‘Essential Killing’ Review: A Republican Plays a Jihadist!?
by Zachary LeemanCome one! Come all! See Vincent Gallo feeding off an actual lactating woman! See him run through the snow barefoot! See him … well, see him play a terrorist named Mohammed run from the U.S. military and be degraded down to his most animal instincts in order to survive.
“Essential Killing,” available now via Video on Demand services as well as iTunes and Vudu, follows a Taliban fighter named Mohammed who is captured by U.S. military forces and transported to Europe where he escapes and goes on the run. While evading his captors, he must do what is necessary to survive, including taking life, which we graphically witness beforehand in the film when he kills some private contractors with an RPG.
It comes as no surprise that Hollywood would provide us with a story about the Afghanistan war that is from the point of view of a terrorist. I’m sure liberal after liberal would argue he is an “enemy combatant” and is justified in his killings. Political correctness aside, we witness him murder private contractors and then later murder more people. He’s a terrorist, no matter what the been-in-college-too-long-and-stay-up-too-late-watching-Jon-Stewart types would have anyone believe.
Why would we want to watch a movie where the protagonist is a terrorist? Well, we wouldn’t. But using the word “protagonist” here is a bit of a stretch. Sure, Mohammed is the main character, but there seems to be no attempt to make us identify with him, which is a relief. Instead, the film looks on its own events without much investment or insight. The camera is neutral. We are simply witnessing what is happening. But, hence comes the film’s fatal flaw. Without investment, what point is there in watching this ordeal? Mohammed is forced into some pretty horrid conditions and ordeals, but we could care less whether he lives or dies, so we watch the film with little more than semi-queasy fascination.







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