Soundtracks: The Killer

We watched the new David Fincher flick starring Michael Fassbender this weekend on the streaming service that used to be a postal DVD rental company (remember that?). I'm a big fan of Fincher (Fight Club is one of my favourite movies) and I do like Fassbender, although I have to admit that I can't see him these days without hearing Steven Toast shout, "FASSBENDER!" (Here's Toast's review of MF's Macbeth as an example of his animosity.) 

Anyway, I liked it. For whatever my opinion is worth. It's a slow and meticulous movie that builds a sense of dread, delivers on your expectations, and then refuses to tread the obvious path. And Fassbender is excellent (sorry, Toast). 

However, the best thing about it is the soundtrack. Fassbender's hitman listens to music when he's on the job. to calm and centre him, and his favourite band is The Smiths. So we get lots of old Smiths classics (sometimes disrupted by differing directorial perspectives), and it's a chance to hear them again without all the baggage that weighs down any play of a Morrissey-related tune these days. We get to relive the darkness, the wit, the irony and introspection, the existential nature of those songs that changed our lives, without anyone whispering, "yeah, but Morrissey's a knob now, isn't he?" in your ear. 

I doubt Stephen or Johnny will have had any say in letting their songs be used in this film, nor will they have received a penny for it, since the record company own them lock, stock, I understand. But that soundtrack made a good film great for me, and if it helps introduce a new generation to their music, all the better.

Crashing into this, my all time favourite Smiths song, as the closing credits started to roll was the icing on the cake.