How to Make a Killing review (2026)

How to Make a Killing is an enjoyable dark comedy/thriller that carefully navigates along both genres until a less than satisfying final act ruins too much of the fun.

Becket Redford (Glen Powell, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie) is on death’s row hours before his execution. A priest, Father Morris (Adrian Lukis), has stopped by his cell to take Becket’s final confession. Becket isn’t interested in any last-minute repentance but does take Father Morris up on his chance for one final conversation.

Making the most of the opportunity, Becket explains the events that led him to this cell and preparing for his execution. Director/screenwriter John Patton Ford adapts the 1949 Alec Guinness/Dennis Price film Kind Hearts and Coronets with a modern twist. Like the 1949 film, How to Make a Killing is based on Roy Horniman’s 1907 novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal. 

In Powell, Ford has a leading man capable of being a charming killer audiences can root for even as he’s killing off his family members. The only catch for Powell is how similar How to Make a Killing is from another film where he was an assassin in the 2023 thriller comedy Hit Man. While Hit Man offered Powell more opportunities to have some fun in switching up his roles, he’s locked in as a steely unapologetic killer here.

Not shockingly, Powell makes that work just fine as well. His star has shone brightly over the last few years, and it doesn’t seem like it’s fading anytime soon.

As far as villain origin stories go, Becket’s got a doozy. His mother, Mary (Nell Williams), was quickly disowned by her father, Whitelaw (Ed Harris), and deciding to keep her baby. While cut off from the family, Mary and by proxy, Becket, were still in line for the family fortune of over $20 billion once the other heirs were dead. Young Becket (Grady Wilson, The Iron Claw) casually mentions this news to his classmate, Julia Steinway (Maggie Toomey, Scream 7), less in a braggy fashion and more matter-of-fact manner.

Becket didn’t grow up with any fondness for his extended family, who couldn’t be bothered with Mary or him even as Mary’s health failed. That’s more than enough grounds for a calculated and cold serving of revenge. Decades later, Becket’s ties to the family extend as deep as the obituary pages to see if he’d moved up the line for the inheritance.

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With eight family members holding on and, in most cases, thriving, Becket is resigned to his quiet and ordinary life until he reunites with the newly engaged Julia (Margaret Qualley). She’s living her best life just as Becket gets laid off. While jokingly considering it in the past, Becket does act on his darker impulse and kills one of his cousins, Taylor (Raff Law).

In fairness, this cousin was an obnoxious posterchild for eat the rich who wasn’t going to contribute anything meaningful to society even by accident. For the first murder in How to Make a Killing, Ford takes an appropriate length of time to explain that this murder really isn’t “hurting” anyone. In a welcome twist from the formula, Becket admits his family heritage to Taylor’s father, Warren (Bill Camp), who surprisingly welcomes him into his broker business.

While pleased at his progress at the job, Becket is still driven to lead a better life by offing more of his family. Next in his sights is the obnoxious artist Noah (Zach Woods). While Noah is perfectly vapid, an instant spark ignites with Becket and Noah’s girlfriend, Ruth (a fully charming Jessica Henwick). Ford is probably too casual with the passage of time, but after a respectful period, Becket and Ruth start dating. Powell and Henwick have strong chemistry creating another intriguing dynamic in How to Make a Killing.

This cues up the real conflict with How to Make a Killing. Can Becket actually be content knowing he’s right where he wants to be in life with a woman who loves him. Can money buy that kind of happiness?

Becket seems to have the right kind of life Mary made him promise to have, but that fortune is still too tempting especially since the FBI investigators (Phumi Tau and Stevel Marc) can’t draw any real connection between him and the family deaths. Becket’s biggest threat to his happiness might be Julia, who keeps hinting that she suspects exactly how his family members met their fates.

How to Make a Killing is paced briskly after the first two murders as Ford races through Becket taking out more of his family before settling down into a quasi-state of happiness. That gets threatened when Julia attempts to extort Becket and he gets an unexpected message for a meeting. Qualley gives a compelling femme fatale performance playing against any typecasting as the girl next door.

This final act is when things get a bit awry as it feels like the one aspect of the film that Ford didn’t have a strong enough handle to properly pay off. Ed Harris is solid in his smaller supporting role although his character needed more backstory to make his face to face with Becket more meaningful.

How to Make a Killing is an entertaining dark comedy for 3/4 of the way. With some tightening up on the final act it could have been a thoughtful look at this clever exaggeration of the drive to have it all regardless of who gets hurt in the process mindset.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Photo Credit: A24

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