With a cool, calm demeanor that belies his sadistic tendencies (initially hinted at via his leg tattoos, which denote his numerous kills), Skarsgard’s Deeks is a slyly sinister authority figure. Its voice grows louder after the arrival of new Staff Sergeant Deeks (Skarsgård), who unlike his predecessor, isn’t interested in winning hearts and minds so much as eradicating any threats to his men’s safety.

Eager to make a difference, he’s a typical rah-rah kid, albeit one with a conscience that won’t keep quiet. The writer/director doesn’t deviate from the facts of the case, but he has changed its players’ names, beginning with protagonist Andrew Briggman (Wolff). soldiers stationed in the Kandahar Valley executed a number of Afghan civilians and then covered up their crimes by staging the scenes to look like attacks.

Those star turns should help make the difficult film an easier sell to mainstream audiences when, after its Tribeca Film Festival premiere, it receives a theatrical release courtesy of A24.Īs with the earlier nonfiction version, Krauss’ film concerns the Maywand District murders, in which a “kill team” of U.S. Based on his 2013 documentary of the same name (and, thus, a true story), writer-director Dan Krauss’ narrative retelling depicts the methodical murderous inculcation of a young American soldier in 2010 Afghanistan, led by a committed performance from Nat Wolff and a scarily sociopathic Alexander Skarsgård. Atrocities don’t exist in a vacuum, and “The Kill Team” is most valuable - and chillingly effective - as an exposé of the means by which honorable young military men grow comfortable with perpetrating heinous crimes.

Intitleindex of the kill team 2019