Glen Powell has spent much of his career playing the kind of guy audiences instinctively want to trust. From the cocky but noble aviator Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick to the effortlessly charming storm chaser Tyler Owens in Twisters, he has built a persona centered on charisma, competence, and straight-ahead appeal. That makes his performance in John Patton Ford's 2026 black comedy How to Make a Killing something of a major event. The film, now streaming on HBO Max, gives Powell a chance to play a desperate, neurotic, and decidedly murderous character, and the result is among his most fascinating work.
How to Make a Killing is a loose remake of the 1949 British comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets, and it updates that classic story with a sharper satirical edge and a distinctly modern leading man. Powell plays Becket Redfellow, a man who believes he has been robbed of his birthright. Born to a teenage mother and dismissed by his wealthy family, Becket grows up with a burning sense of entitlement and an even deeper hunger for the luxuries he has been denied. When he discovers a loophole in the family will, he realizes that he can claim his fortune if he simply outlives everyone ahead of him. That realization sets off a killing spree that is played for dark laughs, but Powell never lets the comedy erase the character's disturbing single-mindedness.
What makes the performance stand out is the way Powell uses his own established screen persona against the audience. He is an actor audiences tend to like, which makes it genuinely unsettling when Becket starts murdering his relatives. Instead of playing Becket as a sneering villain, Powell invests him with a wounded, almost pathetic earnestness. Becket truly believes he is the victim. He tells himself that he is only taking back what should have been his. That self-justifying logic feels uncomfortably believable, and Powell's boyish charm makes it even easier to understand why so many people in the film are fooled by him.
You Want to Root for Glen Powell's Murderous Character
John Patton Ford directs the film in a way that deliberately places audiences on Becket's side, at least in the beginning. The movie opens with Becket in jail awaiting execution, and much of the story is told as a confession to a priest. This structure allows Becket to frame himself as a sympathetic figure who was failed by his family from the moment he was born. His mother's teen pregnancy led to his removal from the family line, and the early scenes of his childhood make it clear that he always felt like an outsider looking in. We also meet Julia, played by Margaret Qualley, the childhood love who instills in him a desire for the finer things in life. Julia's world of old money and effortless privilege becomes Becket's ultimate fantasy, one that he can never quite reach.
Because Becket is such a charming narrator, the audience is almost lulled into seeing things from his perspective. That is part of the point. Like Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, How to Make a Killing uses a charismatic protagonist to tempt viewers into rooting for someone who is clearly in the wrong. Becket's tunnel vision leaves no room for the victims. He sees the people he kills as obstacles rather than human beings. The movie never lets the audience forget that Becket is a sociopath, but it also makes it easy to understand why he would be so convincing in polite society.
The satirical target of the film is the ultrarich, and How to Make a Killing takes aim at them with a series of satisfying and often slapstick death scenes. Becket works at a high-end suit shop, where he spends his days serving wealthy customers while privately seething at what they have and what he does not. The store becomes his training ground. He learns how to dress, how to speak, and how to blend into the upper class. When he begins systematically killing the heirs who stand between him and the family fortune, he uses those skills to transform himself. Powell clearly enjoys this element of the performance, and his physical transformation is a key part of the movie's appeal. He slips into expensive suits and adopts a colder, more controlled demeanor, creating an American Psycho-inspired contrast between his good looks and the violence lurking underneath.
'Killing' Depends on Glen Powell's Double Life
Becket's double life gives Powell the richest material he has had in years. The character is constantly performing, adapting his behavior to whatever room he happens to be in. Around Julia, he plays the suitor who belongs in her world of inherited wealth. Around Ruth, played by Jessica Henwick, he plays a more grounded and humble man. Around his uncle Warren, played by Bill Camp, he plays a loyal employee who is worthy of promotion. The movie becomes a showcase for Powell's ability to show layers of deception, and he makes each version of Becket feel distinct without ever losing the frightened, hungry core underneath.
One of the film's cleverest choices is to have Becket's murders accidentally benefit him in unexpected ways. After he kills his cousin Noah, played by Zach Woods, Ruth becomes available, and Becket moves into her life almost immediately. Ruth is idealistic and suspicious of the wealth that so fascinates Julia. She represents a moral alternative, a life in which Becket could walk away from his obsession and simply live with someone who cares about him. But Becket is too far gone. He cannot see past his layers of deception, and he keeps telling himself that the fortune is worth any cost. Powell plays this self-deception with remarkable subtlety, never overacting the guilt because Becket feels less guilt than fear of being discovered.
If the greatest test of an actor's talent is the ability to portray lying, How to Make a Killing gives Glen Powell one of the best roles of his career. Becket is the ultimate fraud, a man who envied the rich and now gets to cosplay as one of them. He is not just deceiving the people around him; he is also deceiving himself. He has built an elaborate justification for his crimes, and he clings to it even when it should collapse. The movie's satirical take on wealthy heirs is broad at times, particularly the performance from Topher Grace as a megachurch pastor, but Powell keeps the central story grounded by playing Becket's moral collapse with a quiet, unnerving ease.
Becket is not quite as complicated as Emily, the protagonist of John Patton Ford's earlier film Emily the Criminal, but he is surprisingly close. Emily the Criminal explored the pressures and moral compromises of a woman pushed into a life of crime, and How to Make a Killing continues that filmmakers interest in characters who make dark choices for reasons that feel understandable. The difference is that Becket's reasons are rooted in entitlement rather than desperation. He wants a life he believes he is owed, and he is willing to destroy anyone who gets in his way. That is a tricky balance for any actor, and Powell pulls it off by making Becket both pitiable and monstrous at the same time.
The film also benefits from a strong supporting cast. Margaret Qualley brings a brittle elegance to Julia, making her the symbol of everything Becket craves. Jessica Henwick gives Ruth a warmth that makes it painfully clear what Becket is throwing away. Zach Woods is well cast as Noah, a cousin whose death sets major events in motion. Bill Camp adds gravity as Uncle Warren, and Topher Grace brings an appropriately smarmy energy to his role. Together, they create a world where Becket's pursuit of wealth feels satirical but never completely absurd.
How to Make a Killing represents a significant risk for Glen Powell, who could easily have kept playing likable heroes for the rest of his career. Instead, he chose to test himself with a role that asks audiences to laugh at murder while also feeling uneasy about their own reactions. The film works because Powell refuses to soften the character. He lets Becket be charming, entitled, petty, and cruel, and he trusts the audience to follow him anyway. That kind of performance is harder than it looks, and it proves that Powell has more range than his action-star roles might suggest.
For viewers who only know Glen Powell from Top Gun or Twisters, How to Make a Killing will be a surprising experience. For those who saw Hit Man, his 2024 collaboration that let him play a fake hitman who finds unexpected satisfaction in deception, the movie feels like a natural next step. Hit Man hinted at the actor's darker instincts and his comfort with morally ambiguous characters. How to Make a Killing goes even further, stripping away the idea that his characters are secretly good guys. Becket is not a hero in hiding. He is a murderer who wants to get caught. The fact that he still manages to seem charming is a testament to Powell's skill as a performer.
As streaming audiences discover the film on HBO Max, it is likely that this villainous performance will introduce Glen Powell to a new kind of fan. It may also change the way viewers look back at his earlier work. Once an actor demonstrates that they can play a murderer with this much control, it becomes harder to see their hero roles in the same innocent light. That is not a criticism. It is a mark of growth. Glen Powell has entered his villain era, and on streaming, that era is getting a second chance.
How to Make a Killing is streaming on HBO Max.
Source:Collider News