May I Kill U? – Review

24th January 2013

I have to be honest I’ve never cared for Kevin Bishop’s comedy show when it was on British TV. It consisted of broad impersonations of celebrities that most school boys could (with the subtle humour to match). Although it is heartening to note that he played Jim Hawkins in Muppet Treasure Island. That aside seeing his name above the title did little to excite me about this film. Luckily Bishop doesn’t get to break out his arsenal of stupid impressions.

He plays Officer Baz who whilst cycling away from a community meeting is assault by a local crim. Sustaining a bad concussion he starts to experience blinding migraines which also gives him the urge/brainwave to kill people who witnesses breaking the law. You may have guessed from the titles use of the letter “U” that the films plot heavily relies on all the mod cons; texting, YouTube, i-Pad apps all feature heavily in the story. This is just a straight forward Death Wish rehash, our anti-hero likes to record his killings and put them up online as some sort of deterrent to the residence of East London. Worried about licensing laws or even being charged with murder he asks each victim “may I kill you?” befor clubbing, strangling or electrocuting people to death. I’m not entirely sure it works as a defence in court – not sure Boston Legal covered that.

There are some slick moments where text bubbles appear on screen when characters receive them. It’s a trick that seems to associated with TV’s Sherlock but it should become a standard way to deliver these message. Assuming texts will be around for a couple more years at least, it makes a change to them being read out or having to cut to a phone for 10 seconds in order for the audience to read them. May I Kill U? also is one of the first films I can think of that utilises phone and desktop apps. Most of us use them now. Again it’s a plot device which will probably start be used more often in films.

But technological inventiveness aside May I Kill U? doesn’t have a whole lot else to recommend. It seems to be aiming for some sort of biting social satire. But it’s not funny when it tries to be or horrific enough when it needs to be. You could read the tone of the film as being judgemental toward viewers appetite for murder and death on the web. The overall tone though feels more like a wish fulfilment for anyone who’s been annoyed by thugs in the street or thought “castrations too good for them” when they see stories about sex traffickers. In this world you can murder folk, tweet about it, build up an online celebrity status, get an attractive girlfriend and have people applaud you for it. This is fantastical realism in it’s extreme. Director Stuart Urban has a slick visual eye and knows how to use his locations well. Sometimes the acting needs reigning in but for the most part the cast are solid. Stuart Urban the writer though needs to find the right balance in his story – is this thriller? Comedy? Horror? Throw in some almost random Oedipus subplot and the story seems a little all over the place. Overall May I Kill U? is a film once seen and quickly forgotten.

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