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While we live in an era when practically any successful property can get a remake, sequel, or reboot, the number of people who would have guessed that such an honor would be bestowed on 2009’s “ Orphan ” was probably not very high. Not only does “Orphan” feel like a film that left the pop culture zeitgeist years ago, it’s kind of a standalone story. It’s an underrated thriller (although Roger got it) about a couple ( Vera Farmiga & Peter Sarsgaard ) who adopt a Russian girl named Esther ( Isabelle Fuhrman ), who turns out to be a sociopathic adult and, well, not an actual child. It’s got some nice tension-building from Jaume Collet-Serra and some committed performances from its cast, but even fans weren’t screaming for a follow-up. Most of this week’s “Orphan: First Kill” makes it clear why that is. In fact, if not for its wonderfully campy leading lady and some nice vamping from one of her co-stars, it would be completely disposable. It seems unlikely that this will turn Esther into a horror icon like Chucky, Jason, or Freddy. Although its very existence seemed unlikely a few years ago, so who knows?

Fans of the first film will remember that Esther escaped an Estonian mental hospital before finding her way to a new family, and “First Kill” basically documents a little trouble she got into along the way. With the mystery of Esther’s murderous background in the rearview mirror, “First Kill” centers her as more of a traditional slasher villain in early scenes, willing to do anything to get her freedom. After she escapes, she comes up with a plan to find safety in a wealthy family in the States, choosing to impersonate the missing child of the Albrights. Mother Tricia ( Julia Stiles ), father Allen ( Rossif Sutherland ), and brother Gunnar ( Matthew Finlan ) are shocked to see their little girl return to the Albright family estate even if a few things about her story don’t seem to add up. When it turns out that the Albrights have a secret that rivals Esther’s, a showdown is inevitable, although making this a prequel drains a little bit of the tension because our anti-heroine has to survive to make the first film possible.

One of the big problems with “Orphan: First Kill” is that it’s helmed by the stunningly unambitious William Brent Bell , the man behind “The Devil Inside,” “ The Boy ,” and “ Separation .” He’s stubbornly uninterested in creating visually impressive compositions, almost always content to just throw the action into frame with little concern over blocking or framing. “Orphan: First Kill” looks flat (and often cheap), when it really needs a visually astute director to come at it with the same out-there glee as Fuhrman and Stiles. Even writer David Coggeshall  knows that fans of the original can’t be shocked by that movie’s twist again, and so he tries to one-up it with a bonkers turn in the middle of the film that won’t be spoiled here (but is just crazy enough that I almost want to recommend seeing it.) Bell makes out better here than in most of his movies because he’s got more to work with, but he seems to always be willing to play it safe when this movie needed someone to embrace the insanity of its very existence.

Fuhrman and Stiles understood the assignment. Fuhrman, so good in last year’s “ The Novice ” too, knows how to play coiled tension and she holds together a lot of the film through her sheer will. And then there’s Stiles, who goes from grieving mother to something with sharper edges as the actress sells some of the film’s more out-there turns. There are opportunities wasted here to dig into family roles and class commentary, but that’s often overcome by how much fun Furhman and Stiles seem to be having in the film's second half.

It's almost enough to make you wish Fuhrman would return for another “Orphan” flick. This time its existence won’t be so unexpected.

Now available in theaters, on digital, and streaming on Paramount+.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

Orphan: First Kill (2022)

Rated R for bloody violence, language and brief sexual content.

Isabelle Fuhrman as Leena Klammer / Esther Albright

Julia Stiles as Tricia Albright

Rossif Sutherland as Allen Albright

Hiro Kanagawa as Detective Donnan

Matthew Finlan as Gunnar Albright

Stephanie Sy as Flight Attendant

Lauren Cochrane as Officer Leahy

• William Brent Bell

Writer (based on characters created by)

Writer (story by).

• David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick
• David Coggeshall

Cinematographer

• Karim Hussain
• Josh Ethier
• Brett Detar

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‘Orphan: First Kill’ Review: The Return of Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther, the Pretend Child Psycho, in an Even More Preposterous Prequel

The Russian bad seed's ability to fake her way into a family isn't even the most contrived element.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

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Esther ( Isabelle Fuhrman ), the demon child of the 2009 horror thriller “ Orphan ,” was a 9-year-old psycho freak who dressed like a frumpy Victorian doll and spoke in a Russian accent, which upped the ante on her malevolence by making her seem not just a junior devil but a junior devil from the land of Putin. Movies about monster children go way back (the original one, “The Bad Seed,” was released in 1956), and after “The Omen” and “The Brood” and “Ringu” and so many others, there wasn’t a lot of room left for a pulp horror film like “Orphan” to surprise us. But the movie, in its schlocky blunderbuss way, did have an original twist: Esther was not, in fact, 9 years old — she was a woman in her early 30s named Leena who had a rare hormonal disorder that stunted her physical development. The folly of “Orphan” is that it wasn’t much different from the film it would have been had Esther simply been 9 years old. If you’re going to make the adult-woman-in-a-child’s-body horror concept stick, it needs to be executed with psychology, imagination, and flair, three things that “Orphan” did not have.

Most critics, like myself, thought it was a dud of a movie, but I guess it’s become a cult film. Thus, 13 years later, here comes “ Orphan: First Kill ,” a prequel to “Orphan,” in which Fuhrman, who was only 11 when the first movie was shot, now really is a grown-up actor pretending to be a child.

She’s got the same look: the pigtails tied by ribbon, the choker and ruffled 19th-century shirt, and the dour Slavic demeanor, as though she were playing Irina in some cracked version of “Three Sisters.” “First Kill” opens with her busting out of the Saarne psychiatric facility in Estonia, where she discovers and adopts, via the Internet, the image and identity of Esther, a lost child who’s the daughter of Tricia and Allen Albright ( Julia Stiles and Rossif Sutherland). Esther went missing four years ago and has never been found, the presumption being that she was abducted.

The Albrights are a la-di-da clan who fly around in private jets and live in a mansion in the wealthy coastal town of Darien, Conn., where Allen is a painter of some stature and Tricia is a socialite who works the charity circuit. When Esther shows up, with a Russian accent she didn’t have before and an entirely different personality, the assumption is that her years in captivity just sort of…changed her. For a while, the film seems to stretch the power of suggestion to a place of sheer ludicrous insanity, given that whatever shifts in temperament Esther has supposedly undergone, it’s not as if kids change that much physically just because they’re four years older. The idea that the Albrights were so stricken by Esther’s disappearance that they’re willing to accept this girl with the frozen stare as their own boggles all credibility.

