“The Killer” makes things interesting by showing a botched assassination attempt and the fallout it causes, writes “Streaming” columnist NICK OVERALL.

IN the mood for a gritty neo-noir crime thriller?

Well Netflix’s newest movie “The Killer” is there to scratch that itch.

This tight, two-hour flick comes from David Fincher, the director of “Flight Club”, “Gone Girl”, “Seven” and many more moody crime delights. 

Once again he’s again firing on all cylinders with his newest film now available on the platform.

The simple but aptly titled “The Killer” stars Michael Fassbender as the nameless and nihilistic assassin at the centre of this slick streaming offering.

Mr Smith, Mr Miller, Mr Williams… an endless list of aliases is as close as viewers get to ever knowing the man’s real identity as he travels across the globe tracking down his targets.

Throughout the story the audience will become very familiar with his unsettling inner thoughts that offer a glimpse inside the psyche of a gun-for-hire.

“From the beginning the few have always exploited the many,” he tells us while piecing together a military-grade sniper rifle in the film’s opening minutes.

“This is the cornerstone of civilisation. Whatever it takes, make sure you’re one of the few.”

It’s this eerie diatribe that makes up the majority of the film’s dialogue. 

Apart from it, Fassbender’s eponymous assassin rarely says much out loud, instead able to communicate so much to those around him with just a haunting stare.

And what a killer cast that joins him. Tilda Swinton, in particular, delivers a peculiar and compelling performance of a woman candidly staring down death.

While viewers are quick to learn that the nameless anti-hero here is a master of his profession, “The Killer” makes things interesting by showing us a botched assassination attempt and the following fallout it causes.

The ending here may split some viewers, but the journey to get there is action-film making at its finest and smartest, complete with one of the most nerve-shredding fight scenes in recent memory. Well worth checking out for Netflix subscribers on the hunt for a crime drama that’s a cut above the rest.

THOSE looking for something a little more family-friendly this month may find plenty to love with Disney Plus’ newest “Oliver Twist” spin-off show “The Artful Dodger”.

This eight-episode series is set in 1850s Australia and tells the story of the cunning pickpocket of Charles Dickens’ famous novel and what he gets up to in the years following his encounter with the iconic orphan.

Jack Dawson (no, not the “Titanic” one) as the young thief is known, is played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who audiences might know as the wise young seer in “Game of Thrones” or that kid who ran through the airport in “Love Actually”.

He’s perfect for the role here, bringing wit and energy to an older version of the beloved character.

But what really spices up the plot is the presence of Fagin, played by “Harry Potter” star David Thewlis.

For those not familiar with Dickens’ famous novel, Fagin was the old crook who turned the poor children of London into thieving riff-raff by teaching them his deceptively crafty ways.

In this new series he tracks Dawson down after many years, pulling the young boy back into a life of crime that he’s desperately attempted to escape.

And what a fun surprise that it’s in Australia, of all places, they’ve landed. “The Artful Dodger” is set in “Port Victory”, a colony existing right in the middle of the Gold Rush at a time when the crooks of the soot-ridden streets of London were shipped off to a new land to begin a new life.

The result here is a darkly amusing spin-off of one of the most famous novels of the 19th century, bringing it to a modern audience with a shrewd script that already has viewers hanging out for a second season.

Please sir, I want some more.