The Killing Kind (AKA Mr In-Between) DVD Review:

The gangster genre has become increasingly popular for the lower budget filmakers, most of which end up being veiwed on video, cable, or not at all. In some cases it is better that these films are not seen, and the larger studio films which inspired them are instead. But in the case of The Killing
Kind, the latest gangster drama, this would be a tragedy. The Killing Kind (AKA Mr In-Between) doesn't attempt to recreate another film, but instead focuses all of it's
attention on rising to a new level in the material. It isn't just a gangster film, it's also a drama. It isn't just a drama, it's also a character study.
It isn't just a character study, it's also intensely entertaining. The depth of a film of this calibur cannot be discovered upon only viewing it once. A
film like this requires multiple viewings, even though it is not always that pleasant of a story, and many will hesitate to sit through such a grueling
film twice.

The Killing Kind (AKA Mr In-Between) focuses on a crossroad in the life of a professional killer, Jon Bennet. Jon is one of the best hitmen there are,(isn't that always the case in these films?) but when he runs into an old friend who is married to his old flame, something changes in Jon. Suddenly he is spending more time trying to take care of the family of the woman he still loves,
than he is trying to make his boss happy, which doesn't go unnoticed. It doesn't take long to realize that things can only get worse, which they do
in more ways than can be imagined.

There is a certain amount of passion which was obviously poured into this film, which makes it that much more watchable. It isn't a flawless film by
any measure, especially where story is concerned, but I would watch a unique and passionate film like this any day before I watched some of the larger
budget attempts. Possibly the greatest asset of the film, aside from the direction which is very deliberate in it's intentions, is the acting of
Andrew Howard as Jon. Howard is one of those uniquely talented actors that can show an incredibly intense range of emotion without saying much, if anything at all. So much of the film relies on how the character of Jon reacts to his surroundings, and a better choice could not have been made, in my humble opinion. His performance earned him the best actor award at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

It is also probably worthwhile to note that while most of the action, or killings, takes place off screen, somehow the film still succeeds in making
you feel as if you had to watch each person tortured. This is done so well, that I could swear that this was one of the most violent films i had seen in months, and yet I know that there was minimal violence actually on screen. It is in the details of how Jon picks out his weapons, or the sound of a dying person screaming in terror that force you into the reality of each film death.

The DVD has minimal special features, but it definately has the most important ones. There are two commentaries, one from the director, and the
other from the producer, and there is a making of featurette. The picture is great, as is the sound, but the accents may make it difficult to catch all
of the dialogue, and I found myself watching the last half with subtitles so I wouldn't miss anything. It's just that kind of a film, one that you wouldn't want to miss a second of.

Ryan Izay

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