‘How To Make A Killing’ review: Glen Powell is out for murder in glib, underwritten crime dud

Dir/scr: John Patton Ford. US. 2026. 105mins

How To Make A Killing’s unlikely antihero discovers that murder can be lucrative, but there isn’t much of a payoff for this wan thriller/dark comedy. Glen Powell plays a hard-working everyman who decides to get revenge on the wealthy family that disowned him at birth by knocking off all the relatives ahead of him in line for a massive inheritance. Writer/director John Patton Ford’s second feature shares with his 2022 debut Emily The Criminal a sympathy for the world’s have-nots, but his follow-up’s cynicism never feels cutting and its twists never feel earned.

References elements of noir and dark comedy without adding any flair

Opening on February 20 in the US via A24 before arriving in UK theatres on March 13 through StudioCanal, the picture has star power thanks to Powell, who’s joined by Margaret Qualley, Jessica Henwick and Ed Harris. How To Make A Killing will draw comparisons to the 1949 Ealing comedy Kind Hearts And Coronets, also about an outcast son seeking vengeance, but the new film’s lack of buzz, paired with subdued reviews, may result in meagre commercial returns.

Sitting on death row with only hours until his execution, Beckett Redfellow (Powell) calmly explains to a priest (Adrian Lukis) how he arrived at this moment. Through extended flashbacks narrated by Beckett, we learn how he was born out of wedlock to a teen mother, Mary Redfellow (Nell Williams), who was subsequently banished from the rich Redfellow family by her cruel grandfather Whitelaw (Harris). Dying young and poor, Mary implored her son to claim the life of luxury he deserved. Initially, Beckett tried to earn an honest living but, after seeing how the world is rigged against the working class, he opts to start murdering the older heirs to the family fortune, plotting to be the last alive so he can enjoy all that wealth himself.

How To Make A Killing flaunts a vaguely noir-ish style, amplified by Todd Banhazl’s moody, shadowy cinematography and Emile Mosseri’s elegant score. Set in New York, although shot in South Africa, the film tells its story through Beckett’s envious eyes, presenting us with a city of extravagance that’s enjoyed by the spoiled Redfellow offspring, who know nothing of his existence. Beckett’s first killing, that of his playboy cousin Taylor (Raff Law), happens almost by freak accident – but once he gets away with it, he becomes emboldened.

Ford wants the audience to despise Beckett’s pampered relatives, casting actors who play up the characters’ most obnoxious, foolish qualities. But whether it’s Topher Grace’s arrogant megachurch minister or Zach Woods’ pretentious, talentless artist, the portrayals are so broad and so rarely funny that there’s little pleasure in watching Beckett dispatch them. And because Beckett’s murderous schemes lack much originality, often bordering on preposterous, the Redfellows’ deaths aren’t particularly compelling. As he did with Emily The Criminal, Ford taps into a collective resentment directed at the carefree, callous rich, but How To Make A Killing has none of his accomplished debut’s real-world believability or fleshed-out characters.

As a result, Ford’s new film is mostly a pastiche that references elements of noir and dark comedy without adding any flair. The most apparent example of this is Qualley’s depiction of Julia, the stereotypical femme fatale who was Beckett’s childhood love before ultimately marrying someone else. But once Julia deduces that he is behind the unsolved Redfellow murders, she tries to blackmail him to wrest control of the family fortune. Qualley brings the required smoky-sexpot energy, but Julia is so underwritten that the actress turns her into an unintentional parody of a familiar character.

Also disappointing is Powell’s glib portrayal of Beckett. The character’s amoral scheme is fuelled by his anger at how his mother was treated by her family — and, partly, because he wants to be well-off enough to finally woo Julia — so it’s meant to be ironic that, while committing these murders, he simultaneously finds himself worming his way into the family’s good graces. Beckett meets his kindly uncle Warren (Bill Camp), who always regretted that Mary was shunned and gives him a job at the family’s formidable investment firm, where he quickly becomes a successful broker. In addition, Beckett also falls in love with Ruth (Jessica Henwick), a down-to-earth teacher who values things other than money.

These developments should complicate Beckett’s resentment of the Redfellows, not to mention his belief that wealth ensures happiness. But Powell plays Beckett with utter shallowness, failing to bring additional layers to this supposedly enigmatic individual. Unlike Powell’s performance in the similarly ethically slippery 2023 film Hit Man, there’s no nuance or inner tension to this former rule-follower – who eventually realises that breaking the law may be the only way to get ahead in a cutthroat capitalist society.