Film Review

Boy Kills World (2023) — not a pinball wizard, but a punch ’em up blizzard

A deaf boy’s family is murdered, leading him to become an instrument of death thanks to a shaman’s training…

Remember arcade games? If you’re under 40, you probably don’t. For those of my age and background, they’re associated with seaside and holiday park amusements. I grew up in a coastal town where, if you visit its promenade today, you’ll still see ‘Gaiety Amusements’ in neon calligraphy above a rather grim array of buzzing and beeping machines. (I say “rather grim” as they always seemed that way to me, having been brought up when such amusements had gone from futuristic novelties to things rough kids and men spent all day gambling on.) Yet arcade games have had a long afterlife in films, to the point where they’ve entered the common iconography of cinema. Mention arcades and even the most phone-obsessed Gen Z’er on TikTok will think of Pac-Man, Frogger, and Donkey Kong before Grecian covered walkways come to mind.

Boy Kills World — the latest ultra-violent and post-ironic extravaganza, produced by Sam Raimi…