The Wonderful World of DTV - Steven C Miller's First Kill - 2017

At the start of the year I had written a review for Steven C Miller’s previous film, Arsenal (2017). In my review I had spoken about the progression of him as a filmmaker and that it was a step in the right direction. It would only be a matter of time before he would be directing larger budgeted features.

Since then, Miller has been announced as the director of Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018), the sequel to Sylvester Stallone’s previous hit.  It may have a lower budget than other blockbuster features, but it gives the director a chance to work on a larger canvas than any of his previous work.

In the interim he has managed to direct the recent release, First Kill (2017). Like Arsenal, First Kill is a small town set thriller made on a smaller budget. Perhaps falling somewhere beneath his more recent features, First Kill is still an enjoyable popcorn thriller, with Miller showing his usual skill behind the camera.

Like Arsenal before it, First Kill opened to poor reviews, with professional critics seemingly expecting something more from what the film was clearly advertised as. First Kill never tries to be more than what it is, and whilst Miller has done better work, it doesn’t deserve the poor word of mouth it has been receiving.

The plot concerns investment banker Will, played by Hayden Christensen. Will discovers that his son Danny (Ty Shelton) is being bullied in school so decides to take some time out with his family and returns to the town where he grew up. Whilst there he plans to take his sun hunting in order to teach the boy some confidence.

Of course this doesn’t work out the way he planned. When travelling through the woods with his son, Will has a run in with two bank robbers, who have just recently been involved in a local bank robbery. Their confrontation ends with Will having to shoot one of the Robbers dead to protect him and his son.

The surviving robber, Levi (Gethin Anthony) ends up taking Danny hostage to force will to assist him in finding the key to open up a safety deposit box that holds two million dollars.

Thrown into the mix is local Chief of Police Howell, played by Bruce Willis. Howell begins to grow suspicious of Will’s action’s, although it becomes apparent that Howell isn’t the clean cut Police Chief we are initially introduced to, and is another obstacle in Will’s way of getting back his son.

Once again Miller gives the film an overall professional look, betraying its DTV origins. More of a thriller than an action movie, Miller still handles a number of well staged woodland set chase scenes, and some violent confrontations.

In addition he manages to get decent performances from his lead cast members, with Hayden Christensen being surprisingly good as the film’s main hero Will. His lack of action hero credentials works in the films favour, with Will coming across as more of an everyman, albeit one that knows how to shoot.

There is nothing in First Kill that reaches Christensen’s excellent performance in Shattered Glass (2003), however he does well in what is one of his better leading role’s of late.

His more recent output like American Heist (2014) and Outcast (2014) are quite forgettable, although Outcast does gain some plus points for a typically crazed supporting turn from Nicolas Cage as well as some well done action scenes.

This marks Bruce Willis’ third time working with Steven C Miller. Like Extraction (2015) and Marauders (2016), his role in First Kill is strictly a supporting one with him having limited screen time. For the limited time he is on screen he is solid in the role, with him being quite understated. He is at one minute the nice guy Police Chief, then the next shooting people that get in his way.

Clearly Willis role here is not in the same league as some of his classic films such as Die Hard (1988) or The Last Boy Scout (1991), but it is better than some of his other recent DTV offerings, with Vice (2015) and Precious Cargo (2016)  being prime examples of his poorer work.

Hopefully 2017 will prove to be a better year for the actor, with his leading role in the fun but overlooked Once Upon a Time in Venice (2017) being a highlight and the still to come Death Wish (2017), from director Eli Roth.  As well as these he still has other co-starring roles lined up, such as Reprisal and Acts of Violence, both of which are from Emmet/Furla/Oasis films.

Gethin Anthony arguably gives the best performance of the film as Levi. After he kidnaps of Will’s son Danny, the two strike up a relationship with the two of them bonding over their love of video games. These scenes are somewhat reminiscent of Clint Eastwood’s A Perfect World (1993), where like that film, the kidnapper grows close to his captor.  

Levi proves to be a more sympathetic character than initially thought, with him having his own reasons for robbing the bank, mainly the removal of his mother in laws massive tumour.

Anthony is probably best known as Renly Baratheon from Game of Thrones (2011). More recently he played a young Charles Manson in the underrated crime show Aquarius (2015). Sadly the show only lasted two seasons without having a proper conclusion. Still the show comes recommended with Anthony being especially good as the insane Manson.

His role in First Kill doesn’t stretch him as much as Aquarius, but he does give his character more personality than probably required, with his Southern accent being especially good considering the actor comes from England.   

The cast is rounded out by the likes of Megan Leonard as Laura, Wills wife. She had previously worked with Steven C Miller on his last feature Arsenal. Like that film, her role is relatively small. Also look out for regular Miller collaborator Tyler Jon Olson who he has worked with previously on Extraction, Marauders and Arsenal.

Special notice should be given to young Ty Shelton, who plays Danny. Considering First Kill is his first film, he is less annoying than expected and doesn’t fall into the trap of other similar child characters.  

First Kill is another of Steven C Miller’s films to be produced by Emmet/Furla/Oasis after working with them on Extraction and Arsenal. Like the majority of their films, First Kill has a low to medium budget, but still looks more professional than other DTV fare.

Miller has already teamed up with them since First Kill, with them being the production company on Escape Plan 2: Hades and its already announced third part.

Another of Millers frequent associates, director of photography Brandon Cox, returns once more to work with the director. After previously working on Extraction, Marauders and Arsenal, his work on First Kill doesn’t disappoint, although the colours are quite muted in comparison to Arsenal.  

The last two features of Milles had been edited by Vincent Tabaillon, who doesn’t return this time round. First Kill finds Miller working with a new editor, Thomas Calderon. Calderon does well, keeping the pace and feel of the film similar to other Miller films.

First Kill is the first film of note to be directed by Calderon with his previous sole editing work being mainly in television, although he has assisted in his fair share of blockbusters such as Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), The Flintstones (1994) and more recently Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).

First Kill is a good start for the editor, which should hopefully lead to further work. According to his filmography he already has a future film for director Andrzej Bartkowiak lined up.

This is only script writer Nick Gordon’s second full length feature, so he can be forgiven for some of the minor issues with the script, such as some generic lines and the odd silly scenario. The script however gets the job done and is an improvement on his previous film Girl House (2014), which was another attempt by Hollywood to update the slasher genre.

In the end First Kill is a small scale but enjoyable thriller that whets the appetite for what Steven C Miller is going to come up with in Escape Plan 2: Hades.