Killing of John Lennon, The

Plot Outline:
John Lennon is known by most people, the Ex-Beatle who was assasinated December 8th 1980. Shot at five times with hollow point bullets from a .38 revolver by Mark Chapman. This film is about Mark Chapman & the three months that preceeded the shooting.

Mark Chapman's chilling words: "I was nobody until I killed the biggest somebody on earth." hold pretty much the weight of the film in it's very meaning.

Overall Impressions:
In the opening titles we are told that all of Mark Chapman's words in the film are his own, giving us a clear insight into the film's narrative being very much 'real'. What follows is how from merely being a disturbed young individual, his path wavers all over the place and soon finds focus in the assasination.

With an outstanding performance from Jonas Ball, who is hardly off screen, this presents the story of Lennon's killer in a way that is quite worrying. It taps the viewer with things they can easily relate to, things that people think but don't say, the more unstable kind of psyche that has to kept in check. At the surface of it, this guy is a human being just like you, me, the people we know.

The fact he coudn't keep it in check and that he became so focussed and determined to kill Lennon is probably the point where he's no longer one of us, but upto that point he has the human parallels that make the latter half quite chilling. As the story unfolds towards inevitable tragedy, you really do find yourself hoping that he won't do it, but he does. The film probably should have ended here, however it carries on and explains the words from the opening. He practically became famous over this, he even promoted the bok that supposedly inspired him to take the actions.

This whole stint in the last twenty minutes was uncomfortable and irritating. The guy was making excuses of God telling him to kill Lennon, later being exorcised for demons, it was all a bit of a mush. He couldn't make his mind up about the 'why' he did it, the only thing he was clear about is 'what' he did. The closing of the film tells us he's still locked away in maximum security.

Incidentally, the actor reminded me of Cillian Murphy quite a bit, and the character had vague resemblence in personality to Patrick Bateman, perhaps he was in creation inspired by this, who knows?

Possible moral of the story:
When I become rich & famous, I'm going to have private investigators after anyone that hangs outside where I live & someone watching them too, just in case.

A disturbing and chilling look at a mind of a killer. Very well done, but I'm pretty certain, this won't be for everyone.