'The Killer’s' Anti-Climactic (and Dark as Hell) Ending, Explained

Everyone’s heard of Chekhov’s gun, the firearm you see in the first act and just know will go off by the third. But is there a term for the gun you expect to be fired at the end but isn’t? The Killer has one of those. After two hours of methodical bloodshed, the title character of David Fincher’s sleek Netflix noir finally tracks down his target, gets him in his crosshairs… and opts not to pull the trigger. It would be unusual to expect an action-packed finale from a thriller as minimalist as this one. But to deny Michael Fassbender’s nameless assassin (and the audience) his final kill? It’s an ending as perversely anti-climactic as it is surprising. It’s also a pointed subversion, a curveball with a purpose.