No spoiler warnings needed because there’s nothing to spoil.
Seriously, it’s three and a half hours of pure tedium. There’s no mystery. In the first thirty minutes you’ll know exactly who the bad guys are. You’ll know exactly why they’re doing what they’re doing. Nothing particularly exciting happens. You’re just treated to one boring conversation after another.
Sure, Leo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro are fine actors, but they don’t really need to do any actoring here. Lily Gladstone’s great, too, but wasted. Because in the immortal words of Bart Simpson, you know what would be more exciting than nothing?
Anything.
If you want to spend three and a half hours on this story, read the book. It’s a lot better than this snooze-fest and you’ll be smarter afterward rather than catatonic.
Conventional wisdom in screenwriting says to remove any scene that doesn’t either advance the plot or provide information the viewer didn’t previously have. If Scorsese had followed that rule here, Killers would be about twenty minutes long.
Speaking of Scorsese, remember his 2019 criticism of the superhero genre? How Marvel movies “aren’t cinema?” Congratulations, Marty — Killers has a lot of elements totally lacking from the MCI, such as boredom and monotony. It’s the perfect movie to stream when you’re ready for a nap.