PLOT: Beckett Redfellow (Glen Powell) is ninth in line to a vast family inheritance. Having been disowned by the family, Beckett decides to prune a couple of branches of the family tree in order to claim the billions he believes are his birthright.
REVIEW: In a world where the gap between the ultra-rich and everyone else grows by the day, How to Make a Killing is seemingly well-timed. A loose remake of the British classic Kind Hearts and Coronets, it feels like — had this been made in another era of Hollywood history — our murderous hero would have been presented as a psychopathic “bad guy.” Rather, in John Patton Ford’s movie, Glen Powell’s Beckett, while arguably a sociopath, isn’t presented as an inherently evil or even “bad” person — he’s just a guy who wants the birthright he feels he’s been denied, and if he has to kill a bunch of rich people to get it — so be it.
It’s an oddball choice of a role for Glen Powell, who’s trying to become the next big Hollywood superstar, seemingly following the Tom Cruise playbook — yet to be sure, this is a role Cruise himself would have probably never touched. It remains to be seen if audiences embrace the part, which plays out like a regular Glen Powell rom-com, albeit with a body count that steadily grows as the movie goes on.
One thing is for sure — the makers of How to Make a Killing want us to root for Powell’s Beckett Redfellow, who would be ultra-rich were his mother not kicked out of the family for having a child out of wedlock. Why the family would be so rigid in this regard is never really explained, as everyone in the family is depicted as living pretty debaucherous lifestyles. It’s implied that the family doesn’t want the scandal, but this part of the movie is set in 1993, not 1893 or even 1943. That premise worked well in the original film, but it could have been elaborated on a bit here.
No matter — it’s just a way to arrange a series of set pieces where Powell’s charismatic Beckett meets different members of his estranged family and kills them. Powell is solid in the part, but I couldn’t help but note how, despite us being built up to want him to succeed, I never actually really cared if he got away with his crimes or not. Compare that to Timothée Chalamet as the wildly selfish lead in Marty Supreme, who you can’t help but root for even if you know you shouldn’t. They seem to be trying for that vibe here, but Powell, perhaps in a nod to his growing stardom, plays Beckett as too much of a softie, which — ironically — makes his crimes harder to buy.
In fact, as far as on-screen sociopaths go, Powell is badly overshadowed by Margaret Qualley, who plays a society girl Beckett knew as a child but who has now fallen on hard times and wants a piece of the pie. She has the edge and coldness he lacks, expertly playing her femme fatale–style role. She dominates the movie. In fact, both main female co-stars outshine Powell here, with Jessica Henwick giving the film some much-needed heart as the girlfriend of one of Beckett’s victims, who he ends up falling for. You watch this movie and wonder why, at a certain point, Beckett — as he rises to a level of modest prestige and power — doesn’t just opt to give up and make a life with her.
As for the relatives Powell has to bump off, Ford has fun with his casting. There’s Ed Harris as the ice-cold patriarch, who faces off with Powell in the large-scale conclusion, while Topher Grace has a blast as the Redfellow who’s become a born-again pastor/Christian rocker. Of them all, though, the best performance comes from Bill Camp, who, as Beckett’s uncle, proves to be such a genial, nice guy that his good nature endangers Beckett’s plan.
On the whole, How to Make a Killing is diverting fare, breezing along at 105 minutes and always entertaining its audience. Yet, I couldn’t help but think there would have been a better movie had Powell’s Beckett been given a bit more substance, with the movie not as good as the director’s excellent last film, Emily the Criminal. I had a good time with it, but it’s the kind of movie that vanishes from memory by the time the credits start to roll.
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