✯✯✯✯½

In recent memory, the action genre on an international basis gets shaped by films like The Raid, Snowpiercer, or even the John Wick series. Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s Kill takes influence from all of these in order to make this super nasty, gory, and all around fun thrill ride. Obviously you know where things can go with the setting on a moving train, but everything gets straight to the point with its story of one man versus tenfold, maybe even more. Sometimes I think that just happens to be all you might need in order to make something that’s going to be fun for everyone to watch, because Kill could just as easily be classified by anyone as The Raid on a train – but with all the carnage you’re made to watch, you might be in store for something more.

Taking inspiration from the stories about train robberies in India, Kill tells a story of the mercenary Amrit (Lakshya) and his lover Tulika (Tanya Maniktala), planning to take a trip to New Delhi to get married. Amrit’s own fellow commando friend Viresh also happens to come on board, but the plans for a romantic getaway are put to a halt when the train gets hijacked by a bunch of goons led by Fani (Raghav Juyal). And soon it sends both Amrit and Viresh to face off each of the bad guys one by one, all in the name of keeping Tulika and her family safe. From there alone you can only expect a high body count to pile up but that only happens to be just part of the fun from watching Kill.

Being a Bollywood production, you’re not going to get the usual song-and-dance for every crucial moment as you’d expect. But what you’ll still get is the heightened melodrama especially when it comes to telling the story of Amrit and Tulika. At a certain point, I feel almost like this movie seems as if it’s parodying what western audiences would expect from Bollywood productions, because Nikhil Nagesh Bhat is keeping everything as playful as he possibly can – and it works wonders with building up the stakes at play in Kill. If anything, the highly melodramatic romance storyline just serves as a perfect lead-in for the gory fights you’re going to find yourself experiencing in Kill.

With the action all confined to the moving train, one could wonder how Nikhil Nagesh Bhat keeps the energy going without getting you tired. It’s all accomplished in the first half. In fact, the entire first half of the movie is a showcase for the impressive fight choreography that’s to come, especially as the punches land one by one. But really, it’s the way that everything is set up and telegraphed that just so happens to build the hype for what’s to come. Bhat’s influences are clear from here, taking his cues from Snowpiercer and The 36th Chamber of Shaolin among a few – especially as we start from the back but move much closer to the front of the train where all the bad guys huddle up. Add that with the fact that one of its action choreographers is Oh Se-young, people who love the aforementioned films can only feel the energy build from there.

Eventually, you get the title card drop and that’s where it feels like Bhat and company are preparing you for the ride of a lifetime. Because the title card drop comes so late into the film, it feels like the violence has amped up to such a level where you get even more hyped to see Amrit taking out each bad guy one by one. It’s also made even funnier by the fact that you’re watching the thieves grieve for the loss of their own members in between each moment where Amrit fights them off, but where bullets could have made everything go by so quick, you feel the pain landing even harder because it’s entirely in close combat. Even then, that ends up making for really creative ways to take out a goon, including some really brutal kills that repurpose objects you see on a train ride that might even put Jackie Chan to the test.

With the Midnight Madness crowd, it’s easy to see a film like this being made into a much more fun time. You come in for the guys punching one another left and right, stay for the romance and the heightened melodrama, get yourself pumped up the closer you get to the front, and then some more. A movie like this is designed for the audience cheers, but at the same time, you can’t help but be at the very least in awe of the fight choreography as they not only get more elaborate but even more gruesome the longer it goes. It never overstays its welcome, it just gets right to the point and keeps on giving from there.

Watch the trailer right here.

All images via Lionsgate.

Directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Screenplay by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Produced by Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Guneet Monga Kapoor, Achin Jain
Starring Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Raghav Juyal
Release Date: September 8, 2023 (Toronto International Film Festival)
Running Time: 115 mintues