I Kill Giants
4 stars
Director: Anders Walter
Stars: Madison Wolfe, Zoe Saldana, Imogen Poots
Duration: 106 mins
Class: 12
KRS Releasing Ltd

I was struck by the many similarities between the funny and touching I Kill Giants and last year’s A Monster Calls. Both stories have young teens at their heart, a girl and boy respectively, dealing with too much pain for people their age. Both fight their grief using their vivid imaginations as a weapon.

It may be that A Monster Calls’ overall visual creativity is not matched by Giants’. Yet, the latter is still definitely worth seeking out for its equally accurate portrayal of an all-too-real situation in a wholly creative and heart-rending manner, and an utterly winning and compelling performance by its young protagonist.

Barbara Thorson (Madison Wolfe) is a bespectacled, young teenage girl with a penchant for wearing rabbit ears, whose purpose in life is to protect herself and her neighbours from the giants that roam the forests surrounding her hometown. It is a tough and dangerous job in a dark and forbidding world. 

“I find giants, I hunt giants, I kill giants,” she says matter-of-factly. Her ‘job’ is a much-needed escape from the realities of the world in which she lives – including school, where she is the frequent target of bully Taylor (Rory Jackson) and her cronies, and her even more difficult home-life where she is cared for by her worn-out sister, Karen (Imogen Poots) and indifferent brother Dave. 

Wolfe is funny, shrewd, obtuse, and vulnerable in equal measure

When her real-life situation threatens to send her deeper into her own solitary world, a fortuitous friendship with new kid on the block Sophia (Sydney Wade) and a timely intervention by a sympathetic school therapist (Zoe Saldana) hold her back. Yet, by this point, Barbara must find the will and strength to battle the biggest giant of them all.

For all its fantastical elements, I Kill Giants is essentially a coming-of-age story, a character study of a child having to grow up way too quickly.

The story is powered by a flawless performance from young Wolfe who is funny, shrewd, obtuse and vulnerable in equal measure as young Barbara. A loner and an introvert who eschews friendship (finally giving into curiosity as she cautiously befriends Sophia), she lives down in the family home’s basement, under a makeshift tent.

Here, she writes a detailed and vividly illustrated diary of her ‘conquests’ and creates protective magical incantations, refusing to go anywhere near her actual bedroom upstairs for reasons that become amply clear soon enough. She withstands Taylor’s horrific taunts – simply because they are nothing compared to the other horrors she is facing – and wears the weary mantle of one carrying the entire world on her shoulders. In portraying her, Wolfe effortlessly tugs our heartstrings in a truly authentic and emotional manner.

Wolfe is the protagonist in an ensemble of strong female characters. Imogen Poots as her harried sister Karen trying to keep the family together and keep her job in the absence of their parents while Zoe Saldana earns points for her portrayal of the intuitive Mrs Molle, sticking with Barbara even when her behaviour becomes truly unruly and breaches certain boundaries. Wade makes for a cute and curious Sophia, whose friendship with Barbara is vital; and veteran actress Jennifer Ehle pops up in a small but vital cameo.  

The peace of the intimate small-town setting is shattered by the appearance of the giants – quite terrifying creatures which roam the forests and lurk beneath the sea surface. They are huge, hulking monsters; scenes of effective CG that work wonders in creating the dark world Barbara inhabits. 

The script by Joe Kelly, based on his own award-winning graphic novel, tackles issues which are as old as the hills – pain, heartbreak and bravery. It explores the fundamentals of human relationships, of family and friends. And,  if these have been tackled myriad times in cinema – to wit, the afore-mentioned A Monster Calls – I Kill Giants and its unorthodox heroine stays with you long after the credits roll.