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As someone who considers Stanley Kubrick one of the greatest directors who ever lived, 'The Killing' is not one of his very best (his masterpiece being '2001').
This said, 'The Killing' is a big step up from the still solid if flawed 'Killer's Kiss' and especially the very poor (for me his only misfire) 'Fear and Desire', which only had the camera work and use of light and shadow going for it.
My only two complaints with 'The Killing' are with the ending and the narration. The ending was rather rushed and anti-climactic, ending on too much of an abrupt note. The narration poses more of a problem, apparently it was forced into the film and the tacky execution really shows, it is annoyingly cheesy, over-explanatory and overused and the film would have fared much better without it like Kubrick intended.
However, 'The Killing' looks great, complete with brilliantly evocative camera work/cinematography, atmospheric use of light and shadow and suitably claustrophobic sets. The music score is a marked improvement over the music scores for 'Fear and Desire' and 'Killer's Kiss', it's not perfect with parts that are a bit too loud and intrusive but here it is not inappropriately jaunty, it has its haunting and tense moments without being too obvious and unlike 'Fear and Desire' it doesn't sound like a bad Bernard Hermann imitation.
Also significantly improved is the dialogue, excepting the narration. Here the script is witty and deliciously sardonic, providing some really enjoyable chemistry between the characters and actors. Kubrick directs with a masterly touch, with much more of his own style coming through (one can say that he had not found it with 'Fear and Desire', was starting to find it with 'Killer's Kiss' and found it with 'The Killing). The story is ground-breakingly non-linear but tightly paced and with some genuine suspenseful tension and moving poignancy.
Of a strong cast, yet another big improvement, standing out are Sterling Hayden, Marie Windsor and Elisha Cook Jnr, who are all excellent in roles perfectly tailored for them.
In summary, while not one of Kubrick's best (he went on to do even better, with his first masterpiece being 'Paths of Glory') it is his first "very good" film. 8/10 Bethany Cox
8/10
