{"id":33023,"date":"2026-02-18T23:16:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T07:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=33023"},"modified":"2026-02-18T23:16:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T07:16:32","slug":"how-to-make-a-killing-scores-a-few-points-but-fails-to-top-the-previous-adaptation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=33023","title":{"rendered":"HOW TO MAKE A KILLING Scores a Few Points, But Fails to Top the Previous Adaptation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 105 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature film from A24 opens exclusively in theaters\non February 20th.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this day and age of constant reboots and remakes, it can\nbe difficult to review a movie in which the original leaves a strong\nimpression. This is particularly true when certain changes to the story are\naltered or updated. The new dark comedy\/thriller How to Make a Killing<\/em>\nis one of those examples. It\u2019s a remake of the 1949 British classic Kind\nHearts and Coronets<\/em>. This picture revises the tale and puts it in a\nmodern-day American setting. It\u2019s a solid enough effort and one can\u2019t blame the\nmoviemakers for revising a 75-years-old film, especially when the has a line or\ntwo that would not be appropriate today (though it does display the main\ncharacter\u2019s true nastiness). But still, if you appreciate the original, you still\nmay end up having a few issues with this update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story begins with Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) sitting\non death row and explaining how he ended up there. Becket states that his\nmother was from an incredibly wealthy family, but was expunged after falling in\nlove with a man below her social station and getting pregnant. The lead grows\nup living a comparatively ordinary life, slightly envious of extended family\nmembers. As an adult, he is visited by childhood sweetheart and unhappily\nmarried aristocrat Julia Steinway (Margaret Qualley), who jokingly comments\nthat he should attain his rightful fortune by wiping his relatives out. Indeed,\nBecket begins plotting the murders of seven family members in order to become\nthe sole heir and gain billions in the process. His plans get complicated when\npolice take notice of the strange deaths and he falls for Ruth (Jessica\nHenwick), the girlfriend of one of his targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie casts a number of actors as various Redfellow\nfamily members, including Bill Camp, Zach Woods, Topher Grace, Raff Law, Sean\nCameron Mitchell and Ed Harris. With the exception of Camp, most of the\ncharacters are only in a scene or two, acting horribly before Becket attempts\nto eliminate them. This broadness is fine in a comedy and a few of these bits\nare funny, yet many of the characters still don\u2019t end up lingering for long in\nthe memory (the previous version had a very humorous way of getting around this\npotential problem).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least a couple of the murders are amusing to witness,\nwith one involving an anchor and another in which the character awkwardly tries\nutilizing a bow and arrow. Some offhanded comments from the lead and\ninvestigators are amusing as the bodies pile up, and the cutaway to the family\nmausoleum and yet another funeral is hilarious as well (even if this gag is borrowed\nfrom the original film).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Powell is capable in his role, although this reviewer\ncouldn\u2019t help but note that the film softens his edges and, despite many of his\nactions, present him as more of a character to root for. Becket is even threatened\nby family members at a couple of points. It\u2019s a shift from the original film\u2019s\nlead, an individual who becomes just as cold, pompous and even more cutthroat\nthan those he desires to kill. In general, this reinterpretation doesn\u2019t\nemphasize the satirical story elements enough or work as effectively. It feels\nespecially strange when the tone shifts more towards drama, presenting Becket\nas deeply dismayed about the possibility of losing Ruth.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m attempting to remain impartial, but the original film\ndid make a significant impact on me. There is a reason it\u2019s a classic among many\nfilm historians. Admittedly, I do believe that those witnessing this tale for\nthe first time won\u2019t have the same kind of problems as I did. For me, while this\nupdate is reasonably engaging, but also makes a few missteps in updating the\nstory that prevent it from achieving the same kind of success. How to Make a\nKilling<\/em> doesn\u2019t slay so much as leave one feeling a sense of apathy about\nthe entire exercise.    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 105 minutes This feature film from A24 opens exclusively in theaters on February 20th. In this day and age of constant reboots and remakes, it can be difficult to review a movie in which the original leaves a strong impression. This is particularly true when certain changes to the story are altered or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":33027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[217,605,2732,5213,6680,8379,9421,9422,9423,9424,11760,13189,16592,17693,17858,22825,23118,24721],"class_list":["post-33023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-217","tag-a24","tag-bill-camp","tag-dark-comedy","tag-ed-harris","tag-glen-powell","tag-how-to-make-a-killing","tag-how-to-make-a-killing-film-review","tag-how-to-make-a-killing-movie-review","tag-how-to-make-a-killing-review","tag-kind-hearts-and-coronets","tag-margaret-qualley","tag-raff-law","tag-satire","tag-sean-cameron-mitchell","tag-thriller","tag-topher-grace","tag-zach-woods"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}