Have no fear, though. The film has an explanation. If, like me, you’re a fan of Julia Stiles and were wondering what she’s doing in a potboiler like this one, there’s an answer: The character of Tricia, rather than just being the usual parent/victim/stooge in an attack-of-the-kid-from-hell horror movie, has a devious agenda. She knows what’s going on . Stiles plays her with a frozen frown of her own, a will of iron, and a grand scheme that would explain the whole thing if it weren’t, in itself, preposterous. (It has something to do with restoring Allen’s spirit.) The movie turns into a battle of wits between the calculating mother and the fake daughter, with Gunnar (Matthew Finlan), the Albrights’ teenage son, adding a note of cheesy entitlement worthy of a Trump scion.

Yet what happens is so contrived that it requires even more audience contortions to accept than Esther’s original ruse. “Orphan: First Kill” is draggy and suspense-free. Fuhrman, as before, invests her role with a cold creepiness, but the minimal, haphazard script sticks her with playing Esther as a one-note mascot of terror, somewhere between Freddy Krueger and Leprechaun. If there’s another sequel, I hope it figures out how to make Esther the pretend monster girl into a character with more than one layer.

Reviewed online, Aug. 16, 2022. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 98 MIN.

• Production: A Paramount Players release of an Entertainment One, Dark Castle Entertainment production. Producers: Alex Mace, Hal Sadoff, Ethan Erwin, James Tomlinson. Executive producers: Jen Gorton, Josie Liang, Victor Moyers, Kyle Irving, Leslie Johnson McGoldrick, Daryl Katz, Chloe Katz, Paul Marcaccio.
• Crew: Director: William Brent Bell. Screenplay: David Coggeshall. Camera: Karim Hussain. Editor: Josh Esthier. Music: Jason Robert Brown, Christopher Lennertz.
• With: Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland, Matthew Finlan, Hiro Kanagawa, Samantha Walkes.

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Screen Rant

Orphan: first kill review - psychological horror is chaotic & entertaining.

Due to stellar performances from Fuhrman and Stiles, and the absurdity of the premise, Orphan: First Kill proves to be engaging enough for audiences.

It seems Hollywood can’t leave well enough alone. In the never-ending saga of prequels, sequels, reboots, and remakes, the generally well-liked psychological horror Orphan received its never-awaited prequel. The now 25-year-old Isabelle Fuhrman reprises the role of Leena in Orphan: First Kill , the murderous woman who masqueraded as a 9-year-old to con and murder, with the help of Kennedy Irwin as her body double.

As established in the 2009 feature directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, Leena was a 33-year-old woman who utilized her rare hormonal disorder to con wealthy families into adopting her. During the events of Orphan , she terrorized the Coleman family and attempted to seduce her adoptive father. She kills him after he rejects her and finally catches on to what his wife has been telling him — their adoptive daughter Esther is not who she claims to be. Orphan: First Kill tells the origin story that no one really wanted or expected to have since audiences know all they needed to about Leena, thanks to some exposition in Orphan . The sequel suggests, however, that perhaps audiences don't know everything after all. In this story, Leena is at the Estonian asylum she will inevitably escape. She is deep into her murderess era and is intent on not stopping anytime soon. She makes her way to the U.S. after convincing authorities that she is the missing daughter of a wealthy American family, Esther Albright. She is welcomed by her mother Tricia Albright (Julia Stiles) , father Allen Albright (Rossif Sutherland), and older brother Gunnar Albright (Matthew Finlan). Thinking she has the Albrights fooled, she finds herself in a situation where the tables are turned, and all is not alright with the family.

Related: First Kill Turning Orphan Into A Horror Franchise Would Be A Big Mistake

Orphan: First Kill is a bit of a misnomer as it doesn’t truly depict her Leena's first kill. Within the first ten minutes, it's revealed that Leena has been institutionalized after an episode involving her ingratiating herself into a family and killing them. The scars on her neck and wrists are from struggling against her restraints, something Orphan had already divulged. From the beginning, Orphan: First Kill fails to establish the origin of Leena’s murderous reign and focuses on an incident roughly two years before her adoption by the Coleman family. It seems Alex Mace, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who came up with the story, and David Coggeshall, who wrote the screenplay, anticipated this problem and threw in a narrative twist the audience don't see coming.

Seeing Isabelle Fuhrman reprise the role of Leena is jarring. In a humorous turn towards irony, Fuhrman playing an adult woman pretending to be a young child is exactly as it looks. The attempts to hide Fuhrman’s growth since playing Leena/Esther at age 12 are clever enough, but maintaining the charade proves difficult after the 20-minute mark. However, the narrative twist allows Fuhrman’s apparent aging to benefit the story. Without giving away too much, it becomes okay to see Fuhrman as an adult partway through the film as Leena/Esther doesn’t have the mask on for long periods. This gives Fuhrman room to portray new dimensions to Leena and validate why revisiting the character is worthwhile. Fuhrman is a force to be reckoned with. Her talent is seemingly effortless, and watching her embody Leena is mesmerizing. The only thing hindering her is the odd choice to have her wear contact lenses to intensify the creepiness already present in her performance. As was the case the first time around, Fuhrman is the main attraction.

The film is fun; in fact, it is at times unintentionally hilarious. While there is a significant effort in masking Fuhrman’s actual height with practical effects and a body double, William Brent Bell's directing neglects the central tenants to make an intense psychological thriller/horror. Instead, the film leans more toward comedic horror, especially since audiences are no longer in the dark about Leena/Esther’s secret. There is also the aspect of Tricia not being the typical mark for Leena/Esther and better suited to countering her precious daughter’s dark tendencies. The unevenness in the directing style and the writing propels Orphan: First Kill into a gray area between horror and camp. Either way, it is endlessly entertaining from beginning to end, when it concludes with a not-so-subtle nod towards Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho .

Orphan: First Kill is a kooky romp, way too relaxed to be considered a psychological horror. It is hard to discern whether this prequel story proves its existence is necessary, as its unevenness works against all the good birthed from the narrative twist. However, due to stellar performances from Fuhrman and Stiles , and the absurdity of the premise, Orphan: First Kill proves to be engaging enough for audiences to tune in.

Orphan: First Kill began streaming on Paramount+ Friday, August 19. The film is 99 minutes long and is rated R for bloody violence, language and brief sexual content.

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Orphan: First Kill review – a prequel that nicely embraces the camp of its predecessor’s outrageous twist

The ‘child murderess’ of this horror franchise never looks anything but a woman in her mid-twenties... and that’s ok, article bookmarked.

