"“In answer to the question posed in the film’s title – the answer is a resounding yes please. Just do it quickly.”"
When it comes to cycling, it's fair to say that us Brits do it best. Not only do we tend to win the majority of gold medals at Olympic Games, but we make the sport look cool, epitomised in Tour de France winner and mod enthusiast Bradley Wiggins. However, Stuart Urban's May I Kill U? presents a somewhat different take on riding a bicycle, and instead of sideburns and peace signs, it's luminous jackets and brutal murders, as Kevin Bishop takes on the role of a psychopath.
Bishop plays Baz, a community support police officer who lives at home with his abusive hypochondriac mother Bernice (Frances Barber) and seems to spend much of his time being bullied and intimidated from those around him. However, when he suffers a knock to the head as a result of an attack from local troublemaker Clark (Tyson Oba), he awakes to find himself a man on a mission: to go round and kill everyone who makes his life a misery. Anyone who dares to break the law in the local neighbourhood is in danger of finding themselves the latest victim of 'N4cethelaw' - as Baz's Twitter alter ego stirs up a social network phenomenon, posting the violent massacres online. In the meantime he forms something of a catchphrase for himself, when asking his victims “may I kill you?” before each attack.
Although May I Kill U? is certainly a creative film – particularly given the low-budget – it suffers from not truly knowing what it's supposed to be. With a premise similar to that of Bobcat Goldthwait's God Bless America, whereby our protagonist savagely murders various people who irritate him, this hasn't got that same satirical edge, as Baz isn't trying to prove a point as such, he is simply suffering from a head injury. Therefore in order to make this film work it must either be comical and overly gory, or more psychological and dark, yet it's neither, as you struggle to comprehend quite how to take it. There are touches of comedy, and the narrative on the whole is dark, but it doesn't steer towards either too dramatically, proving ineffectual as a result.
Given we're following the disturbed story of Baz, it's important we feel close to our lead in order to try and understand him and sympathise with his situation. However there isn't an identifiable beginning to this film, as we are devoid of any background knowledge to begin with. We barely know him at all before he starts murdering people, so we haven't already formed that connection with him that is needed to allow us to root for him throughout the rest of the movie. Instead he just comes across as someone who needs help. In fairness, as the film progresses we do slowly grow to understand Baz, as we delve into his difficult life at home with his mother and his simple need for affection. However it all comes too late and our opinions are already formed.
As a film that is effectively a character study of one man's demented journey, you need to be emotionally involved in the role for it to work, and despite Bishop's best efforts sadly this isn't the case. However, and although working with a largely lacklustre screenplay, Bishop does stand out, as he combines his comic tendencies with a rather harrowing and gaunt demeanour to make for an impressive performance.
May I Kill U? also suffers in the visual sense, although of course you have to take the budget into consideration. However there are certain aspects to the film where the budget cannot be blamed for, such as terrible title and the cheap, supposedly quirky text graphics which show up on the screen, whereby we can view the characters’ text messages and tweets to one another, as they flash up along the side.
May I Kill U? is no doubt a creative picture, and does offer something a little different for British cinema, and is thought-provoking as a result. However, its inability to make the audience laugh consistently or feel in any way distressed leaves it devoid of fun and emotion. So, in answer to the question posed in the film’s title – the answer is a resounding yes please. Just do it quickly.
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