First Kill | A hunting lesson turns dangerous in this B-movie thriller co-starring Bruce Willis

By Jason Best
( What's on TV )
published

First Kill Bruce Willis Hayden Christiansen
(Image credit: Brian Douglas)

First Kill Bruce Willis Hayden Christiansen

When you only have one shot, don't miss.

Wall Street banker Hayden Christensen and his 11-year-old son (Ty Shelton) are taking a hunting trip in the Ohio woods when they get caught up in the violent aftermath of a bank robbery in the so-so B-movie crime thriller First Kill.

The set-up promises a lean slice of genre filmmaking. Unfortunately, the plot is overstretched and overwrought, with director Steven C Miller taking time out from the action to hit us in the face with symbolism and irony. (Why is Christensen’s alpha male dad going hunting? Answer: to toughen up his meek bullied son.) To be fair, Christensen does a solid enough job in the lead, but Bruce Willis, appearing in his third low-budget Miller movie following Marauders and Extraction, looks visibly bored by his role as the local police chef.

Certificate 15. Runtime 97 mins. Director Steven C Miller

First Kill debuts on Sky Cinema Premiere on 21 January. Available on DVD & Digital from Signature Entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t719hhEdWJc

Jason Best
Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.