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Dir: William Brent Bell. Starring: Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland, Matthew Finlan. 15, 99 minutes.

A prequel to Orphan is such an odd proposition. Jaume Collet-Serra’s nasty but ultimately conventional 2009 horror film has only stuck around in the collective consciousness due to its listicle-friendly twist: the reveal that Esther, the homicidal young girl adopted by Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) Coleman, is in fact a 33-year-old Estonian woman named Leena Klammer, who was born with a rare hormonal disorder that stunted her physical growth.

The child actor who played Esther back then – Isabelle Fuhrman – is now in her mid-twenties. But there can be no Orphan without her perfectly modulated performance – doe-eyed, serene and deeply disquieting. Her return to the franchise was a given. At no point in Orphan: First Kill does Fuhrman ever look anything other than a woman in her mid-twenties, despite the exhaustive use of forced perspective and child actor body doubles. Or the return of Esther’s Wednesday Addams-lite wardrobe of pigtails and Victorian dresses. But that’s simply the buy-in for First Kill , that little piece of artistic licence that singlehandedly derails the film unless you’re generous enough to look the other way.

And First Kill does, in truth, deserve that touch of clemency. There’s a surprising amount to enjoy here, with director William Brent Bell (behind The Boy franchise, with its equally ludicrous premise centered on a haunted doll) making the smart decision to turn the unintentional camp of Orphan into intentional camp, alongside adding a dose of satire about the corruptive pressures of the nuclear family.

Collet-Serra’s film took vague inspiration from the true-crime case of 34-year-old Barbora Skrlova, an orphan inclined towards violent and abusive behaviour, who was later caught impersonating a 13-year-old boy. First Kill draws more, perhaps, from the story of Frédéric Bourdin, notably retold in the 2012 documentary The Imposter . He was a French con artist who tricked a Texas family into believing he was their missing son, who’d disappeared years earlier. In First Kill , and after escaping from the Saarne Institute referenced in the first film, Leena comes to America under the guise of Esther, the missing child of the Albrights: mother Tricia ( Julia Stiles ), father Allen (Rossif Sutherland) and teenage son Gunnar (Matthew Finlan).

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Leena, as Esther, claims she was kidnapped by an unnamed woman and spirited away to Russia. Very few questions are asked of her, nor her odd behaviour. Everyone’s just so relieved to have her back home. But, since the audience is already clued into the truth about her identity, screenwriters David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Alex Mace instead position Leena as a twisted kind of anti-hero, the film’s tension wrung out of the increasing probability that she’ll be caught up in her own lie.

We watch her, then, as she shuffles into an airplane bathroom to down a miniature bottle of vodka while cursing herself that she stumbled over a minor detail in her story. At one point, she befriends a mouse. At another, she drives around in a car with dark sunglasses on and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, with Michael Sembello’s “Maniac” blasting away on the stereo. It’s not the only delightfully on-the-nose track in the film, with Interpol’s “Evil” receiving a little screen time, too.

Stiles, on that note, isn’t here simply to play the “concerned mother” role. The Albrights are actually quite unpleasant to some degree – uptight, self-centered and privileged, concerned more about gala dinners than the mental state of their highly traumatised daughter. And, as the narrative takes a sharp mid-film turn, Stiles’s performance grows more deliciously demented and outsized. It’s not quite the Bride of Chucky -ification of the Orphan franchise, since the film never becomes fully self-aware, but it is sharp-toothed and vicious enough in its satire that it even gives Esther her own Breakfast Club -esque makeover scene. Just do your best to ignore the very obvious sight of Fuhrman waddling around on her knees for half the film.

‘Orphan: First Kill’ is in cinemas from 19 August

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Review: A Bullied Boy Gets a Hunting Lesson in ‘First Kill’

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By Neil Genzlinger

• July 20, 2017

“First Kill,” a decently executed but generic thriller, is most notable for advancing the dubious theory that the best way to help a child who is being bullied is to traumatize the heck out of him.

Will (Hayden Christensen) is a high-finance type whose son, Danny (Ty Shelton), a withdrawn 11-year-old, has become a mean boy’s punching bag at school. Will’s solution is to take his citified family (Megan Leonard plays the mother) on a trip to the small town where he spent his own boyhood and teach Danny how to hunt.

As they arrive, the police chief (Bruce Willis, understated here) advises them to stay alert because some bank robbers have recently struck and are still at large. On their first foray into the woods, Will and Danny encounter two of them. Eventually Danny ends up as a hostage to one, Levi (Gethin Anthony, in the film’s best performance), who teaches the boy more about self-confidence and dealing with adversity than Will ever did.

But to learn inner strength Danny sure does have to witness a lot of carnage. In addition to jumping on the anti-bullying bandwagon that is so popular on television and in film at the moment, the movie tries for a second bit of topicality by including a subplot pegged to the high cost of health care. It’s an awkward attempt, and the movie, directed by Steven C. Miller, doesn’t hold a lot of surprises, but there is worse terror-in-the-woods fare out there — rather a lot of it, in fact.

Rated R for strong language, violence and gore. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes.

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‘first kill’: film review.

Hayden Christensen and Bruce Willis star in 'First Kill,' Steven C. Miller's thriller about a father and young son who encounter bank robbers while on a hunting trip.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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First Kill marks the third collaboration between director Steven C. Miller and Bruce Willis, but their efforts are not likely to enter the pantheon of such previous cinematic teams as Alfred Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart or John Ford and John Wayne. Produced by the aptly named Grindstone Entertainment, the film, much like its Miller/Willis predecessors Extraction and Marauders , is strictly grindhouse level, if grindhouses still existed. Their modern-day equivalent, VOD , will be the natural home for this mediocre thriller receiving a limited theatrical release.

As with most of his recent vehicles, Willis here plays a supporting part. Hayden Christensen plays the central role of Will, a hotshot investment banker whose importance is signaled in an early scene when he exasperatedly asks his assistant, “Did the meeting with the Saudis get moved to today?”

Release date: Jul 21, 2017

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Not surprisingly, Will’s home life has suffered due to his workaholic ways. When he discovers that his 11-year-old son Danny (Ty Shelton) has been bullied at school, he decides to take his family to the small town where he grew up so that he can teach his boy how to hunt in an effort to give him confidence.

Using the same rifle that his grandfather gave him, Will takes Danny on a deer hunting expedition. But father and son get more than they bargained for when they encounter a pair of criminals and Will winds up having to shoot one of them in self-defense. It turns out that the duo was involved a recent bank robbery, and the surviving one, Levi ( Gethin Anthony), winds up kidnapping Danny to force Will to help him find the key to a bank vault that contains $2 million in loot.

