Boy Kills World (2024) Dir. Moritz Mohr

Fans of bloody action, martial arts and irreverent humour may find a lot of violent fun in this new post-apocalyptic actioner starring Bill Skarsgård.

We open with a deaf-mute boy (called “Boy” throughout) who is being trained as a fighter in a jungle by a mysterious shaman (The Raid’s Yayan Ruhian). Over the years the man teaches him, the boy fixates on taking revenge on the corrupt matriarch of a post-apocalyptic world who killed his family - including his young sister.

We soon jump forward in time and the now fully fist-trained Bill Skarsgård heads into the dystopian city where the authorities are rounding up civilians to be part of The Culling. This annual execution event attempts to keep the population in line with its oppressive regime.

From the outset, there’s a fair few familiar aspects ‘culled’ from other totalitarian and sci-fi movies. The most obvious is The Purge and Hunger Games but there’s moments similar to What Happened to Monday, Elysium and even echoes of the slums in District 9. Speaking of which, a very welcome appearance from Sharlto Copley again confirms that his presence can give even the most derivative of films a boost.

A like-it-or-loath-it voiceover may be a deal-breaker from some viewers though. The mute boy has a running quirky narration provided throughout by comedian H. Jon Benjamin. As a huge fan of his lead performances in adult animations Archer and Bob’s Burger’s his voice is so recognisable (and brilliant) that I wish there was even more of it.

Benjamin's snarky comments also add a lot of dark comedy and much-needed laughter to offset the brutal blood and gore. The action is steadily delivered throughout the narrative as Boy accidentally joins the resistance and begins to travel towards his revenge goal at the homes of the powers that be.

Skarsgård’s physicality (already used well in many flicks, notably IT) is a huge benefit to the film. Here he delivers the film’s many fight and shoot-out scenes admirably - with kitchen bust-ups and skirmishes on a kids TV set being both bloody but also funny with murderous cereal mascots and death by camera thrown into the mix.

An unknown woman “mystery” revealed late in the game is obvious 5-minutes into the film and although the moving camera and well choreographed fights scenes are impressive, the humour may not work for everyone.

The film certainly needs a trim - 2 hours for a post-apocalyptic revenge actioner seems overkill - but it’s not without its ferocious charms. Get yourself into a Saturday-night-popcorn-with-mates mood as Boy Kills World would be a good addition to a movie marathon alongside similar unrelenting smashers like Crank and Gunz Akimbo. For the rest, I suspect it will turn off as many as it turns on, but action aficionados will enjoy the non-stop carnage and fun mayhem thrills.

★★★

3 / 5

Mike Sales