By Jackson Arterberry
A/V Editor

For an actor who has become one of Hollywood’s most dependable leads, Glen Powell feels stuck in a very specific mode. The confidence, the perfect hair, the easy charm all still work, but in “How To Make a Killing” that polish starts to work against the character. Becket Redfellow is supposed to be driven by resentment and a sense that his life was stolen from him. Powell plays him like someone who has never been shut out of anything. That gap is hard to ignore, and it keeps the character at a distance.

Glen Powell in How To Make a Killing. Photo courtesy from A24.

Becket’s backstory is built on rejection. His mother, Mary Redfellow, played by Nell Williams, was pushed out of a powerful family, and he grows up far from their money, holding onto the belief that it should have been his. That should create anger. It should create insecurity. Instead, he moves through New York in tailored suits, working in a luxury menswear store and fitting easily into the same wealthy spaces he claims he is exiled from. The film tells us he is an outsider, but nothing about the way he lives actually supports that. It weakens the motivation behind everything that follows.

The central idea is strong. A man quietly removing relatives so he can move up the line of inheritance has the potential to be either disturbing or darkly funny. The movie never fully commits to either direction. The murders arrive without much tension, and because there is so little emotional shift between them, they start to feel like a routine. Each one is just another step forward instead of a moment that changes him.

Glen Powell in How To Make a Killing. Photo courtesy from A24.

The most interesting part of the story is not the violence. It is how quickly Becket learns to function inside the system once he gets access to it. He lands a Wall Street job through family connections and begins making money in ways that are completely legal. The contrast is right there. He is rewarded more for fitting in than for what he risks doing to get there. The film brushes up against that idea and then moves on before it can really dig into it.

Most of the supporting characters feel thin. The relatives are exaggerated enough that they seem like they belong in a full satire, but they disappear before they leave much of an impression. His girlfriend Ruth, played by Jessica Henwick, represents a stable and normal life that exists outside of his obsession with status. She should be a real counterbalance. Instead, she is pushed so far to the edge of the story that she becomes more of a concept than a person.

Jessica Henwick in How To Make a Killing. Photo courtesy from A24.

The death row narration that plays throughout the whole film explains too much and adds distance instead of insight. Rather than letting the audience sit with what Becket has done, the film keeps everything controlled and orderly, just like he is. That control carries into Powell’s performance. He never lets the character slip. There is no moment where something raw or unpredictable breaks through. Without that shift, Becket never becomes tragic or frightening. He just stays closed off.

By the end the film’s point is clear: people with money live by a different set of rules, and the system is built to protect them. It is a strong idea, but the story never forces that idea into a real confrontation. Doors keep opening for Becket, and nothing truly challenges him. The movie observes that reality but never pushes it to a place that feels uncomfortable or revealing.

“How To Make a Killing” is smooth and easy to watch, and Powell remains a great screen presence. The problem is that the film keeps its distance from its own character and its own themes. It looks sharp. It sounds like it has something to say, but never cuts deep enough to leave a mark.