To complicate the situation even further, the local police chief (Willis), who’s known Will since he was a boy, becomes suspicious of Will’s actions after his boy is taken. The two men are soon involved in a twisty cat-and-mouse game even while Danny bonds with his captor over their shared love of video games. Levi, it’s soon revealed, isn’t really a bad guy, just a desperate one, trying to get the money to pay for an operation to remove his mother-in-law’s 80-pound tumor. (Yes, the screenplay by Nick Gordon gets that baroque).

Bruce Willis Confirms $5.9 Million Arbitration Win Over Aborted Film

More reminiscent of a broadcast network crime drama episode than a feature film, the generically titled First Kill features one decent chase scene involving a pick-up truck and ATV barreling through the woods and a suspenseful gun stand-off near its conclusion. Otherwise it’s all pretty tedious, with Miller failing to infuse the proceedings with the stylistic flair necessary to compensate for the cliché-ridden plotline , whose twists can be seen a mile away.

Christensen, who’s been unable to capitalize on the buzz over his acclaimed performance in Shattered Glass , at least goes through his paces with professionalism. The same can’t be said of Willis, who turns in yet another phone-it-in performance that makes one yearn for the actor to hark back to the sort of superb character work he did in such films as In Country and Nobody’s Fool . The best performance on display here comes from Anthony, a British actor who displays both a credible Southern accent and an entertaining relish for his intriguing character. It’s the one genuine pleasure in this otherwise forgettable genre exercise.

Production: Grindstone Entertainment Group, Emmett/ Furla /Oasis Films, Arboretum Producitons , River Bay Films, The Fyzz Facility Limited, Brookstreet Pictures Distributor: Lionsgate Premiere Cast: Hayden Christensen, Bruce Willis, Gethin Anthony, Megan Leonard, Tyler Jon Olson, Shea Buckner Director: Steven C. Miller Screenwriter: Nick Gordon Producers: Randall Emmett, George Furla , Mark Stewart Executive producers: Henry Winterstern , Arianne Fraser, Delphine Perrier, Marc Goldberg, Ted Fox, Wayne Marc Godfrey, Robert Jones, Trevor Matthews, Steven Saxton , Vance Owen, Barry Brooker , Stan Wertlieb Director of photography: Brandon Cox Production designer: Niko Vilaivongs Editor: Thomas Calderon Costume designer: Bonnie Stauch Composers: Ryan Franks, Scott Nickoley

Rated R, 97 minutes

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘First Kill’ On Netflix, Where A Teen Vampire And A Teen Vampire Hunter Fall In Love

Where to stream:, stream it or skip it: 'i woke up a vampire' season 2 on netflix, where carmie starts high school with stronger powers and new enemies, stream it or skip it: ‘the last voyage of the demeter’ on paramount+, a dracula-at-sea yarn, ‘the vampire diaries’ star ian somerhalder confirms he’s retired from acting, admits he doesn’t “miss any of it”, stream it or skip it: ‘a vampire in the family’ on netflix, a leandro hassum slapstick comedy that's just plain bats.

Don’t we all love stories of forbidden teen love? People from rival factions coming together for the ultimate romantic story? It seems to be something that’s especially prevalent in shows that involve teens and the supernatural. Netflix’s new teen drama has a story that’s very familiar, but told in a modern, 2020s way.

FIRST KILL : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Vivid visions of two girls kissing each other, two halves of a peach coming together, blood-red pills and other things.

The Gist: Juliette Fairmont (Sarah Catherine Hook) has been having those vivid dreams, along with night terrors and migraines, which she treats by taking blood-red capsules. She calls herself “popular by association” because she hangs out with childhood buddy ben Wheeler (Jonas Dylan Allen); they dated each other before they both realized that they were gay. But now Juliette has her eyes on a new girl, and she gets extremely nervous around her.

They run into each other between classes, and the new girl, Calliope “Cal” Burns (Imani Lewis) seems to be equally taken with Juliette. But then we see clues that Juliette’s interest in Cal is more than just attraction. You see, Juliette is a vampire, and her family of vampires has been living a “normal” life in Savannah, Georgia. But she needs to commit her “first kill” or the wild instinct to kill will just get worse, as her mother Margot (Elizabeth Mitchell) and older sister Elinor (Gracie Dzienny) both explain. So when Juliette and Cal get a chance for “7 Minutes In Heaven” at a party, she goes for it.

Then again, so does Cal. You see, she’s a vampire hunter, part of a family of top monster hunters that just moved to Savannah. She is also looking for her first kill, and she’s disappointed when she has to go on a demon hunt with her brothers and just act as a lookout. She’s especially upset when her former girlfriend, Tess (Mk Xyz), calls her to say she got her first kill, which is noted with a tattoo on her arm. So when Cal encounters Juliette and sees the bloody pills, she knows she has one of those monsters hiding in plain sight. So during the 7 Minutes in Heaven, she goes for it, as well.

But here’s the thing: Both of them are also extremely attracted to each other.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? A same-sex version of Angel and Buffy in  Buffy The Vampire Slayer , no doubt about it. Netflix even mentions Angel and Buffy in its description of the show. And just last Halloween, Netflix released Night Teeth , which featured some lady vamps nightcrawling around Los Angeles.

Our Take: There’s actually a good story buried somewhere deep within  First Kill , created by V. E. Schwab based on her short story. It’s the classic  Romeo and Juliet story, with two star-crossed lovers falling for each other and trying to make things work despite their opposite circumstances. But the first episode is weighed down by an extraordinarily clunky execution that makes that story impossible to find.

Almost every second of the narrative is explained away by voiceover, either Juliette’s or Cal’s. We know that narration is something that teen shows like to use a lot, and it’s especially relied on in whatever we see debut on The CW. But when almost every other scene has a character’s “inner thoughts” being voiced, it’s a sign that what’s on screen isn’t doing enough to move the story forward.

It’s too bad, because Lewis and Hook actually have strong chemistry with each other. From the minute they “meet-cute-ish”, you can tell that there’s more between the two of them than just professional desire, even before you realize who each of them is.

Speaking of which, we get the format of the first episode, where we see Juliette’s story, then Cal’s (though it seems that Cal gets significantly less time). But it’s not like we didn’t see hints coming, like the necklace Cal left that burned Juliette’s skin when she touched it. By the time we got to Cal’s end of the story, we knew what both of the girls were; it might have been a better idea to integrate the scenes, even if that kills whatever “twist” was in that episode.

Why? Because it doesn’t seem that twists and turns and massive surprises aren’t going to be what First Kill is about. So why be so manipulative? It feels like another piece of narrative gymnastics that didn’t need to be used.

