You’ve gotta hand it to Glen Powell - he’s really trying to be the next big movie star, his generation’s Tom Cruise. And he’s got all that Hollywood would want in a megawatt star - the looks, charisma to burn, and he chooses a variety of projects. From the romcom Anyone But You to the popcorn flick Twisters and the action thriller The Running Man, he sure knows how to pick them. And now comes something a little different - a murder thriller. A stylish, heady murder thriller, How To Make A Killing is a solid watch with a couple of narrative wobbles but magnetically led by the ever charming Glen Powell.

Becket Redfellow sets out to reclaim the $28B family fortune his mother was denied. To pull off his ambitious scheme, he must kill the seven relatives who stand in his way - while navigating love, deception, and wicked betrayals.

 

How To Make A Killing starts at the end. We find Becket in a prison cell confessing his sorry, torrid tale to a priest. Narratively it plays well, tension being ratched up as the story progresses, leading to an unexpected and wholly satisfying ending. 

 

What makes How To Make A Killing unique and stand apart from most films of its ilk for the most part (aside from its star) is the way in which it subverts your narrative expectations not only in the way in which it is executed but the way in which it's told as well. There are a few narrative shortcomings, especially in the second act, but they are more than able to get over. 

 

And at its heart are themes as old as time: the love of money is the root of all evil and the wages of sin is death itself. This again, like so much of this film, is done with such a light touch that it hits home as the credits begin to roll. 

 

A stylish, heady murder thriller, How To Make A Killing is a solid watch with a couple of narrative wobbles but magnetically led by the ever charming Glen Powell.