Director: Brian A. Miller (as Brian A Miller)
Writers: Andre Fabrizio, Jeremy Passmore
Stars: Jason Patric, Bruce Willis, John Cusack
Plot: When his daughter is kidnapped, a retired assassin is drawn back into the life he gave up. To rescue her, he must confront his former rival.
Running time: 93 minutes
IMDB Score: 4.6
Why I watched it: The cast, this is a pure B-Movie and for Willis and Cusack clearly a paycheque movie but still doesn’t mean it’ll be bad.
Thoughts: This is another made for DVD or I guess now made for On Demand Movie with names but clearly they’ve seen better days. The one thing I thought was odd was Jason Patric who doesn’t do a lot of these kind of movies, I wouldn’t call him an action guy that’s for sure. Also the title and the poster are both very weak, at least put some effort into it.
What I liked: I really like Jason Patric, I always thought he should have been a bigger name and here I like his take on this character he’s a former hitman and from the sounds of it he was a head case so of course he got out and got married had a family and left his old life behind. Now this film is a Taken knock off, guy’s daughter is taken and the father has to use his skills to get her back but in this case he’s a former hitman and a nasty guy and what I like is as soon as Patric goes back to his old haunts he’s that guy again, basically what the movie is saying is that people don’t change they hide.
Patric is the best thing in the movie and I like he doesn’t try to be a good guy and clearly he’s not, he’s a bad ass for sure but not a good guy. The film is gritty and dark and a hard R, lots of violence and it’s shot pretty well. Just to let you know Cusack isn’t in it much but he’s pretty good, I like the fact that he’s helping Patric put it’s clear he has a mixture of hatred and fear for this guy. The film moves pretty well it’s short at just over 90 minutes and it doesn’t try to be anything it’s not, this is a B-Action movie and it acts accordingly.
What I didn’t like: There’s some sleeping walking in this film and the most guilty is Bruce Willis, man it’s clear he doesn’t give a shit. He’s a boring bad guy and the funny thing is the character isn’t a bad idea, he has some shading and really could be considered an anti-hero but Willis puts no effort into it. Rain is just strange in this film and really he should have been used more.
The film is pretty by the book and I wished it had more energy and more style is darkly filmed, dark doesn’t mean stylish but many directors think it does. The other weak link in the film is the daughter played by Jessica Lowndes, she’s not a character she’s a plot device.
Final thoughts: I didn’t mind it, I liked the fact that they made Patrick more of a bad guy and made the film a little meaner than most in this genre.
Rating: 6/10
Movie Burner Entertainment 