Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
In the shadowy world of drone warfare, combat unfolds like a video game–only with real lives at stake. After six tours of duty, Air Force pilot Tom Egan now fights the Taliban from an air-conditioned bunker in the Nevada desert. But as he yearns to get back in the cockpit of a real plane and becomes increasingly troubled by the collateral damage he causes each time he pushes a button, Egan’s nerves—and his relationship with his wife—begin to unravel.
Good Kill tackles the moral ambiguity of drone warfare with earnest intent, and Ethan Hawke delivers a quietly effective performance as a pilot hollowed out by remote killing. The film raises genuinely interesting ethical questions about modern warfare and psychological detachment. However, the screenplay leans on familiar character-study tropes—the troubled veteran, the strained marriage, the skeptical colleague—without fully developing them. Cinematography is functional but unremarkable, contrasting sterile bunker interiors with suburban Nevada in a way that feels schematic rather than artistically distinctive. The ending is unsatisfying, offering an abrupt act of defiance that feels more like a statement than a dramatically earned conclusion. Novelty is modestly above average for its specific drone-warfare focus and sober, non-action-hero framing, but the domestic subplot is well-worn territory.