Sex and Skin: Lots of making out and people putting hands on each other’s hips, but that’s about it.

Parting Shot: Juliette has bitten Cal. Cal has stabbed Juliette with a silver steak through the heart. How will the other survive?

Sleeper Star: MK XYZ is only in one scene as Tess, but it does seem like she’ll figure more in the story going forward, as an influence on Cal against maintaining a relationship with Juliette.

Most Pilot-y Line: Elinor tells Juliette that her first kill didn’t even fight back. “I think some people prefer to die young,” she says. Nope, there is no one we know that wants to die young. Do they think they might? Sure. But  want to? No, unless they’re suicidal and need help.

Will you stream or skip the supernatural teen drama #FirstKill on @netflix ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) June 12, 2022

Our Call: SKIP IT.  First Kill could have been a fun teen supernatural series. But its storytelling is so clumsy it’s just very hard to watch.

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.com , Fast Company and elsewhere.

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REVIEW: Orphan: First Kill Serves Up a Fresh & Satisfying Prequel

Orphan: First Kill may be a bit of a step-down from its 2009 predecessor, but the prequel is an entertaining thrill ride that is sure to delight.

In 2009, the psychological horror film Orphan stunned audiences with a shocking twist ending that still holds up 13 years later. Now, the prequel Orphan: First Kill has arrived, and while it may not be quite as memorable as its predecessor, this grisly little follow-up is wild and entertaining enough to warrant a watch, especially for fans of the original. The shocking twist of the original is gone, but fresh surprises thrown in for good measure help this film feel fresh. It may have a slow middle half, but the title character is presented in a new light, enabling the film to feel like an entirely new, edgy, and humorous experience.

Directed by William Brent Bell from a screenplay by David Coggeshall, Orphan: First Kill opens with title character Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) performing a great escape from an Estonian asylum. Esther soon finds herself posing as the missing daughter of wealthy couple Tricia and Allen Albright (Julia Stiles and Rossif Sutherland). Esther displays her usual odd behavior, but Tricia and her son Gunnar (Matthew Finlan) seem to be harboring a dark secret of their own. Soon, Esther will have to go toe to toe with sinister people when she realizes she may have met her match.

RELATED: REVIEW: Bodies Bodies Bodies Bites Back With Sharp Satire For a Fresh Mystery

Fuhrman, who is reprising a role she played as a prepubescent child at 25, truly shines here. Fuhrman has recently been showing her star power as an adult in indies like The Novice , and her performance in Orphan: First Kill is no exception. Fuhrman gives Esther a vulnerability she never had in the first film, causing the audience to truly feel like they are witnessing the creation of a monster. Sure, Esther is murderous from the start of the film, but this movie depicts how the character went from a standard psychopath to a cunning career criminal. Stiles is also a stand-out here, delivering a layered performance full of surprises and effectively clever quips.

While Orphan: First Kill is an adequate sequel in many ways, it is a bit of a step-down from its predecessor. The first film features a sort of finesse in its filmmaking, which led to it becoming an instant classic at the time of its release. Orphan: First Kill takes itself way less seriously. It also suffers in its early middle part from cinematography devoid of color and a story that is very similar to the first film. However, a huge second-act twist turns the film around, but there is a 20-minute period where the movie just feels like empty nostalgia. Once the twist is presented, the film kicks into high gear, and even the visuals pop more. If the twist was revealed earlier, this movie could have been stronger than it already is.

RELATED: REVIEW: When I Consume You Serves Hollow Metaphorical Horror

The screenplay should exceed most audience expectations since it's way more cleverly written than it has any right to be. Especially in its latter half, Orphan: First Kill is constantly taking unexpected turns and leaving the audience on the edge of their seats. The dialogue is also campy and fun and may prove to be very quotable as the years go by. While this prequel may take itself less seriously than the original, it is still a frightening movie. The first 20 minutes of the film feel slightly reminiscent of the work of Rob Zombie, providing some feel-bad murder scenes that will most likely excite horror hounds . The film also manages to tie into the original film in a believable way, clearing up certain things about Esther's character that previously felt like loose ends.

Orphan: First Kill may not have what it takes to become a classic horror film like the original, but it is still notable enough to recommend to horror buffs, fans of the original, or just standard moviegoers looking for an entertaining escape. This is in no way a perfect film, but the screenplay is fairly unpredictable, creating a movie that is almost guaranteed to be a decent way to pass an afternoon. Some sequences totally stand out, like Esther jamming to "Maniac" by Michael Sembello in a stolen car, and enable this movie to shine. Overall, Orphan First Kill may not be a horror masterpiece , but it's still a way better time than plenty of other sequels released many years after their predecessors.

Directed by William Brent Bell, Orphan: First Kill opens Aug. 19 in select theaters and digital, with a simultaneous streaming release on Paramount+.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Violent but uninspired, dull action movie has iffy themes.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

A father-son relationship is presented in an iffy

Poorly drawn characters who seem selfish and prone

Guns and shooting (including a shooting lesson for

Many uses of "f--k" and "f--king." Also "motherf--

A child plays with an iPod and mentions it by name

Parents need to know that First Kill is a low-budget action thriller starring Bruce Willis and Hayden Christensen. While there's no sex or drinking/drug use, the movie has a lot of violence, much of it gun-related, with shooting, bloody wounds, blood spurts, and characters dying. There's also fighting, a boy…

Positive Messages

A father-son relationship is presented in an iffy way (the child is beaten up by bullies at school, and the father tries to "toughen him up" by taking him hunting, etc.). There's also a brief, somewhat veiled plea for affordable health insurance. Otherwise, violence and killing goes unpunished, and characters seem unaffected by violence.

Positive Role Models

Poorly drawn characters who seem selfish and prone to violence. For some characters, there are no consequences; for others, the consequence is death. Cast isn't particularly diverse.

