‘Who Kills by Iron’ (2019): An Eye for an Eye

Directed by: Paco Plaza || Produced by: Mercedes Gamero, Mikel Lejarza, Emma Lustres, Borja Pena

Screenplay by: uan Galiñanes, Jorge Guerricaechevarría || Starring: Luis Tosar, Xan Cejudo, Ismael Martínez, Enric Auquer, María Vázquez, Daniel Currás, Rebeca Montero, María Luisa Mayol

Music by: Maika Makovski || Cinematography: Pablo Rosso || Edited by:David Gallart || Country: Spain, France || Language: Spanish

Running Time: 107 minutes

The REC (2007, 2009) movies were interesting experiences for my college-age cinephilia given how they were two of the first movies I rented from Netflix, and by rented, I mean ordered via physical media discs. Remember those? In all seriousness, the REC zombie possession films were more memorable for how their great premise — a small cast of characters are trapped in a multistory apartment complex when an infectious, potentially supernatural undead virus spreads throughout the tenants — was marred, in my assessment, by one of the more tiresome, shallow cinematographic trends popular at the time of those films’ production: The found-footage format. Curses upon those who supported that stupid fad!

Lead Luis Tosar (second from left) is introduced to elderly mafioso Xan Cejudo (second from right, midground) by the latter’s diegetic sons, Ismael Martínez (far right) and Enric Auquer (second from right, background).

In all seriousness, I’ve continued to explore the filmography of one of those movies’ two codirectors, Paco Plaza, and may sample the later works of the other, Jaume Balaguero, in the future, because the REC films stuck with me despite my many complaints with their technical aspects. Attributes of Plaza’s Verónica (2017) and Sister Death (2023) I also enjoyed, but it was Who Kills by Iron (Its original title, Quien a hierro mata, is a reference to the Spanish idiom, “Quien a hierro mata, a hierro muere,” or, “Who lives by the sword dies by the sword.”) that captured my full, undivided attention. Unlike the codirected REC movies, Verónica and Sister Death’s biggest weaknesses for me were connected to their scripts, while Who Kills by Iron, often marketed in English as An Eye for an Eye, is rock solid from a screenwriting perspective and also happens to have no credited contributions from Plaza, unlike those other three films. Perhaps Plaza is a better director than a writer, because Iron boasts none of the narrative shortcomings of his horror work.

Instead of the undead, demonic spirits, or religious conspiracies, Iron is an old-school, gritty crime drama told from the perspective of a civilian who’s drawn into the seedy underbelly of the criminal underworld a la Burn Out (2017), further endowed with an overarching yet not preachy moral message as in Calibre (2018). This combination of a relatable, ordinary yet proactive main character in Luis Tosar with an intimidating, violent, yet realistic backdrop of mob warfare is the strong narrative foundation from which Plaza’s capable direction takes flight. From that powerful story on paper, Plaza directs great, eclectic performances from Tosar and antagonists Xan Cejudo, Ismael Martínez, and Enric Auquer, whose at first seemingly disparate paths coalesce by the third act into fitting conclusions for all four of their arcs. The movie also ends with a banger of a twist that feels both earned and unpredictable, yet also inevitable in retrospect.

Outside of the writing, Plaza keeps the editing of most dialogue-driven scenes tight while fleshing out character growth through a combination of succinct montages as well as surgical cross-cutting during various action set-pieces, all techniques that maintain the film’s forward pace over its efficient 107-minute length. The set-pieces themselves range from extremely violent, such as a seaport drug deal with Chinese triads that goes wrong, leading into a frantic escape from police, to intimate and almost playful, like a climactic chase between Tosar and Martínez throughout a residential neighborhood at night, and all progress the story so the principal characters develop along with these events.

I don’t wish to discuss the plot too much given how satisfying its ending is, but here’s the gist: Tosar plays a geriatric nurse at an assisted living facility for the elderly who is assigned to care for an aging mafia don (Cejudo) whose organization contributed to the addiction and ultimate demise of Tosar’s brother. Sooner rather than later, Tosar forsakes his Hippocratic Oath in favor of revenge, which coincides with Cejudo’s upstart sons (Martínez and Auquer) attempting risky drug deals without their father’s approval and Tosar’s wife (María Vázquez) completing her third trimester of pregnancy. You can guess how well those events gel together.

There’s not too much explicit violence in Who Kills by Iron, but when it strikes, it’s memorable.

Though I am prone to reviewing crime dramas better than your average horror movie, I watch more of the latter than the former and am confident I don’t suffer from genre bias between the two. As much as Paco Plaza appears to specialize in horror, I think he should consider (1) tackling crime or mafia-centric stories more often and (2) not writing the scripts he directs. All of the previous films of his I’ve watched I’ve wanted to love more than I actually did, but Who Kills by Iron stands out from the pack thus far and showcases great directorial versatility on his part. Put the zombies and ghosts aside and give the gangsters another try.

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SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATION: Well paced, edited, and packed with a diversity of character personalities as well as realistic, unembellished action scenes, Who Kills by Iron shows the entertainment value of placing ordinary characters in extraordinary yet plausible situations. Luis Tosar is an almost perfect protagonist in the vein of Thomas Jane from The Mist (2007) or Christian Malheiros in 7 Prisoners (2021), while his supporting cast lays the groundwork for a great final twist.

— However… not much to complain about here, save for how some might balk at Tosar’s candidness with Xan Cejudo’s main villain.

—> RECOMMENDED

? I’m glad they didn’t cut a second later than they did in that last shot. Yikes…