They Will Kill You: A Fiery Revenge Farce Crashes and Burns Kirill Sokolov’s They Will Kill You opens with a chaotic premise: Zazie Beetz stars as Asia Reaves, a maid posing as a new employee at a luxury Manhattan hotel that secretly houses a satanic cult. The film’s initial promise is enticing—a midnight action thriller with bloodshed, violence, and a revenge plot. However, the execution quickly falters, turning the movie into a disjointed, exhausting experience. The story follows Asia, who infiltrates the hotel to rescue her sister, now a victim of the cult’s human sacrifice rituals. The film’s opening scenes are visually striking, with a rain-soaked prologue showing Asia escaping her abusive father and leaving her sister behind. The hotel, named The Virgil, is overtly satanic, its décor dripping with occult symbolism. Asia’s first night at the hotel is a violent spectacle: cultists in raincoats and pig masks invade her room, only for her to retaliate with a machete and a barrage of weapons. The action is frenetic, with crash-zooms, blood splatter, and a spaghetti Western-inspired score. Yet, the film’s premise takes a supernatural turn when the cultists’ injuries miraculously heal, hinting at their pact with the devil. This twist, while thematically intriguing, undermines the film’s tension, as the villains’ immortality robs the violence of its impact. The plot lacks coherence, with the hotel’s layout never fully explained and action scenes reduced to chaotic, repetitive sequences. Asia’s mission to rescue her sister becomes a series of increasingly absurd set pieces, each less satisfying than the last. The film’s reliance on derivative influences—such as Timur Bekmambetov’s action style, Quentin Tarantino’s revenge tropes, and Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy—fails to create a cohesive identity.#zazie_beetz #kirill_sokolov #the_virgil #heather_graham #tom_felton
