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Boy Kills World isn’t getting nearly as much attention as it should be doing, but if John Wick was a deaf-mute, this is the film that would result.
Simply named ‘Boy’ (Bill Skarsgård, also seen last year in John Wick Chapter 4, and late in 2024 in The Crow) unfortunately gets caught up in the annual event, The Culling, arranged by the city’s ruler, Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen), where she massacres his family – including his mother, and younger sister, Mina (Quinn Copeland), leaving him for dead, causing him to seek revenge, which will come years from now, so there’s time to ‘wax on, wax off’ with a Shaman (Yayan Ruhian), effectively making him an assassin in training.
However, our Hilda cut out his tongue and burned his ears, leading to the voiceover from his inner self (H Jon Benjamin), which he’s ‘copied’ from his favourite videogame, Street Fighter II, and waxes lyrical to us on a number of aspects of his life, including watching Beetle Fight Club, which he does talk about.
The latest culling comes at the 25th anniversary of the event, and now, it’s time to put a stop to it, including taking out anyone else in the Van Der Koy family, including Melanie (Michelle Dockery), Gideon (Brett Gelman) and Glen (Sharlto Copley), as well as helmeted enforcer June27 (Jessica Rothe). As he progresses and chances upon help from Benny (Isaiah Mustafa) and Basho (Andrew Koji), we see how he desperately misses his late sister, so constantly hallucinates about having conversations with her.
Add in some ’80s synth, how to ‘give the middle finger 5 times’, and some extreme punching, gouging and killing – even using a cheese grater as a weapon, and this is the John Wick substitute we need at this time, until Ana de Armas and Len Wiseman bring us Ballerina in June 2025.
Now, when’s the sequel coming?
There’s also a post-credits scene, which I describe in my Short video below.
Boy Kills World is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 111 minutes
Release date: April 26th 2024
Studio: Lionsgate Movies
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 8.5/10
Director: Moritz Mohr
Producers: Zainab Azizi, Wayne Fitzjohn, Dan Kagan, Alex Lebovici, Roy Lee, Stuart Manashil, Sam Raimi, Simon Swart
Screenplay: Tyler Burton Smith, Arend Remmers
Short film: Arend Remmers, Moritz Mohr
Music: Ludvig Forssell
Cast:
Boy: Bill Skarsgård
June27: Jessica Rothe
Melanie Van Der Koy: Michelle Dockery
Gideon Van Der Koy: Brett Gelman
Benny: Isaiah Mustafa
Basho: Andrew Koji
Shaman: Yayan Ruhian
Glen Van Der Koy: Sharlto Copley
Hilda Van Der Koy: Famke Janssen
Mina: Quinn Copeland
Young Boy: Cameron Crovetti
Young Boy: Nicholas Crovetti
Voice of Boy: H Jon Benjamin
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.