A thriller as proficient and stylish as its protagonist, The Killer director David Fincher delivers a minimalist action movie of little stakes and high finesse.

In a body of work occupied with engaging twist filled mysteries (Seven, Gone Girl) and absorbing character dramas (The Social Network, Zodiac) there is a simplicity to The Killer that feels Fincher-lite.

It all comes down to the lack of stakes at play. Everything is too easy in The Killer, an action thriller in which an unnamed assassin (Michael Fassbender) seeks revenge against those who wronged him.

We first see Fassbender’s assassin in an empty Paris loft waiting patiently for his next target who is due to arrive any day in the lavish hotel across the street. Through noirish narration, we learn the assassin has a strict regimen (of course) dedicated to fitness and focus which has resulted in a perfect record of kills…and right on cue, he misses his shot. The assassin’s employees retaliate by brutally attacking his girlfriend (Sophie Charlotte.)

Quicker than you can say “trope” Fassbender’s assassin is on the warpath against anyone responsible for the attack. In typical Fincher fashion the revenge thrills depicted in The Killer is more of a simmering cool as opposed to the fiery exploits of Man on Fire and Taken. The technical aspects of The Killer are top notch, with cinematographer Erik Messerchmidt (Mank) and a sound team led by supervising sound editor Ren Klyce (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) delivering as they often do.

What is lacking in The Killer is any sense of stakes and passion. Take the relationship between the assassin and his girlfriend; while the plot point provides story momentum and character motivation, it fails to provide any depth into the humanity of this almost cyborg-like killer, whose narration barely registers above monotone.

Who are these people? What do the mean to one another? Why should we invest in the assassin’s revenge tour, save for watching the always physically engrossing Fassbender do gratuitous murder with cool bravado.

The breezy nature of how Fassbender’s assassin succeeds his kills only exasperates the issue. Every problem has an answer, and every challenge is overcome with barley a sweat broken. The best scene in The Killer, is which Fassbender has a knock-down drag-out fight with another assassin named “The Brute” (Sala Baker) at least shows a resistance, a challenge, a hurdle to overcome.

The Killer is not a bad film, but compared to Fincher's filmography it is lightweight; an example of efficiency over emotion and (dare it be said) style over substance.