If you love John Wick or The Raid, do yourself a favour and seek this out.
2024 was a good year for action movie fans thanks to the likes of Civil War, The Fall Guy, Furiosa, Land of Bad, Monkey Man and Rebel Ridge.
It must be said though that most of these pale in terms of action to Kill – a thriller from India that earned a quiet cinema release in July last year before being added to Prime Video this weekend.
The film tells the story of an army commando named Amrit (played by Lakshya) who finds out his true love, Tulika (Tanya Maniktala), has become engaged against her will.
As such, he boards a New Delhi-bound train in a daring quest to stop the arranged marriage and rescue her.
However, when a gang of murderous bandits – led by the ruthless Fani (a brilliantly hateable Raghav Juyal) – begin terrorising the train’s passengers, Amrit fights back in an effort to save Tulika, her family and the others on board.
While Kill begins standardly enough, feeling almost like Die Hard on a train, a shocking moment about halfway through cements the movie as a completely different beast altogether.
Only then do we get the title card drop (always a baller move) and the film ratchets up the violence to 11 as Amrit goes completely berserk in his efforts to mow down Fani and his cronies.
Writer-director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, meanwhile, uses the tight confines of the train’s carriages to his advantage – making every fight feel up-close, personal and bone-crunchingly visceral.
On that point, it isn’t just guns, knives and fists doling out all the violence, as anything you could reasonably find on a train – blankets, chains, fire extinguishers, toilets and lighters – is turned into a weapon of mass destruction.
That said, though, Kill also has some deeper themes about the cyclical nature of violence – exploring the ideas behind that old quote: “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”
A US remake of the Indian action flick is in the works and is set to be produced by John Wick director Chad Stahelski.
However, this remake would need to be something very good indeed to be in the same ballpark as the original Kill.
Where to watch:
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Kill is available to stream in Ireland and the UK via Prime Video right now.
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