Remakes and reboots have been the norm for decades and the latest is How to make a Killing from the 1949 classic Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets that starred Alec Guinness taking on eight roles to magnificent effect.
How to Make a killing by Glen Powell
Here the lead is Glen Powell as Beckett Redfellow in writer-director John Patton Ford’s version. A snappy first act whisks us through his birth to an mother whose family ostracize her because she’s unmarried. But when Beckett’s father dies within minutes of his son’s birth and his mother dies when he is a child he then goes from foster family to foster family. So as a young man and a low paid employee he decides to get the inheritance that is rightly his. His only problem is that he’s eighth in line to the bumper pay day and the film follows his bump off his relatives making this the favourite film of Prince Harry. Except we know from the start of the film that Beckett’s plan has gone awry as he is recounting his tale in a cell on death row to a priest
Does How to make a killing slay?
His retelling takes in his recently re-aquaintance with childhood friend Julia (Margaret Qualley) and his own fiancé Ruth (Jessica Henwick) along with the relatives he has to bump off that includes Raff Law, Zach Woods, Topher Grace amongst others but none of them really make an impression and none of them are really so hateful as so to have audiences rooting for them. Neither is Beckett the really amoral icy cool killer because hey, this is Glen Powell and he’s being moulded into being a star. The kills are dull and uninventive and unlike the 1949 original this has a contemporary setting meaning that it’s hard to believe that the two FBI agents trailing him don’t identify far him sooner rather than eight victims later.
A brief history of Ealing comedy remakes….
This is not the first Ealing comedy to have been remade with the Coen Brothers spin on The Ladykillers being disastrously bad and easily their worst film in an otherwise highly regarded back catalogue. This version of Kind Hearts and Coronets follows suit and it’s a pity because director Ford’s previous film ‘Emily the Criminal’ back in 2022 was terrific and that film’s star Aubrey Plaza would have been ideally cast in the lead role here along with Margaret Qually. Unfortunately How to make a killing seems to be a missed opportunity.
related feature : ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’ – BLU RAY
related feature : Edgar Wright, Glen Powell & Lee Pace Pick Their Survival Alliances
Here’s the How to Make a killing trailer…….
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