Violence & Scariness

Guns and shooting (including a shooting lesson for a young boy). Characters are killed. Blood spurts/bloody wounds seen. Character is hit in face with rifle butt. Bullet dug out from bloody wound, which is then doctored. A child is in danger, held at knifepoint. A woman is kidnapped and tied up. Fighting. A boy is threatened by bullies at school. An adult and a young boy play a violent video game. A man (painfully) pulls his hand out of handcuffs. Fall from height.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Many uses of "f--k" and "f--king." Also "motherf----r," "s--t," "bitch," "goddamn," "Jesus" (as an exclamation).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

A child plays with an iPod and mentions it by name.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that First Kill is a low-budget action thriller starring Bruce Willis and Hayden Christensen . While there's no sex or drinking/drug use, the movie has a lot of violence, much of it gun-related, with shooting, bloody wounds, blood spurts, and characters dying. There's also fighting, a boy being held at knifepoint, a woman getting kidnapped and tied up, and other upsetting scenes. Language is strong, too, with many uses of "f--k" in various permutations, plus "s--t," "bitch," and more. A child is bullied at school; his father attempts to "toughen him up" as a result. The movie briefly addresses bullies/bullying but doesn't offer any thoughtful conclusions. Overall, it's forgettable, and it seems unlikely that many teens will be interested. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (1)
• Kids say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In FIRST KILL, Wall Street broker Will ( Hayden Christensen ) gets a call from his son's school: Young Danny (Ty Shelton) has been beaten up by a bully, again. Will decides to take his family on a trip to his hometown for a little deer hunting. He runs into veteran police officer Howell ( Bruce Willis ) and is warned about a recent unsolved bank robbery. In the woods, father and son run across two of the robbers, one threatening the other at gunpoint. In an effort to protect his son, Will shoots the man with the gun, who turns out to be a dirty cop. The other man, Levi ( Gethin Anthony ), winds up kidnapping Danny, and Will is forced into an uncomfortable position between the kidnapper and the cops. Can he protect his family?

Is It Any Good?

Low-budget action movies don't have to be dull or uninspired, but this one sure is. The actors phone in their performances, playing characters who are blandly unaffected in any way by the silly plot. In First Kill , poor Willis is stuck in a supporting role as a cop with so little motivation it's laughable. But Christensen might have it even worse, giving an overcooked performance as an unlikable dad. When we first see him, he's yelling at someone on the phone, and then his idea to solve his son's bully problem is to "toughen him up," a troubling theme that's never resolved.

All the kidnapping and shooting doesn't seem to affect the characters at all, not even young Danny, who seems just fine after his ordeal. The only interesting part of First Kill is the bond between the kidnapper and the kid, which is the most tender, emotional thing in the movie (it's weirdly similar to the recent Austin Found ), but it's so disconnected that it barely counts. Director Steven C. Miller ( Extraction ) puts it all together with wobbly hand-held cameras and choppy editing, leaving most of the action a forgettable blur. Only an ATV chase through the woods is worth looking at.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about First Kill 's violence . Do the scenes involving the young boy feel more intense than other ones? Why or why not? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

What does the movie say about bullies ? Does it offer any specific, realistic solutions or ideas?

What is the movie's attitude toward guns? Does it glorify them? Does it show responsibility?

How is the kidnapper portrayed in the movie? Could you sympathize with him?

What is the movie's father-son relationship like? Would you consider it healthy? Why or why not?

Movie Details

• In theaters : July 21, 2017
• On DVD or streaming : September 5, 2017
• Cast : Hayden Christensen , Bruce Willis , Gethin Anthony
• Director : Steven C. Miller
• Studio : Lionsgate Premiere
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 101 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violence and language
• Last updated : February 26, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

A Wall Street broker is forced to evade a police chief investigating a bank robbery as he attempts to recover the stolen money in exchange for his son's life. A Wall Street broker is forced to evade a police chief investigating a bank robbery as he attempts to recover the stolen money in exchange for his son's life. A Wall Street broker is forced to evade a police chief investigating a bank robbery as he attempts to recover the stolen money in exchange for his son's life.

• Steven C. Miller
• Nick Gordon
• Bruce Willis
• Hayden Christensen
• 138 User reviews
• 58 Critic reviews
• 39 Metascore

• Danny Beeman

• Laura Beeman

• Levi Barrett

• Officer Richie Stetchel
• (as Deb Girdler)

• Officer Tom Davies
• (as Tyler Olson)

• Officer Charlie Stetchel

• Adele Fanchon

• Mabel Fanchon
• Forensics Officer
• Forensics Officer 2
• Officer Sawyer

• Nurse Kylie

• Police Dispatcher

• Head Nurse Laverne

• Station Officer
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia The whole movie took only 14 days of filming.
• Goofs Levi is driving the pickup truck on dirt paths in the woods. Will is chasing him on an ATV. There's a split on the path and the truck takes the left fork, which slants downhill. The ATV goes to the right, which leads uphill. When the truck is seen again, it is traveling across the screen from right to left, directly in front of the ATV. There was no chance for the truck to get to the opposite side of the ATV.
• Connections Features Killer Instinct (2013)

User reviews 138

• maryskywalker11
• Oct 16, 2019
• How long is First Kill? Powered by Alexa
• July 21, 2017 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Đòn Quyết Định
• Columbus, Ohio, USA (Big City Street Scenes)
• Grindstone Entertainment Group
• Emmett/Furla Oasis Films
• Arboretum Productions
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $10,000,000 (estimated)

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 37 minutes

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A Train Ride Becomes a Bloody Battleground in First 'Kill' Trailer

The gory action thriller comes from acclaimed Indian director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat.

The Big Picture

• India's action-packed flick, Kill , follows Amrit as he battles against time and a gang of baddies to save his love from an arranged marriage.
• Creative kills and Bullet Train vibes dominate the teaser, promising an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride in this unique action film experience.
• Produced by a talented team including Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, Kill has gained critical acclaim and is sure to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.

A dangerous situation is going off the rails in the trailer for Lionsgate’s action-packed flick, Kill . The latest high-octane flick to come from India is packed with plenty of ducking, dodging, and fist-to-face connection as one man races against time to save his beloved from an arranged marriage. The teaser delivers plenty of Bullet Train vibes as the protagonist turns everything aboard the racing train into a weapon to protect himself from a gang of baddies. Creative kills reign supreme in this first look, proving that Kill won’t be your run-of-the-mill action film.

As per the title’s logline , “When army commando Amrit ( Lakshya ) finds out his true love Tulika ( Tanya Maniktala ) is engaged against her will, he boards a New Delhi-bound train in a daring quest to derail the arranged marriage. But when a gang of knife-wielding thieves led by the ruthless Fani ( Raghav Juyal ) begin to terrorize innocent passengers on his train, Amrit takes them on himself in a death-defying kill-spree to save those around him — turning what should have been a typical commute into an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride.”

The title is the latest to come from heralded Indian filmmaker Nikhil Nagesh Bhat , who audiences will recognize as the visionary behind other productions including Apurva , Hurdang , and Saluun , as well as television shows such as The Gone Game and Rasbhari . The director is joined by a handful of producers including Hiroo Yash Johar , Karan Johar , Apoorva Mehta , Guneet Monga Kapoor , and Achin Jain , all of whom helped mold Kill into the pulse-pounding adventure that stood out as a favorite and gained heaps and heaps of critical acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival .

