Good Kill: War on moral conscience

Good Kill is mainly about the calamity of ethics in modern warfare.

Major Thomas Egan played by Ethan Hawke is a Las Vegas based former fighter pilot. He no longer fly a jet in war but instead he is assigned, on ground, as a drone fighter pilot, remotely assassinating and bombing terrorists' cells in the Middle East.

Amidst his daily routine of flying a war drone and leading that typical American airman life, Egan failed to realise that he is on the verge of disaster with his family and career due to post traumatic stress disorder.

Deprived of doing what loves most, i.e: flying a ‘real’ fighter jet like he used to including his addiction towards alcohol, has driven his relationship with his wife to havoc.

Blonde bombshell, January Jones played the argumentative wife, Mrs. Molly Egan and they have a pair of kids and a home at the suburbs –just like any other ordinary American family.

However, beyond the bright white picket fences and the all-American family normalcy, Egan is constantly battling with his inner crisis of conscience.

His job requires him to terminate innocent lives with war drones at a click of 'joystick' including playing the battle zone on video games, only it involves killing real human beings.

It made him question the definition of terrorism and the goals of war.


Ethan Hawke has yet again proved he is a brilliant and versatile actor. He portrayed the solemn sadness of a spiritless former American war pilot with his silence and emotionless stature.

This film tells what lies beneath the heart and mind of a man who failed to serve the purpose of his skills, training, experience and passion whose agony is intensified with the ever-growing blurred lines between good and evil - that life itself is not what it seems.

What is unique about the whole picture is the fact that New Zealander, Andrew Niccol (of Gattaca and Lord of the War fame) has successfully depicts the irony of war outside the combat zone.

Niccol has also managed to tell a big story within the confinement of medium or close shot of the actors’ (and actresses’) faces. One will experience a series of deja vu but without being and feeling dull.


Major Egan with his comrades, Bruce Greenwood as Jack Johns and Zoe Kravitz as Vera Suarez.

There are several scenarios in this film where it screams monotony but in a good way.

For example, many scenes are repetitive like Egan in action with his comrades fighting the Al-Qaeda, day in and day out from the confinement of a small metal square.

And if Egan is not at work, he’ll be playing good daddy at home but simultaneously battling the consistent husband and wife’s arguments which denote strongly -- the sufferings that Egan endures everyday.

Essentially, the film questions the face value of war. Niccol sends and captures the tone of war and the after-effect of the 9/11 devastation as wisely as one expects it to be.

But, nonetheless, the whole Good Kill experience is gut-wrenching, meaningful and brave – just like any (good) war movie aim to be.

Directed and written by: Andrew Niccol

Cast: Ethan Hawke, January Jones, Zoe Kravitz, Jake Abel

Release date: Wednesday (April 16, 2015)

Watch Good Kill trailer here: