I don’t like the music, it doesn’t seem to fit the story.
In general, the shots are poorly framed. Not close enough or too far away, not the right angles.
If you don’t have a steady cam, put the camera on a tripod. Avoid panning. The motion distracts from the subject. Slow zooms would be okay if done properly.
Obviously the killing scenes are lame, but they seem to be placeholders for now.
The costuming is poor, the clothes are just ordinary and do nothing to highlight the subject and his occupation.
The actors seem to move to fast, but I think that’s a result of the poor framing.
There’s just too much light, not enough shadows, made worse in that scene at the end where the actor’s is too dark to see in detail due to the contrast of lots of sunlight.
Each scene is too quick, not enough dwell on the subject, and no real setup for the end of the scene.
The killer and the victim move too much alike. There’s no contrast between the characters.
Some detailed points:
Buttoning the shirt is a way of depicting the meticulous and methodical nature of a hired killer. The shirt should have been pressed and starched, and the scene should have been a closeup of the hands doing each button slowly and with practised intent. This would lead to a closeup of the killer’s face.
A slow zoom in on the book about forgiveness highlights the topic, and the actor needs to assume a different appearance as a contrast to the killer persona.
The washing the hands scene is heavy handed in theme, and poorly shot. Perfect place for some slo-motion to change the pace of the story, and a close up on the hands.
There’s no build up in the killing scenes. Each shot happens at the same pace, same length of time. And the victim looks more like a killer than the killer does. The victim has to look innocent in some respect, even if he’s a bad guy he has to appear unaware of the danger he’s in.
The killing is the real point of the story up to then, so there should have been some shocking change in the style to highlight the lack of empathy on the part of the killer, and the terror of the victim. Those are the money shots in this kind of story.
