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I keep seeing this take in discussions, and I just don't get it.
Yes, the killer messes up in the beginning and he makes a few mistakes throughout the film (shooting the nails into the guy, getting caught in the Florida house, snagging the janitor's key). But the killer ultimately succeeds in everything. He kills everyone he wants to kill. He doesn't die or get caught or get grievously injured. And he repeatedly shows cold blooded efficiency, like when he killed Tilda Swinton or the Florida guy. Based on his wealth and reputation, he has probably successfully pulled off dozens of assassinations in the past.
So the killer is not a try-hard buffoon. He really is an expert assassin, but as he admits in the opening monologue, he isn't a genius, so he makes some mistakes along the way.
As for the ending, I think the textual read is that assassinating a billionaire would bring too much police attention and risk, so better just to threaten the guy. I'm guessing there is also some sort of subtext about the billionaire boss surviving while his contractor/employees all died, hence the killer monologuing that he's now part of the masses being exploited by the few, rather than vice versa.
I read a lot of reddit takes in the /r/movies review thread. I think you've kind of distilled it down.
The Killer is mostly a highly competent assassin. I think the point of the movie is that he is human and fallible. He keeps repeating his mantra while he breaks his own rules and that is kind of the point. He keeps fucking up, which isn't just because he's incompetent.
I think the movie shows a relatively realistic view of what a professional killer would be and how that would work in a world where humans are humans. The other killers fuck up more than the 'protagonist' did. Tilda Swinton's character should never have accepted a job with The Brute and it arguably led to her death.
The Lawyer had this arrogant professional attitude like 'You idiot why did you actually trust me? You know how the game is played' and treats the Killer with contempt, even as it led to his death. Fincher did well in that the movie with a 'What happens when people try to pretend that they are more perfect/professional than they are?' experiment.
Besides the meta-narrative, I really enjoyed the concept of what a hitman would actually look like in real life. I can't imagine someone doing much differently in a professional assassination role outside of the Spec Ops world. Many people in the reddit thread thought it boring and mundane, but I love the detail and the flaws in the methodology. It reminds me of a book series by Andy McNab (an ex SAS author) who talks about all sorts of mundanity like going to Target and buying a few changes of underwear before going on a stakeout, and how the protagonist fucks up even as he thinks he's done nothing wrong.
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