David Fincher’s latest thriller is streaming on Netflix and while it’s as slick as his other films, it hasn’t made much of a splash and feels a little pointless. As its tagline suggests, it amounts to being competence porn and while it does start with the protagonist making a mistake, it only goes to show that even the most skilled and well prepared of professionals are subject to the vagaries of random chance. It’s a very satisfying procedural to watch as it shows every detail of the work of a professional hitman. But it’s not saying anything that is interesting and its subtext, that in the end, it’s the rich, white dudes who get to life, makes for a sour conclusion however true to life it may be.

A professional hitman known simply as the Killer stakes out a target in Paris from an empty building across the street. Not knowing exactly when the target will arrive, he spends time sleeping in short fits, working out, listening to music, getting food from McDonald’s and so on for an extended period, all the while narrating in his inner voice his philosophy as a hitman and his personal mantra. When the target finally arrives in the company of a prostitute, he takes his shot with his sniper rifle and hits the woman instead. He reports his failure to his handler and successfully flees the scene using his established extraction protocols, taking care to avoid being followed or tracked. When he arrives at his personal compound in the Dominican Republican, he finds that other killers have already attacked the place, severely injuring his girlfriend. Realizing that this is blowback for his failed assassination attempt, he begins tracking the killers responsible and the person who sent them.

It is a little ironic that after hearing him go on so long about the qualities needed to be a hitman and the extreme precautions he takes, he actually misses his shot. It seems to be genuinely a fluke however as his handler is surprised by his failure and he proves to be supremely competent throughout the rest of the film. That makes this a procedural in which most of the appeal comes from the detailed portrayal of his techniques, from disposing his weapon in small pieces in different locations, sanitizing every surface he touches, having fake identities and equipment stashes galore, and even buying specific specialized equipment off of Amazon to deal with security measures. Then there’s the mindset of the Killer himself, how he rejects empathy, sticks to the plan and does his best to treat all this as a professional job. I don’t find that particularly interesting but it’s a reasonable and plausible attitude for a hitman and there’s a kind of romanticism in imagining that this kind of shadowy underworld exists.

I’d argue that it’s still all smoke and mirrors and this film is more about looking slick and plausible than actually being realistic. It nods to the existence of CCTV cameras but the Killer makes no real effort to defeat them. He may have a shelf full of identity documents but how does he deal with biometric sensors? The truth is that given the state of modern surveillance technology, a lone agent, no matter how skilled, is simply no match for a government determined to find him. A serious assassin would need to be backed up by an entire team of back office specialists. I suppose Fincher concedes to that reality by having the Killer being wary of actually killing the people who matter. Killing random innocents, other assassins and so on is fine but murdering a rich, white billionaire is more trouble than it’s worth unless you’re being well paid for it.

All in all, this is a beautifully shot film that is very entertaining. But it also feels very unambitious in not having anything in particular to say. You watch it, find it cool, and then just move on.