Bill Skarsgård's new bloody action film is a great video game movie - even though it isn't actually based on one

We are arguably living in a golden era of video game adaptations. If you look at the past year or so, Fallout has been a smash hit for Amazon Prime Video, and the same can be said for HBO and The Last of Us. When it comes to cinema, The Super Mario Bros. Movie took silver place at the box office as the second highest-grossing film of last year, beaten only by the global sensation that was Barbie.

This week a new film enters this ring: director Moritz Mohr’s feature directorial debut Boy Kills World, which has all the hallmarks of a great video game movie. However, the film isn’t actually based on one…

In the movie, Bill Skarsgård stars as Boy, a deaf and mute man who has been training his whole life for one mission: to kill the woman who he believes brutally murdered his entire family. As we join him on this quest for vengeance, direct references to video games are present throughout the story – even Boy’s inner voice, which narrates his thoughts for the audience, is taken from the character’s favorite childhood arcade game, brought brilliantly to life by Bob’s Burgers’ very own H. Jon Benjamin (to much amusement). 

Leveling up

However, the film is so much more than a simple video game homage, as the fact that Boy Kills World is actually a video game movie is woven into its DNA. This is something Mohr has acknowledged, telling Total Film magazine earlier this year: "I love old kung-fu movies. I love Asian cinema. I play a lot of video games and I read a lot of manga. Anime is a big influence. But also shitty little Saturday-morning cartoons that I love growing up."

All of these influences are thrown into the movie, but the video game inspiration is especially present, particularly when it comes to the film’s structure. We start with the equivalent of a training level, where you learn the controls and moves for your character – who here happens to be Boy. Under the mentorship of a mysterious shaman (portrayed by The Raid’s Yayan Ruhian), a classic training montage shows Boy learning martial arts, as well as other skills such as how to use a knife in a fight. With every lesson a new skill is learned, meaning eventually Boy is ready to step into the world to put these abilities to use. He just needs to decide what move is required for each opponent and attempt to successfully pull it off, like we do when trying to hit the right combination of buttons on a game controller. And just like in a video game, as Boy defeats an opponent, a new one enters the scene who is much tougher, stronger, and harder to beat. 

In a way, Boy Kills World can be broken down into levels, as our protagonist goes from scene to scene, enemy to enemy, working his way through them until he reaches the final boss level – which, for him, is matriarch Hilda van der Koy (Famke Janssen), who he believes is the person responsible for slaughtering his family. Having leveled up along the way, Boy believes he is ready for the climactic battle, but like with the best video games, there is no straightforward 'game over', as the film has some surprising twists in store (that we won’t spoil here).

Choose your weapon

As Boy takes on these adversaries, a 'choose your weapon' aspect is introduced. Whilst our hero is good at fighting with his fists, he also searches the rooms he enters for anything that can be used as a weapon, picking up various objects to tackle his enemies in the most brutal ways imaginable. Let’s just say I’ll never look at a carrot in the same way again, and cinema’s recent fondness for murdering people with cheese graters – following the likes of Evil Dead Rise – continues (so much blood).

At times, there's also a 'choose your fighter' element, as the perspective shifts from Boy to the mysterious June 27 (Happy Death Day star Jessica Rothe), one of the van der Koy family’s most fearsome fighters who immediately makes a striking impression sporting a yellow motorbike jacket and helmet. Stepping into her shoes and essentially adding another playable character for certain brawls helps keep the action fresh and dynamic – a pretty smart choice from Mohr.

 Game over? 

In perhaps an unexpected turn of events, the video game industry clearly took note of all the above and Boy Kills World has actually spawned its own video game. Releasing on the same day as the film is Super Dragon Punch Force 3, an original fighting game designed to be a sequel to the one featured in the movie (which is titled Super Dragon Punch Force 2, of course). Available on Windows PC and via mobile platforms, you’ll spot several familiar characters in the game including Boy and June 27, who can take each other on in brutal battles. And given how exhilarating the action of the film is, why wouldn’t you want to try this?

If, like me, you are ready to play once the credits have rolled on Boy Kills World, the good news is that it isn’t game over thanks to Super Dragon Punch Force 3. Choose your fighter, player one.

Boy Kills World is out now in US theaters and UK cinemas. Check out our exclusive interview with director Mohr where we discussed why it was always planned for an R-rating, what Skarsgård brought to the film, and how it's different to John Wick.

For more on what else you should be watching at the cinema, be sure to check out the rest of our Big Screen Spotlight series.