you can trust me. Fine. I suppose I brought that on myself. But after all these years having built this from the ground up, I thought we had a relationship.

  The Killer : [scanning Hodges' law library]  It's all in here somewhere. I know you have backups, Eddie. For me, everyone, the whole shebang. Because you'd never put it on the cloud, any more than you'd trust it outside this office.

  The Lawyer - Hodges : There's nothing like that. Everything I dealt with was on those two laptops, and now, it's not. Who do you think you're trying to intimidate? You're not gonna... there's no upside. The only logical choice, for you, is to turn around right now, walk out that door. Go, embrace your next life. I wish you well.

  [the Killer discharges three more nails] 

  The Killer : You'll drown slowly, then I'll dispose of you. So while a few fragments of your side hustle may be left to puzzle over, since you will completely vanish, the trail ends where it began.

• The Killer : One is born, lives their life, and eventually, one dies. In the meantime, do what thou wilt, shall be the whole of the law. To quote... someone. Can't remember who.

• The Killer : [researching his last target en route to Chicago]  Risky, this one- considering how police tend to match their effort in direct proportion to the victim's net worth. Fuck it.

• [in an airport lounge] 

  The Lawyer - Hodges : How could this happen? It's unprecedented...

  The Killer : It happened.

  The Lawyer - Hodges : Is that what you suggest I inform the client? It happened? This is a problem. Obviously it's a fucking problem to say the least. The window of opportunity's closed now for who knows how long. Oh, Jesus fucking Christ. I'll offer to make it right as a soon as humanly possible. I'll tell them we'll do whatever's necessary. You let me know the moment you...

  [the Killer hangs up] 

• Salesman : Here you go. Browning. Smith & Wesson. Colt. You don't see what you want, I can always get it. What's your pleasure, my man, .380? Good enough for James Bond. How about this right here? Gut-rippin' .38. There's always the Desert Eagle, if you're looking for something relatively portable that can lay down an elk.

  [the Killer picks up a piece from the seller's array, checks the muzzle for fit with his suppressor] 

  Salesman : Haha. My man knows his way around a Glock subcompact. Brings his own potato. Yeehaw, man.

  [hands the seller a stack of bills] 

  Salesman : Haha. I like you, slim. Next gun is half off.

  The Killer : This is plenty.

  Salesman : You want ammo?

  The Killer : No thank you.

  Salesman : [wearily]  No ammo.

• The Killer : Cleanup, without fail, is labor intensive, to say the least. If you don't want a puzzle solved, remove a piece or two. Scatter the rest. What's the expression? Measure twice, cut once.

• The Killer : A stone's throw from The City That Never Sleeps. Barely off the beaten path. What are you doing, living amongst the normies?

• [washing up in a gas station restroom after botching the contract] 

  The Killer : Nitro. Atomized nitro. Might as well scrub my eyes and shave my tongue.

• [recurring narration] 

  The Killer : Each and every step of the way, ask yourself, "What's in it for me?" This is what it takes. What you must commit yourself to. If, you want to succeed. Simple.