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Movie Review

I Kill Giants now sits at the very top of my favorite films (so far) released this year. I doubt I will be forgetting it or its imaginative landscape by December when voting season rolls around. This magical movie is so much more than words could ever express. Please understand that and then stop reading this for now. Go see the movie. The beauty in its message will bring you to your knees.

Barbara Thorson (Madison Wolfe) knows she is an awkward freak. This girl is the obvious outcast in the halls of her school and she has no time for small talk. She is virtually friendless. After all, this girl uses her free time to hunt giants. She finds them and she kills them. Just ask her. She won’t lie and damn the consequences if you can’t accept that these monsters really do exist.

It is her mission in these trying times to slay the tall figures in the dark and, according to her, there are freakishly tall giants everywhere. She even knows the differences in their specific classifications thanks to a wild animation sequence in this movie.

Don’t get too close to her, Barbara warns. She hears voices. People get hurt, too. And this includes you because this wonderfully and lyrical movie will break your heart and the actress at the center of this imaginative odyssey, Miss Wolfe, deserves every single word (and award) of praise she has coming to her. Her performance as the giant killer in this film is, in my opinion, absolutely award-winning.

Based on the acclaimed Man of Action/Image Comics graphic novel by Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura, I Kill Giants – courtesy of RLJE Films – lands in theaters and On Demand/Digital HD on March 23, 2018.  You will believe a girl can slay giants.

Please know that I Kill Giants is not an easy film to watch. It is a trickster of a movie, promising one thing and then delivering another as, frame by frame, a bit more of the story Barbara embraces in her mission to save the seaside town (and the house) she resides in crumbles off into the ocean. It is a a movie that, while peaceful in its storytelling, becomes suddenly violent and all too real as something frightening is stalking her.

By design, director Andrew Walter’s feature film debut, operates like an adventure for the wide-eyed teenager in us all. You remember that kiddo, right? He or she is probably still inside you and I bet, if you give that gentle soul the chance, it will race right ahead of you and grab the reigns. This movie is partially for that youthful spirit. It is the other part, the managing of emotions, where being an adult should help.

It’s with that fiery enthusiasm and sense of purpose in which Barbara goes about doing what she does best in the forest and, in a house where her sister (Imogen Poots) is overwhelmed and her brother (Rory Jackson) is a jerk, well, this mission starts with her changing her appearance. With layers upon layers of clothes, some oversized red-rimmed glasses, a pair of dirty bunny ears, and a war hammer tucked safely inside her purse, Barbara Thorson finds herself ready for battle on all fronts.    

Written by Joe Kelly, the magnificent charm of I Kill Giants answers the call of Pacific Rim Uprising’s metal-roided giants with a resounding, “So What?!” as one little girl goes about the forest killing her own giants that are out to do her harm. She’s a highly skilled Dungeons and Dragons player and knows what potions do what to which type of giant she is facing. All of which comes in handy because she does this all on her own.

Her only protection is her sweater and those dingy half-crooked rabbit ears. There are no hardcore mechanics to get her through the day and the long nights, just her own intellect, her own fists, and her own reasons for refusing to peer for too long into the darkest parts of her own house. There’s work to do on the treacherous shores of her community and she, whether we want her to or not, will wind up saving us all.

Because life, especially with all of its unsuspecting twists and turns, is not an easy road to travel upon.

Just watching the photography in this film, provided by cinematographer Rasmus Heise, makes one thing clear here: there IS beauty in the breakdown. And Barbara, due to everything placed in front of her as she walks through the high school halls, ought to know about both of those. I Kill Giants is HER story after all.

Co-starring Sydney Wade, Zoe Saldana, and Jennifer Ehle, I Kill Giants finds feelings in the fantasy and saves us from ourselves with its slick visuals and command of its own satisfying story.

So, go on, watch I Kill Giants. You ARE stronger than you think.

Film Details

MPAA Rating: Not rated.
Runtime: 106 mins
Director: Anders Walter
Writer: Joe Kelly
Cast: Zoe Saldana, Imogen Poots, Jennifer Ehle
Genre: Drama | Fantasy | Thriller
Tagline:
Memorable Movie Quote:
Theatrical Distributor: RLJ Entertainment
Official Site: Release Date: March 23, 2018
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: Barbara Thorson struggles through life by escaping into a fantasy life of magic and monsters.

Blu-ray Review

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