Film Reviews

The Killing of John Lennon

• Rating:
• Director: Andrew Piddington
• Starring: Jonas Ball
• Details: UK / 114mins (15A)

Release Date: December 7th (TBC)



Three months before he shot John Lennon outside the Dakota building in New York, 1980, The Catcher In The Rye-obsessed Mark Chapman's (Ball) precarious psyche begins to unravel: "I was starting to hate people. The slightest rebuff would send me into a frenzy." Initially focussing his hate at the local Scientology offices in Hawaii, Chapman soon sees the ex-Beatle, this 'phoney', as a symbol of what is wrong with today's society: "How can he talk about having no possessions and be a millionaire?" Chapman buys a gun, flies to New York and puts the final nail in the coffin of the '60s. TV director Andrew Piddington makes his first feature in eight years and what a return it is. Seen from Chapman's point of view, Piddington attempts to get inside the mind of the killer - what was he like? What drove him? Why? Narrated by Ball's cold delivery (using only the killer's words), Chapman comes across as a mix of Holden Caulfield, Travis Bickle and Ed Norton's unnamed anti-hero in Fight Club. It's fascinating to listen to him as he lays his soul, mad that it is, bare for all. The Killing Of John Lennon will do wonders for Piddington's career, as it will for his leading man: the unknown Ball plays Chapman cool, detached, deranged and, sometimes, sympathetic. If one were to quibble, it's arguable that the film falls in love with itself, refusing to quit when it should have shut up shop fifteen minutes before it eventually does.

Review by Gavin Burke