What Else Does Lionsgate Have Coming Out?

This year is all about action for Lionsgate as the studio has numerous thrilling titles on the way including The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare , Boy Kills World , The Strangers: Chapter 1 , The Crow , Borderlands , and more slated for a release over the next few months. Looking into the future, audiences can expect the John Wick spin-off, Ballerina to twirl onto screens as well as another movie from Mr. Action himself, Guy Ritchie .

You can check out the trailer for Kill below, but you'll have to stay tuned to Collider for a release date as the film has yet to reveal when audiences can catch the action on the big screen - and believe us, you'll want the biggest screen possible for this one.

All 11 Fight Scenes In Road House 2024, Ranked

• Hard-hitting fight scenes with expert precision make the new 'Road House' a thrilling watch for action lovers.
• Elwood Dalton's ruthless tactics and tragic past add an edge to the chaotic violence in the remake.
• Director Doug Liman makes the fight scenes leap out from the screen.

Just like the original movie starring Patrick Swayze, the new remake of Road House features plenty of brilliant fight scenes. The 1989 version of Road House is the ultimately guilty pleasure movie, packed with scenes of lowlife scum getting summarily beaten down by a stoic bouncer. The remake recaptures this crowd-pleasing feel, but it also features fight scenes which are laced with incredible tension. There are plenty of differences between the two movies, not least Dalton's UFC past in the 2024 version, but the remake is just as chaotically violent.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Elwood Dalton, a former UFC champion who retired after killing an opponent in the ring. Rather than cobbling together an unsatisfying life scaring underground MMA fighters out of their winnings, Dalton takes a job as a bouncer at a rowdy bar in the Florida Keys. Road House has been receiving positive reviews , and its hard-hitting fight scenes are a big reason why. Director Doug Liman previously worked on the action thrillers The Bourne Identity and Edge of Tomorrow , and he makes Road House 's fight scenes leap out from the screen.

Road House is available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video.

Road House Review: Doug Liman's Remake Is Bigger, Louder & Slightly Dumber Than The Original

Dalton breaking jack's fingers, dalton can incapacitate people with surgical precision.

Dalton often shows signs of his incredible understanding of human anatomy, presumably learned from years as a professional fighter. He knows exactly how to inflict the most damage with the absolute minimum effort, and this is how he turns the table on Jack when he pulls a gun on him. Jack thinks that waving a gun at Dalton will be enough to force him into his car, but Dalton doesn't break a sweat. He tells Jack very calmly that all he needs to do is break his index finger and his middle finger, and he follows through.

Dalton's Throat-Punch Kill

Dalton stops holding back after brandt's men burn down the book store.

One other instance of Dalton using his knowledge of the human body is when he kills Vince with a single punch to the throat. He explains that he's probably broken his hyoid bone and collapsed his trachea, but either result will stop him being able to breathe. It's an uncharacteristically cold-blooded moment from Dalton, and it suggests that mentally he could be back on the path to the dark place that saw him kill one of his opponents in the ring. This moment could be a tribute to the original Road House , in which Dalton rips out a man's throat.

Dell Being Killed By The Crocodile

Dell thinks he has the upper hand on dalton, but he ends up being eaten.

Dell doesn't take his initial loss to Dalton lightly. As soon as he's out of the hospital, he tries to run Dalton down in his car. When that doesn't work, he ambushes Dalton on his boat, aptly named "the Boat," with a shotgun in his hand. Just as Jack finds out, having a gun doesn't necessarily give you the advantage over Dalton in a fight. Dalton quickly disarms Dell and knocks him overboard. He tries to rescue him before a crocodile snaps him up, but he's too late. As everyone in Glass Key knows, "crocs hide their food."

Dalton & Ellie Fighting Brandt On His Boat

The waves level the playing field.

As Brandt tries to escape from his burning yacht, he takes a smaller speedboat with Ellie alongside as a hostage. Dalton commandeers Knox's boat and tracks him down, and he teams up with Ellie to fight Brandt as the boat is tossed around by the ocean. The waves add some extra jeopardy to the fight, but Brandt is no real fighter. If it was a regular fight on flat ground, Dalton probably could have killed him in seconds. He loses control of the boat before too long and gets catapulted into the bar, setting up Road House 's ending .

18 Best Jake Gyllenhaal Movies, Ranked

Billy breaking up a fight at the road house, dalton's apprentice learns how to take out the trash.

Rather than taking on every rowdy customer who comes to the bar, Dalton decides to train Billy and Reef as bouncers so that they can deal with the everyday troublemakers. They could hardly ask for a better teacher, as shown by how quickly their skills develop. Dalton is surprisingly hands-off in his approach. He tells Billy exactly what to do when a fight breaks out and one man has a concealed knife. Billy takes a big step back and pops him in the nose. Dalton can leave later knowing that the Road House is in safe hands.

Dalton's Career-Ending UFC Fight

Road house's ufc scenes use real-life fighters and pundits.

Director Doug Liman uses POV shots in Dalton's darkest moments, and his fight with Harris is the darkest of all.

Conor McGregor isn't the only UFC fighter in Road House . Jay Hieron plays Jax "Jetway" Harris, Dalton's opponent in his championship bout. Road House drip feeds the story of Dalton's fight throughout the movie. Eventually, it becomes clear why the event haunts Dalton's dreams. Dalton kills Harris in the ring by refusing to stop. Director Doug Liman uses POV shots in Dalton's darkest moments, and his fight with Harris is the darkest of all. The spectacle of the big occasion makes Dalton's trauma even worse. The cameras flash around him as he begins to understand what he has just done.

Post Malone's Bareknuckle Boxing Fight

The rapper is surprisingly convincing in his cameo.

Post Malone is one of the most surprising members of the Road House cast , along with Conor McGregor. He plays Carter, a bareknuckle fighter in the movie's first scene. Fittingly, the movie opens with a punch to the face, as Carter takes down a much larger opponent. The ring announcer claims that Carter has taken down six challengers in a row, but he backs down from fighting Dalton when he recognizes who he is. Road House starts with a bang , immediately signaling its intention to be just as action-packed as the 1989 original.

Knox Destroying The Bar With A Golf Club

Conor mcgregor's introduction shakes things up.

As soon as Conor McGregor is introduced as Knox, strutting boldly down the street in the nude, Road House kicks into another gear.

