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Kill Your Darlings Movie Review

Kill Your Darlings is a 2013 biographical drama film directed by John Krokidas and starring Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan. It’s a rather weak biopic.

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“First thought, best thought“

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A literary revolution ensues when Ginsberg meets Carr at college. However, an unresolved murder invites trouble for Carr and sets Ginsberg on a path to reveal the truth through controversial poetry. First off, this movie was very much of its time. It captured a moment in time when these two actors were at the peak of their careers, but eventually both of them would pretty much disappear.

Dane DeHaan was everywhere back then and he was definitely very well cast in the role of Lucien Carr. This is a very unlikable man, but DeHaan played him confidently and with a lot of charisma, so he worked. As for Daniel Radcliffe, this movie came at a time when he was trying to establish himself as an indie actor after his Harry Potter run. This might be his best role during that era as he was very vulnerable, complex and memorable as Ginsberg. He is the best reason to see this film.

With that being said, the movie failed to properly develop their relationship and the end result is a slog to sit through. The pacing is sluggish, the directing from Krokidas is rather subpar and the movie is technically inferior in all aspects besides the acting. It’s simply not cinematic enough for me.

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Kill Your Darlings has very good dialogue as would be expected from a film about poets. The rebel spirit of these people was well conveyed for sure. The atmosphere is also quite good. But the plot is rather barebones and the execution of the crime-oriented third act wasn’t spicy enough. But above all else I was bored and I shouldn’t be for this on paper intriguing story.