Fatherhood, survival, corruption, and the moral gray area of crime.
A significant strength of First Kill lies in its subversion of character roles. The kidnapper, Levi, is not portrayed as a purely sadistic villain but as a desperate man caught in a corrupt system. This creates an interesting moral gray area, as Will is forced to evade the local police—led by a suspicious Chief Howell—to save his son. The film suggests that the line between "good guys" and "bad guys" is often blurred by institutional corruption, a recurring motif in Miller’s filmography. First Kill(2017)
The narrative begins with Will taking his wife and son, Danny, to his rural hometown in Granville, Ohio, to reconnect after Danny is bullied at school. This setup establishes a central theme: the transfer of strength from father to son. Will’s motivation for the trip is to teach Danny how to hunt, a symbolic attempt to instill "toughness" in a boy he perceives as vulnerable. However, the lesson takes a dark turn when they witness a shooting between two criminals involved in a multi-million dollar bank heist. In a moment of panic and self-defense, Will shoots one of the men, only to have the other take Danny hostage to ensure Will’s cooperation in recovering the stolen money. Fatherhood, survival, corruption, and the moral gray area
Analyze the of Hayden Christensen vs. Bruce Willis? Compare this to other Steven C. Miller action films? This creates an interesting moral gray area, as
First Kill (2017) is an action-thriller directed by Steven C. Miller that explores the desperate measures a father will take to protect his family. Starring Hayden Christensen as Will, a successful Wall Street broker, and Bruce Willis as Police Chief Howell, the film uses a botched bank robbery as the catalyst for a high-stakes kidnapping plot. While the film follows many traditional tropes of the "ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances" genre, it provides a commentary on the collision between modern corporate life and the primal instincts of survival and fatherhood.