As soon as Conor McGregor is introduced as Knox, strutting boldly down the street in the nude, Road House kicks into another gear. He throws his weight around with Brandt's crew before strolling into the Road House like he owns it with a golf club in his hands. Knox brings a whirlwind of chaos with him, smashing glasses as he almost dances his way through the bar. He seems to enjoy violence and pain, and he picks fights with bystanders just to cause a nuisance. He even tears through the netting which protects the band.

Knox & Dalton's First Road House Fight

Dalton meets his match at last.

After Dalton decides that Knox's antics have gone too far, he steps in to confront him. Despite the chaos all around them as an all-out bar fight ensues, Knox and Dalton remain utterly focused on one another. Their fight is the first time that Dalton truly seems like he's in danger. Even being stabbed in the abdomen and hit by a train is less threatening than Knox tossing him behind the bar and slamming his fists through glass bottles as if they are made of tissue paper. Dalton walks away from the Road House, seemingly defeated.

Road House 2024 Soundtrack Guide: Every Song & When They Play

Dalton taking down dell's gang at the road house, dalton finally shows what he's capable of.

Dalton's legend precedes him everywhere he goes , and this builds him up to be a fearsome warrior before he ever even throws a punch. Carter quits his fight as soon as he sees Dalton in the ring, and Billy says he is a big fan as soon as he meets him. Dalton has a lot to live up to, and his first fight scene shows that he's worthy of the hype. He asks Dell if he has medical insurance first, and then he brutally dispatches him and his four friends. Dalton's bone-cracking, head-smashing skills are put on display for all to see, but he never breaks a sweat.

Dalton & Knox's Final Showdown

Road house's final fight is also its best.

Dalton and Knox's second fight is a beautifully choreographed mixture of MMA mastery and sheer power.

Road House saves the very best for last. Knox and Dalton's final fight is just as incredible as the first one, but Dalton no longer reins in his killer instincts. Their fight is a beautifully choreographed mixture of MMA mastery and sheer power. They tumble around the ruins of the bar, grappling on the floor for a while, before both tiring and going blow-for-blow with the power of two heavyweight boxers. When Dalton seems finished, he draws on something extra to fight back and brutally stabs Knox with two broken pieces of wood. Road House 's post-credits scene shows Knox alive, setting up a potential rematch for the pair.

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Kill - Official Teaser Trailer

Kill is an action-adventure drama film distributed by Sikhya Entertainment, Dharma Productions, and Lionsgate.

When army commando Amrit (Lakshya) finds out his true love Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) is engaged against her will, he boards a New Delhi-bound train in a daring quest to derail the arranged marriage. But when a gang of knife-wielding thieves led by the ruthless Fani (Raghav Juyal) begin to terrorize innocent passengers on his train, Amrit takes them on himself in a death-defying kill-spree to save those around him — turning what should have been a typical commute into an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride.

Kill stars Raghav Juyal, Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Hars Chhaya, Ashish Vidyarthi, Abhishek Chauhan, and Parth Tiwari. The film is directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat and produced by Karan Johar, Guneet Monga, Apoorva Mehta, Achin Jain.

Kill is releasing in theaters on July 4.

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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s new Joker is here, and players aren’t laughing

More grind, less story, and little hope for the future

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Share All sharing options for: Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s new Joker is here, and players aren’t laughing

Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League got a shot in the arm Thursday with the release of its first season, which notably brings the Joker back to the franchise’s Arkhamverse . Joker is a newly playable character, plucked from an alternate-reality Elseworld, who joins the Suicide Squad on their mission to kill a bunch of alternate-reality Braniacs.

Players who have stuck with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for the past two months and are now getting their first taste of Rocksteady’s DLC plans don’t seem too happy with how the Joker has rolled out. Unlocking him requires more of the same grind that Kill the Justice League has been criticized for, and there’s very little new narratively to renew interest in the game, players say.

Kill the Justice League ’s Joker is free to acquire, though players can spend a premium currency known as Luthor Coins to unlock him faster. For players who don’t want to pay, they’ll need to play the game’s repetitive missions for a couple hours to unlock Joker. By doing so, they get a new playable character with a new talent tree to fill out and Joker’s unique style of traversal. In action, Joker looks pretty fun.

But story-wise, players get only an animated intro explaining Joker’s world and Brainiac’s invasion, and a cutscene introducing him to Amanda Waller’s Task Force X. There’s a bit more background tucked into the Batman Experience interactive exhibition in Metropolis, which is interesting, but based on heated player response to the new additions, it’s not enough to satisfy Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League fans.

Feedback from players on Steam and the game’s subreddit has been swift and largely angry. Players are complaining about having to grind new levels, called Fear episode rank, and repeat a boss fight. As in the original game, players will have to defeat a version of Brainiac based on a pre-existing boss; instead of fighting a version of Brainiac mimicking the Flash, this time they’ll face a Brainiac who uses Green Lantern’s boss mechanics. It’s more repetition in a game already infamous for its monotonous tasks.

Season 1 also offers a cosmetically modified version of Metropolis, one that’s corrupted with nice-looking Joker imagery. But those new additions, new Incursions missions, cosmetics, and gear simply aren’t enough for players to come around to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League ’s offerings.

“It’s absolutely fair to say that this season was make or break for this game,” one player on the game’s subreddit complained . “I was hoping for some new missions or some additions to the story [but] instead it’s just added a new character you either grind for or buy and nothing more, no story, no new missions, no new content, there is nothing different besides new Riddler crap and some reskinned buildings. I really wanted this game to do well and I believed it could but this was just disappointing and probably killed it.”

“So Rocksteady wants us to grind the same old missions, get bored of them all over again, just for the privilege of experiencing the main reason people came back (the Joker), and continue grinding those same missions you just got bored of again,” said another . “Yeah no thanks.”

Part of this angry knee-jerk reaction seems to be that these are the players who have loved Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League the most — or at least those who have stuck with it longer than the rest — and they want to see Rocksteady succeed with it. Those players want the other three promised playable characters to come out, and for the game’s story to grow. But tepid response to the game and low player counts spell doom for Kill the Justice League as a long-supported live-service game. Joker’s release and season 1’s content offerings don’t inspire confidence. (On Steam at least, the game has seen an uptick in players, with thousands of concurrent users playing the PC version compared to hundreds earlier this week.)

There’s still more coming in season 1, however. Rocksteady describes this week’s launch as part one of a two-episode season. Still to come are new weapons inspired by villains like Two-Face, Reverse Flash, and Black Manta, as well as new infused enemy types, and another Brainiac battle, this one modeled after the main game’s Superman boss fight. Whether any of that is received more warmly by Suicide Squad fans remains to be seen. But there’s little reason to be hopeful.

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